Environmental Management II

(EMG201T)

Study Guide

2010

 

Department of Environmental, Water and Earth Sciences

Faculty of Science

Tshwane University of Technology

 

Rudolph Robbertze

(Details included inside)

 

Table of contents:

            Page

1.      Foreword            3           

2.     Topics covered            4

3.     Definitions            5

4.     Study material            8

4.1 Dvd            8

4.2 Textbook            9

4.3 Notes            9

4.4 Web            12

5.     Schedule            13

6.    Assessments            18

7.     Predicate marks            19

8.    Lecturer information            20

 

 

 

1. Foreword

In Environmental Management II you will be introduced to a number of environmental management tools including Integrated Environmental Management (IEM), Screening, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Environmental Management Programs (EMP), State of the Environment Reporting, Indicators, Sustainability reporting, Environmental Monitoring, Auditing and Waste Management

As department we believe that you need a firm foundation on these specific tools before you can be introduced to any of the others. It is for this specific reason that some changes have been made to the content of Environmental Management II and Environmental Management III. Some of the topics like Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Environmental Risk Assessment that up to 2009 made up part of Environmental Management II have been moved to Environmental Management III.

To accommodate students that have already done the 2009 Environmental Management II a phase in plan has been set in place. You will still be doing the 2009 curriculum of Environmental Management III to complement what you have already learned. Those of you that are repeating the subject Environmental Management II will notice that a lot of new information has been included in the subject and some of the content you did in 2009 has been removed. We apologize for these changes but hope you will understand the dynamic nature of the curriculum brought on by the changing needs of industry at any one time. For the students doing environmental Management II for the very first time, none of these changes will even be noticeable.

2. Topics covered

Here is a list of the topics that will be covered during the semester:

1.    Introduction to Integrated Environmental Management (IEM)

2.     Screening

3.     Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

4.     Environmental Management Programs (EMP)

5.     State of the Environment Reporting

6.    Indicators

7.     Sustainability reporting

8.    Environmental Monitoring and Auditing

9.    Waste Management

 

3. Definitions

 

Introduction to Integrated Environmental Management (IEM)

"Integrates environmental management (IEM) provides a holistic framework that can be embraced by all sectors of society for the assessment and management of environmental impacts and aspects associated with an activity for each stage of the activity life cycle taking into consideration a broad definition of environment and with the overall aim of promoting sustainable development."

You will be dealing with the definition in significant detail later on.

 

Screening

"Screening determines whether or not a development proposal requires environmental assessment, and if so, what level of assessment is appropriate. Screening is therefore a decision-making process that is initiated suring the early stages of the development of a proposal. "

 

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

Aims to predict both positive and negative environmental impacts of a proposed project to find ways to reduce adverse impacts, shape projects to suit the local environment and present the predictions and options to decision-makers. This tool is designed to be project specific and site-specific, and not be focused on strategic issues.

 

Environmental Management Plan (EMP)

EMPs typically form part of an EMS and specify how an activity is to be managed to minimise potential impacts on the environment and enhance benefits, throughout the life cycle of the activity. EMPs also aim to ensure that the conditions of authorisation associated with a project are fulfilled; and can be applied to the construction, establishment, operational or decommissioning phases of an activity.

 

State of the Environment Reporting

State of the Environment (SOE) reporting is used to highlight changes in the environment, the causes of those changes, and identify appropriate responses. The reports provide a link between information that is often technical and the general public.

In South Africa, the framework most often used for organising the SOE information is called the DPSIR framework. This uses indicators to describe changes, and consists of the following:

·      Driving forces – human influences and activities that, when combined with environmental conditions, underpin environmental change

·      Pressures – these are exerted on resources and ecosystems as a result of human activities (driving forces)

·      State – the condition of the environment resulting from driving forces and pressures

·      Impacts – the consequences or results of pressures on the current state of the environment

·      Responses – these are the societal actions taken collectively or individually to ease or prevent negative environmental impacts, correct environmental damage or conserve natural resources.

 

 

Indicators

Indicators evaluate and monitor the amount and direction of change occurring in the environment and whether developments or actions are operating at a sustainable level. They are used to assess and understand the interaction between development and the environment. Most indicators are designed to provide early warning information about instability or unsustainable change in the environment. They can therefore be used in proactive planning and risk management, and are important in assessing whether goals and targets set are being met.
Sustainability reporting

Environmental reporting is carried out by many different organisations and bodies and manifests itself in many different forms, from country-level environmental reporting through to corporate environmental reporting. For a number of years, companies have begun to produce regular environment or sustainability reports which detail the company's impacts upon the environment and the ways and means that the impacts are measured and monitored. Environmental reports can be presented in many different ways. They can be electronic and circulated on the Internet or they can be printed on glossy paper and include pictures and illustrations. All of these options influence whether or not the reports will be read and how effective their contents will be in influencing people to make decisions, take actions or change their behaviour.

 

Environmental Monitoring and Auditing

Environmental auditing is a process whereby an organisation's environmental performance is tested against numerous requirements, for example, clearly defined policies, legislated requirements and key performance indicators. The approach includes interviews and asking of questions; review of relevant documentation; and visual observations.

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC, 1991) defines environmental auditing as "A management tool comprising a systematic, documented, periodic and objective evaluation of how well environmental organisation, management and equipment are performing with the aim of contributing to safeguarding the environment by: (i) facilitating management control of environmental practices; and (ii) assessing compliance with company policies, which would include meeting regulatory requirements."

Differing types of environmental audits exist, such as: Environmental Management Audits; Environmental Compliance Audits; Waste Audits; Environmental Due Diligence Audits; and Supplier Audits.

 

Waste Management

Entails the management and storage of inert or hazardous wastes produced by various activities and industries as well as methods of waste reduction, recycling and monitoring.

 

 

 

 

4. Study material

You will be provided with some notes in hard copy, but the complete set of notes and slideshows will be burned to CD or DVD to save paper. You are welcome to copy the content of the dvd to your harddrive for simple and easy access.

 

4.1 The Dvd

Here is the layout of the DVD that will be handed to you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

File formats

Pdf files contain documents with the file extention .pdf

You can open these documents with Adobe Acrobat. I have included the installation files for Adobe Acrobat 8 on the dvd.

 

Slideshow Files contain Powerpoint slideshows and can be opened with Microsoft Powerpoint. The following versions of Powerpoint will open the files: Powerpoint in Office XP, Powerpoint in Office 2003 and Powerpoint in Office 2007.

I have included a viewer on the dvd if you do not have powerpoint installed on your computer.

 

The folder web files contain saved websites in html format. You can view them with any web browser including Internet explorer, Netscape, Firefox and Safari.

 

 

 

4.2 Textbooks

There is no prescribed textbook but the following textbooks are available in the library for further information.

 

4.3 Notes

Integrated Environmental Management Information Series, Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, 2004, ISBN-9584728-1-5, Available at http://www.deat.gov.za/Services/documents/Publications/eia_info_series_24062003.html

(Provided on the dvd)

 

The series contains 24 books that deal with different facets of the integrated environmental management framework in South Africa. A few specific references are provided here but by the end of your third year you should have a firm understanding of all of the book. It is therefore recommended that you at least read through the entire information series during this semester to prepare you for things to come. It will definitely not be a waste of time.

 

Intergrated Environmental Mangement Information Series 14: Environmental Auditing

http://www.deat.gov.za/Services/documents/2005Jan7/Book9.pdf

(Provided on the dvd)

 

Intergrated Environmental Mangement Information Series 0: Overview of Integrated Environmental Management.

http://www.deat.gov.za/Services/documents/2005Jan7/Book1.pdf

(Provided on the dvd)

 

Intergrated Environmental Mangement Information Series 1: Screening

http://www.deat.gov.za/Services/documents/Publications/eia_info_series_screening_24062003.htm

Please note that changes were made to the document and the pdf version is therefore no longer valid.

 

State of the Environment Report

Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism

http://www.deat.gov.za/Enviro-Info/env/state.htm

(Provided to you on the dvd)

 

Millenium Ecosystem Assessment

http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.aspx

(Provided to you on the dvd)

 

Minimum requirements for Hazardous Waste Management

http://www.dwaf.gov.za/Dir_WQM/docs/Pol_Hazardous.pdf

(Provided to you on the dvd)

 

Minimum requirements for Waste Management by Landfill

http://www.dwa.gov.za/Dir_WQM/docs/Pol_Landfill.PDF

(Provided to you on the dvd)

 

Minimum requirements for Monitoring for Waste Management sites

http://www.dwa.gov.za/Dir_WQM/docs/Pol_Monitoring.PDF

(Provided to you on the dvd)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.4 Web resources

In addition to the material on the dvd, there are a number of websites with useful information. The folder bookmarks contain a number of sites with useful and relevant information on industrial processes. A few others have been listed here in the study guide.

If you are looking for scientific articles for further research a good place to find them is at Sciendirect.com

http://www.sciencedirect.com

 

or you can search all of the scientific journals at Scirus

http://www.scirus.com

 

Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism

http://www.deat.gov.za

 

Department of Water Affairs

http://www.dwaf.gov.za

 

State of the Environment Report

http://www.deat.gov.za/Enviro-Info/env/state.htm

 

Waste Management – DEAT

http://www.deat.gov.za/Enviro-Info/env/wmanag.htm

 

United Nations Environmental Program

http://www.unep.org/

 

 

 

4. Schedule

Environmental Management II has been scheduled for Tuesdays at 10:00 up to 12:00. Here is a small piece of the timetable ver 6 to make it clear to you.

 

The calenders below have been provided to allow you to add any additional information not yet included and to help you to plan your study routine.

 

 

Here is a breakdown of what will be covered during the semester. Please keep in mind that this is not a rigid schedule and that changes may be made if deemed necessary.  Please use the calendar provided to make any changes.

Date	Topic	Presented by
26th of January 2010	Introduction and handing out of study guides and notes.	R
2nd of February 2010	Screening	C
9th of February 2010	Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)	C
16th of February 2010	Environmental Management Programs	C
23rd of February 2010	Semester test 1	C
2nd of March 2010	State of the Environment Reporting – South Africa	R
9th of March 2010	State of the Rivers reports - Indicators	R
16th of March 2010	State of the Environment Reporting – Millennium Ecosystem Assessment	R
23rd of March 2010	Semester test 2	R
30th of March 2010	Sustainability reporting	R
6th of April 2010	Closed for holidays	R
13th of April 2010	Monitoring and Auditing	R
20st of April 2010	Waste management	R
27th of April 2010	Holiday
4th of May 2010	Semester test 3	R
11th of May 2010	Revision and Exam Preparation	R
12th of May 2010	Predicate Day
17th of May 2010	Exams begin

 

5. Assessments

You will be given three semester tests to write during the semester in addition to one assignment. All four of these assessments have been given equal weighting and are therefore equally important.

 

 

Test 1

Date: 16^th of February or the 23^rd of February 2010

Topics: Screening

Environmental Impact assessment (EIA)

Environmental management programs

 

Test 2

Date: 23^rd of March 2010

Topics: State of the Environment Reporting – South Africa

State of the Rivers reports - Indicators

State of the Environment Reporting – Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

 

Test 3

Date: 4^th of May 2010

Topics: Sustainability reporting

Monitoring and Auditing

Waste management

 

Assignment 1:

Hand in date: 8^th of May 2010

Topic: You will be asked to do an assignment for an additional assessment mark. Details will be provided at a later stage.

6. Predicate marks, exam requirements etc.

The predicate will be calculated as follows:

Predicate = 25% for test 1 + 25% for test 2 + 25% for test 3 +

25% for assignment 1

A 40% predicate will be required to gain entrance into the main exam. You will then require a 50% mark to pass the exam. If you get between 40% and 50% you will be allowed to write a supplementary exam.

Final mark = 50% for predicate + 50% for exam.

Your final mark must be above 50% to pass the subject.

 

Please note that all of these requirements are stipulated in the yearbook and in the student diary provided to you.

 

 

 

 

7. Lecturer information

Due to the expertise of topics being held by different people in the department, it has been decided that different lecturers take you for the different topics as already provided to you in the schedule.  The details for the different lecturers are therefore provided here.

 

Lecturer One: Rudolph PJ Robbertze

Email: RobbertzeRPJ@tut.ac.za

Tel: 012 382 6320

Cel: 082 860 4573

Office: 4-218 or 3-131

Hours: Tuesdays to Wednesdays from 08:30 to 16:00 and again on Friday from 08:30 to 12:00

 

Lecturer Two: Ms Catherine Coni

Email: Conic@tut.ac.za

Tel: 012 382 6226

Cel: 083 442 8498

Office: 4-102

 

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