THE National Environmental and Planning Agency (NEPA), on Tuesday, held it’s second of three consultations with several business representatives on a Green Paper “Towards a National Strategy and Policy on Environmental Management Systems (EMS), as part of the government’s push to encourage sustainable business practices in Jamaica.

A third and final meeting was held on Thursday in Ocho Rios. The paper will now be revised, tabled in Parliament and reissued as official government policy (White Paper).

EMS is a voluntary tool that can be used by businesses and organisations alike to improve environmental performance through preventing and reducing the impact of their activities on the environment.

“While it is not a panacea and not a cure-all, it is one of the tools the government is promoting to be implemented,” EMS consultant to NEPA, Denise Forest, told the gathering.

The EMS Green Paper aims to establish a framework within which EMS will be adopted across all sectors of society, strengthen the legal framework for environmental regulation and reporting and ensure an informed public who will support and advocate responsible environmental stewardship.

It provides a framework for the aggressive uptake of the EMS tool by Jamaican organisations. In so doing it has proposed strategies to build capacity within government organisations to facilitate implementation of EMS, as well as strategies encouraging the private sector to embrace EMS as a tool for sustainable business practices. It also highlights the benefits to be accrued within the nation with the implementation of EMS.

Within the Green Paper, it is stressed that the benefits of using an EMS within organisations outweigh the cost of implementation. Applying EMS can lead to a reduction of waste, improved processes for service delivery, increased internal efficiencies and increased business competitiveness.

Implementing such a system would also allow companies to minimise risks and verify environmental performance for banks and insurance companies who require this information before funding projects, NEPA said.

The sectors targeted for the consultation meetings included the hotel and tourism industry; the mining, chemical, shipping and energy industry; and the waste management sector. Other professional bodies were also included.

The EMS Policy and Strategy is available along with five supporting documents – EMS Policy and Strategy Major Country Report, EMS Policy and Strategy Working Group “Benchmark Countries” Research, Economic Incentives for Implementing EMS in Jamaica, and Legislative Instruments and related mechanisms — on the Bureau of Standards EMS technical Clearinghouse website at www.jbs.org.jm/ems/sponsors/cwip/documents/html.

The first of NEPA’s consultations was held on Tuesday in Mandeville.