 Enhancing the social content of environmental management systems in Australian agricultureGenevieve Carruthers and Frank Vanclay International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, 2007, vol. 6, issue 3, 326-340 Abstract: Despite criticism that Environmental Management Systems (EMSs) do not address social aspects, a review of the EMS implementation on Australian farms revealed that there were many social dimensions to the EMS. While these were not necessarily explicitly recognised by the farmers, certifiers and/or regulators, these social factors were very important to the ongoing commitment to, and operation of, the EMSs. Social factors enhance the operation of the EMS, reinforce initial motivations and have major benefits for the farm business. However, gaining recognition of these factors was difficult, measuring changes in social interactions not easily achievable and not well recognised or rewarded by outside stakeholders. The development of improved mechanisms for valuing social factors in agricultural contexts, better understanding of the roles of these factors amongst EMS certifiers and advisors, and more explicit acknowledgement of the importance of these factors on overall farm management is required. Keywords: environmental management systems; EMS; ISO 14001; agriculture; farm management; social indicators; natural resource management; environmental protection; Australia; voluntary approach. (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijarge:v:6:y:2007:i:3:p:326-340 Access Statistics for this article More articles in International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd |
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