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Addressing Environmental Concerns in a Systematic Manner

Contact: Rose Marie Harris

Thursday, May 09, 2002 – The Bureau of Standards will host a seminar on the ISO 14000 Family of International Standards on Environmental Management and its application in the local environment. The seminar is scheduled for May 14th 2002.

It is being coordinated by the Bureau’s Technical Committee on Environmental Management, which is currently reviewing these international standards for adoption. Julius James who is the Standards Development Officer at the Saint Lucia Bureau of Standards, says these standards will provide organizations with a structure for managing environmental impacts of their activities, products and services and to have a uniform environmental management tool for achieving sustainable development.

“The Basic objectives of that workshop are one to introduce participants to the ISO14000 of Family of International Standards on Environmental Management; two sensitize participants to the concept to an environmental management system what they call an EMS using what they call ISO 13001 as a point of reference; three develop some appreciation of the roles and benefits of an ISO 13000 based environmental management system in the overall management system of an organization and four formulate plans or strategies to promote the application of environmental standards in Saint Lucia.”

Mr. James explains that environmental standards are among the means being employed to provide guidance to organizations so that they can address environmental concerns in a systematic manner and ensure ongoing compliance with national and/or international requirements.

“These standards are important for world trade because if they are not applied properly they can create what we call technical barriers to trade. So rather than looking at local standards or standards organized by say one of the musicians, we are now looking at international standards that is those that have been proposed by ISO that is the International Standards Organisation for Standardization so we are looking at those standards simply as guidelines to help organsiations achieve the environmental goals.”

At the seminar, the experiences of Hess Oil, an ISO 14000 certified company and the Heritage Association of St. Lucia which has instituted an Environmental Management System in its operations will be highlighted.

Over thirty persons from various organizations involved in the productive sector and in the preservation and improvement of the environment have confirmed participation in the seminar.

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