The Bureau of Product Standards (BPS) together with the Philippine Association of Environmental Assessment Professionals (PAEAP) has started in this February a project module that aims to encourage small and medium enterprises to implement environmental management systems.

This module is part of a project aptly titled Private Sector Participation in Managing the Environment or PRIME that seeks to promote participation of the private sector in the area of environmental management. It is directed towards enhancing emerging private sector initiatives in minimizing industrial environmental impacts.

Funded by the United Nations Development Programme, the PRIME project is being implemented by the Philippine government through the Board of Investment (BOI) of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) as the executing agency, and the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Philippine Business for the Environment (PBE), the PAEAP, and the BPS as the complementing agencies.

Thrusts of PRIME

The PRIME project envisions to strengthen the role of the private sector in environmental management to complement government regulatory mechanisms through its four thrusts, namely:

1. the development of a Business Agenda 21 that will serve as a blueprint for the role of the private sector in environment as the country joins the club of newly industrializing countries in the region;

2. support to cleaner production and waste minimization through the adoption of industrial ecology in the development of industrial estates;

3. promotion of industry self-regulation through the implementation of environmental management systems; and

4. encouragement of private investments in the provision of environment services.

Agencies have been assigned to lead the implementation of these four project components or modules. The BPS and PAEAP are the lead implementing agencies for the module on environmental management systems (Module 3). Ms Clarissa Oracion, Sub Project Manager for Module 3, said that the PRIME project has a duration of four years and will end by year 2001.

The objective of the third thrust of the PRIME project is to promote self regulation among industries with respect to the attainment of the nation's environmental quality goals. According to the PRIME project documents, there is a growing trend among firms, especially large corporations, to move beyond a position of mere compliance but to a more proactive position that will lead to less regulation, and better integration of environmental and business decisions. This direction leads to a total quality systems approach to environmental issues, thereby incorporating environmental management into traditional business operations. The means towards this is the implementation of an environmental management system (EMS)

EMS takes a proactive approach to managing environmental affairs and consists of a set of procedures and work instructions for environmental performance which forms part of the organization's business strategy. EMS is closely linked with the new set of international environmental management standards, ISO 14001. This is designed to facilitate the efforts of businesses to track their own environmental operations and performance and therefore, can be a means of lessening the need for regulatory control from the environmental agencies.

The implementation of an environmental management system entails costs which might be difficult for small and medium enterprises (SMES) to shoulder.

For this reason, this module on EMS focuses on building the capacity of SMEs to develop and implement their own EMS.

On the government side, this module aims to assist the relevant government agencies to build their capacity to oversee the implementation of ISO 14001 in the country. Towards this end training on EMS and environmental auditing and accreditation of certifying bodies will be done with technical staff from the concerned government agencies, i.e. BPS and EMB, as target beneficiaries.

Consulting firms shall like-wise be involved in the conduct of training on EMS. The implementation of this module will be closely coordinated with current initiatives within the United Nations system related to enhancing SMEs capability to achieve environmental objectives, such as the project of UNIDO on Environmental Technology Assessment System (ETAS) and Technologically Enhanced Environmental Management System (TEEMS).

Objectives of Module 3

There are seven immediate objectives of Module 3.

• To develop the capacity of small and medium enterprises to develop and implement an environmental management system. To achieve this, pilot implementation of EMS on selected SMEs will be done.

• To train a critical mass of managers and technical personnel from SMEs capable of developing and implementing an EMS.

• To develop the capability of government in implementing ISO 14001. To be trained are technical staff of government organizations which are designated as promotional agencies and accrediting bodies for ISO 14001

• To develop awareness on the private sector's role in environmental self-regulation and the enhancement of global competitiveness through the implementation of ISO 14001. To be conducted is an information and education campaign on ISO 14001.

• To create an SME desk at the Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to provide assistance in the implementation of EMS among SMES.

• To develop information net-working through electronic means especially among SMES. Expected output is the linking of SMEs to the internet through the Philippine Sustainable Development Network.

• To develop policies on product eco-labelling. Guidelines on eco-labelling of products will be developed by the project.

As a whole, the PRIME project is expected to initiate the introduction of cleaner means of production and adoption of environmental management systems in the business sector. These measures will enhance the global competitiveness of Philippine firms as these will lead to better production efficiency. The implementation of environmental management systems will enable firms to meet international environmental standards. This will especially improve competitiveness of export-oriented firms. At the same time, adoption of new technologies and environmental management systems will require continuous training and capacity building among plant managers, operations staff, and workers.