Measuring the effectiveness of Parks Canada's environmental management system: a case study of Riding Mountain National Park

作者：Bronson J^*; Noble B

来源：Canadian Geographer, 2006, 50(1): 101-113.

DOI：10.1111/j.0008-3658.2006.00129.x

In 1996, the Ceneva-based International Organization for Standardization released its ISO 14001 guidelines for environmental management systems (EMSs). By implementing an EMS, an organization is better situated to manage the environmental effects of its operations which, in turn, should lead to better environmental performance. However, research on EMS performance has only recently begun to emerge, and the relation between EMSs and genuine improvement in environmental performance has not been clearly established, particularly for organizations such as Parks Canada, whose principal mandate is to protect the natural environment. While EMSs are gaining recognition amongst parks as a systematic approach for dealing with the environmental aspects of park operations, there has been very little investigation as to the effectiveness of EMSs in improving the environmental performance of park operations. This paper presents the results of a case study of the effectiveness of Riding Mountain National Park's (RMNPs) EMS and its contribution to environmental improvement. The results confirm EMS experience elsewhere in that RMNPs EMS has been only moderately successful at best and that there exists no clear link between the EMS and the environmental improvement of park operations.

• 出版日期2006