The Environmental Stewardship System (ESS): a generic system for assuring rural environmental performance

Abstract

The Environmental Stewardship System (ESS) is proposed as a generic assurance system for demonstrating environmental performance. It incorporates Environmental Management Systems (EMS) and is matched to natural resources management (NRM) and catchment targets. ESS is a framework for aligning and clarifying environmental objectives and targets across scales. It operates at the catchment and farm levels, interdependently, focusing on the main industries, mainstream farming methods and whole-farm business management. For farmers, it provides a staged pathway of increasing levels of performance and audit process that they can progress along, up to full ISO 14001. It is a modular system that is expandable to suit the particular operational needs of land managers, industries and catchment agencies. ESS is an inclusive framework for integrating various industry farm management improvement schemes and other management requirements. It is an auditable system to provide recognition to land managers who deliver environmental stewardship. The ESS was developed from the findings of the Murray–Darling Basin Commission’s Watermark Environmental Stewardship Project. By addressing the four major deficiencies in current arrangements for NRM delivery (the Stewardship Standard is poorly defined at the Murray–Darling Basin and at the local scales; reporting of outcomes is poorly aligned across scales; and auditing arrangements are not integrated) ESS has the potential to significantly improve the delivery of NRM within Australia, when the drivers for uptake are strong enough. In particular, it would reinforce and elaborate the Australian regional NRM delivery model at the subregional scale. The ESS provides a national framework for assured agricultural production and rural land management. It is in the public domain for others to draw from or adopt.