An environmental manager oversees a region of the world in terms of how humans can interact with it in a sustainable manner. To ensure the long-term survival of a natural environment and its resources, an environmental manager may work for a private company, a non-profit organization, or a government agency. Generating and disbursing funds, creating and implementing project goals, recruiting personnel, and dealing with interactions between various groups and organizations are just a few of the responsibilities of an environmental manager.
An environmental manager can use a variety of environmental management standards (EMS) to carry out his or her duties. The ISO 14001 standard, which is a comprehensive standard for assessing risk management in environmental areas, is the most widely used. Other standards usually aim to simplify the ISO 14001 while keeping the most important elements. The Natural Step standard, the World Bank’s Natural Capital standard, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) standards, and the Green Dragon EMS are all popular alternatives.
Environmental management can be thought of as addressing two main concerns that overlap quite a bit. The first is the large body of legal environmental requirements that most developed countries require in order to do business. The second category is extralegal environmental concerns, which can be pursued for a variety of practical or ideological reasons.
Many businesses find it difficult to navigate the massive body of environmental protections that have been in place in most developed countries since at least the 1960s. An environmental manager has a thorough understanding of the law as it applies to his or her industry, and can assist the company in maintaining its legal integrity as it embarks on new ventures. This person also keeps track of new laws as they are enacted to ensure that the company remains compliant.
Some businesses go above and beyond their legal responsibilities in terms of environmental sustainability. They may do so to project a positive public image, to qualify for funds allocated to those who meet certain environmental criteria, or for ideological reasons. In this case, an environmental manager can assist the company in lowering costs while increasing its ability to protect the environment.
Different managers can work in a variety of roles and biomes. Some may be in charge of preserving timber resources, while others may be in charge of preserving mineral resources. Some may be in charge of a region’s air quality, while others may be in charge of fisheries and ensuring that populations do not fall below a certain level. They may work for corporations that extract resources or for non-profit organizations that help keep those same corporations in check.
In the end, however, an environmental manager’s job is not to protect the natural world for its own sake, as some environmentalists believe. Rather, this person is tasked with developing a sustainable system that allows humans to continue to benefit from the natural world’s resources indefinitely without depleting the resource base through unsustainable practices. In this sense, an environmental manager can be thought of as a resource manager, whose mission is to serve humanity first and foremost, with benefits to the natural world coming as a bonus.