First World Business Consultants: Environmental Consultants

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Environmental Consultants

FWBC's team of multi-disciplinary professionals are ready to assist you in effectively addressing all your environmental issues. We are cost-effective on all projects. This allows you, the Client, to utilize FWBC's expertise regardless of geographic location.We serve Industry,commerce, Govrnment departments and None Profit Instututions, locally, regionally and internationally.

Professional environmental services provided by FWBC include:

Environmental Impact Assessments,
Environmental Education and Training
Hazardous Waste Investigation & Remediation,
Hazardous Materials Management,
Petroleum Storage Systems Management,
Health & Safety Programs,
Pollution Prevention (P2) Programs,
Regulatory Compliance Programs,
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Assessments,
Wetland Delineations and Mitigation Design,
Biological Assessments
Cultural Resource Surveys

Corporate Introduction

Environmental responsibility is an integral part of doing business in today's marketplace. The ever-expanding collection of environmental laws, regulations, procedures and requirements to maintain environmental compliance and minimize environmental liability has become a substantial component of commercial operations. FWBC was founded in order to provide high quality professional environmental services in an efficient and cost-effective manner. FWBC is a full-service, results oriented, environmental consulting firm dedicated to providing our clients with complete solutions to their environmental concerns.

Our Mission Statement

We will continuously ascend as leaders in our field. We will provide expert counsel, support, and innovative solutions.

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Meteorogical modeling

A comparative study of prognostic MM5 meteorological modeling with aircraft, wind profiler, lidar, tethered balloon and RASS data over Philadelphia during a 2000 summer episode

This study presents a comparative evaluation of the prognostic meteorological Fifth Generation NCAR Pennsylvania State University Mesoscale Model (MM5) using data from the Northeast Oxidant and Particle Study (NE-OPS) research program collected over Philadelphia, PA during a summer episode in 20000. A set of model simulations utilizing a nested grid of 36 km, 12 km and 4 km horizontal resolutions with 21 layers in the vertical direction was performed for a period of 101 h from July 15, 2000, 12 UTC to July 19, 2000, 17 UTC. The model predictions obtained with 4 km horizontal grid resolution were compared with the NE-OPS observations. Comparisons of model temperature with aircraft data revealed that the model exhibited slight underestimation as noted by previous investigators.

Comparisons of model temperature with aircraft and tethered balloon data indicate that the mean absolute error varied up to 1.5 °C. The comparisons of model relative humidity with aircraft and tethered balloon indicate that the mean relative error varied from –11% to –22% for the tethered balloon and from –5% to –30% for the aircraft data. The mean relative error for water vapor mixing ratio with respect to the lidar data exhibited a negative bias consistent with the humidity bias corresponding to aircraft and tethered balloon data.

The tendency of MM5 to produce estimates of very low wind speeds, especially in the early-mid afternoon hours, as noted by earlier investigators, is seen in this study also. It is indeed true that the initial fields as well as the fields utilized in the data assimilation also contribute to some of the differences between the model and observations. Studies such as these which compare the grid averaged mean state variables with observations have inherent difficulties. Despite the above limitations, the results of the present study broadly conform to the general traits of MM5 as noted by earlier investigators.

Resources for Business Persons

One of the contrasts between the 1992 Earth Summit and WSSD was the greater participation of the private sector in forging partnerships and influencing policy. This reflects the recognition among governments and multilateral institutions, as well as by business itself, that the private sector has a crucial role to play in sustainable development. With its history of innovation the private sector can find solutions to many of the development issues that need to be faced over the coming decades, for instance by finding new approaches to supplying sanitation, fresh water, and clean, affordable energy.

UNEP’s strong relationships with industry are helping to incorporate environmentally responsible thinking throughout the sector. Examples include the Tour Operators Initiative for sustainable tourism, the Global e-Sustainability Initiative involving key telecommunications companies, a wide range of cleaner production initiatives, the Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles, and a growing portfolio of projects to promote financing for sustainable development. Private sector operations are increasingly realizing that social and environmental responsibility can provide both short and long-term rewards, and that ignoring the triple bottom line of sustainable development will ultimately be detrimental to their own business. That is why companies are signing up to programmes such as the United Nations Secretary-General’s Global Compact and UNEP’s Global Reporting Initiative.

Attention to the bottom line also drives the UNEP Finance Initiatives (FI), which are helping raise awareness worldwide of the financial—as well as societal—costs of failing to tackle global climate change. Combined with UNEP’s authoritative assessments like GEO and the IPCC Assessment Reports, programmes like the FI are not only helping encourage governmental commitment to the Kyoto Protocol, but are promoting investment in clean and renewable energy by financial institutions and other investors.

Oceans in Peril: Protecting Marine Biodiversity

Uniquely among the universe’s known planets, the Earth is a sphere dominated by watery oceans. They cover 70 percent of its surface and are home to a myriad of amazing and beautiful creatures. Life almost certainly originated in the oceans, yet the biological diversity of marine habitats is threatened by the activities of one largely land-based species: us. The activities through which humans threaten marine life include overfishing, use of destructive fishing methods, pollution, and commercial aquaculture. In addition, climate change and the related acidification of the oceans is already having an impact on some marine ecosystems. Essential to solving these problems will be more equitable and sustainable management of the oceans as well as stronger protection of marine ecosystems through a well-enforced network of marine reserves.

Presently, 76 percent of the world’s fish stocks are fully exploited or overexploited, and many species have been severely depleted, largely due to our growing appetite for seafood. Current fisheries management regimes contribute to the widespread market-driven degradation of the oceans by failing to implement and enforce adequate protective measures. Many policymakers and scientists now agree that we must adopt a radical new approach to managing the seas—one that is precautionary in nature and has the protection of the whole marine ecosystem as its primary objective. This “ecosystem approach” is vital if we are to ensure the health of our oceans for future generations.

An ecosystem approach promotes both conservation and the sustainable use of marine resources in an equitable way. It is a holistic approach that considers environmental protection and marine management together, rather than as two separate and mutually exclusive goals. Paramount to the application of this approach is the establishment of networks of fully protected marine reserves—in essence, “national parks” of the sea. These provide protection of whole ecosystems and enable biodiversity to both recover and flourish. They also benefit fisheries by allowing for spillover of fish and larvae or eggs from the reserve into adjacent fishing grounds.

Outside of the reserves, an ecosystem approach requires the sustainable management of fisheries and other resources. Demands on marine resources must be managed within the limits of what the ecosystem can provide indefinitely, rather than being allowed to expand as demographic and market forces dictate. An ecosystem approach requires protection at the level of the whole ecosystem. This is radically different from the current practice, where most fisheries management measures focus simply on single species and do not consider the role of these species in the wider ecosystem.

An ecosystem approach is also precautionary in nature, meaning that a lack of knowledge should not excuse decision-makers from taking action, but rather lead them to err on the side of caution. The burden of proof must be placed on those who want to undertake activities, such as fishing or coastal development, to show that these activities will not harm the marine environment. In other words, current presumptions that favor freedom to fish and freedom of the seas will need to be replaced with the new concept of freedom for the seas.

Green Pack comes to Africa

First World Business Consultants is introducing Green Pack to African countries along side REC. The Green Pack is a multi-medium environmental education curriculum kit primarily intended for European primary school teachers and their students, although it can also be used at other levels of education. It focuses on particular aspects of environmental protection and sustainable development and includes a variety of educational materials such as a teacher’s handbook with lesson plans and fact sheets for students, a film collection with animated clips and educational films, an interactive CD-ROM with extensive information on various environmental topics and a dilemma game. Thus, the users of the pack will be able to follow lesson plans, complemented with video presentations and additional information from the CD-ROM and its links to similar websites. The Green Pack emphasises the formation of new values in students and the setting of a new model of behaviour at school, at home and in society rather than simply the accumulation of knowledge in particular environmental areas. In this context, students are, above all, partners with the teachers in the accomplishment of various activities, discussions, role-plays and decision making. The main messages of the pack are also effectively distributed to other members of the family and society via the students and teachers.For more information please contact Brian Gamanaya on: editor@easyinfomail.co.za or call:+264 813565325 or +447939217262

Green Bay Profile

Green Bay Magazine is a monthly 40 page/full color A4 issue magazine, free publication to be public. The Green bay was officially launched by the Minister of Environment and Tourism

Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah in Windhoek, on the 17^th of September 2008 as a monthly community development project for environmental awareness. Green Bay, a First World Business Consultants publication is a monthly free magazine for business, education, information and research purposes.

News content is written by Namibian award wining environmental writers and practitioners. Coverage is broad and diverse, reflecting the wide range of roles of our readers’needs and challenges as they affect people and our shared environment. Contribution comes from the Ministry of environment and Tourism, UNEP and UNDP. Articles are based on regional, national and global priorities and needs sharp shooting environmental news and articles, projects,debates, personalities, initiatives, profiles, opinions, policies and environmental laws in order to foster development, natural resource conservation, responsibility and poverty reduction. The magazine enhances understanding of human environmental impact to improve natural resource conservation and management. Green Bayimproves understanding of modern environmental laws and policies and promotes the establishment of legal institutional framework by imparting knowledge to our targeted readers: Policy makers, government

officials, corporate leaders, decision makers and the general public.

The print run is 5000 copies every month, for local and international distribution. The project is being run on business principals. We have set up the necessary infrastructure and facility for active partnerships. Advertising and Sponsorship Opportunities are not limited.

Partners and Affiliation

First World Business Consultants has built up long standing relationships with many key

players in industry and commerce.As a focused consulting group we recognize the need to

partner with best-of-breed companies to bring maximumadvantage and value to our

clients. First World Business Consultants as an organization or through its staff is a member of:

International Association of Hydro geologists.

Geographical Information Society of South Africa (GISSA).

Environmental Information Systems Southern Africa (EIS-AFRICA).

IES Committee of Heads of Environmental Sciences (CHES) Accreditation Scheme.

Groundwater Division of the Geological Society of South Africa.

Institute of Waste Management.

South African Institute of Civil Engineers.

The Team

Dermot Timbo
A business Mogul in Namibia. Born in Walvis Bay, is the managing member of First World Business Consultants. Dermot seats on the Board of several companies. He has more than ten years in Business Advisory, Marketing,Project Management, Engineering particularly the automotive industry.

Godfrey Mashava
Design and layout is an easy task for Green Bay. All the creativity is under the capable hands of Godfrey Mashava who is the Creative Director at First World Business Consultants. He was with Hotwire a lifestyle and motoring magazine before taking the position at FWBC. Godfrey holds a National Diploma in commercial design. Godfrey worked for a number of advertising agencies as a Creative Director. He is the Media Officer at Green Bay and is the owner of Mashville Communications.

Zviko Museka
An Engineer who holds B.Honors Degree in Chemical engineering. Worked for Sabi Gold mine as a metallurgist, Megapak as quality controller he is also a engineering consultant for Namtechque Water Engineering and Mallinckrodt Baker, Inc.

Moreblessing Mashava
Holds a National Diploma in Travel and Tourism, Worked for Zimsun Group, Prior joining Green Bay, as Environmental and tourism Correspondent. She has vast knowledge in Tourism and She brings abreast, the latest trends in Tourism positioning the publication richly in both the environment and tourism.

Wolfgang Hanse
Agriculture research writing, Monitoring and Evaluation, Rural Development, Trade, Spatial Data Infrastructure, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing and Education are Wolfgang’s life favorites. Wolfgang holds M.Sc. GIS, The Netherlands; M.Sc. Soil Science (Aberdeen, UK); PG Dip. Soil Survey(ITC, The Netherlands).Wolfgang is the man behind all First World Business Consultants Conservation and Environment Management international projects. Wolfgang was born in Windhoek.

Brian Gamanya.
A chartered Environmentalist and ISO standards lead auditor with a diverse background that stretches from Industrial Development to Community based projects, meanly in developing countries. His Exposure includes The American, Europe and Africa. Brian has Spend most of his life in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Europe doing projects in Mass communication and publishing; community development and integrated environmental management. Brian is the Research Editor at Green Bay Magazine and Chief Consultant at First World Business Consultants. Project management, monitoring and evaluation remain his strength.

The Importance of Environmental Auditing

In today's world, environment has become a major issue closely related to the future of all countries and peoples in the world. Protecting the environment and our planet has become the unsinkable responsibility for all human beings.
Environmental audit as one of the modern means of environmental management is put up against the seriousness of current environmental problems. The introduction of environmental audit is of great significance in the efficient and effective use of natural resources and reasonable allocation of various key production elements. Environmental audit also plays an important role in accelerating the readjustment of industrial structure and in achieving a sustainable development of the economy. This article explores from a theoretical perspective and explains from a practical perspective the importance of environmental.

I. Environmental audit is an important part of auditing

To ensure the healthy, stable and sustainable development of the economy, a favorable environment is necessary. Protecting the environment and achieving sustainable development of the economic and resource environment is a basic state policy of any government as well as the due social obligation of all enterprises. As a part of the government function, government authorities have the responsibility to effectively monitor, evaluate and certify relevant enterprises or projects on how much pollution they have made to the environment and how the pollution treated.

The legal status of audit institutions in carrying out environmental audit must be clearly stipulated .For example, Article I of the Audit Law stipulates that one of the major aims of auditing is to "safeguard the financial and economic order, promote the building of a clean government and ensure the healthy development of the national economy".

II. Environmental audit is important in restricting the malignant inflation of the external diseconomy

External diseconomy refers to the negative influences arising from some enterprises or individuals, but falling on other enterprises or individuals who receive no compensation from the former who controlled the influences. For example, the waste gas discharged by a factory has polluted the environment of the area nearby; the residents bore the harmful effects to their health but received no compensation from the polluting factory. There are two ways to change this unreasonable situation, i.e. government actions and market means. Where no mature market system is available, people can only rely on the government actions to get rid of the negative influences of the external diseconomy. Government actions fall into two major groups- administrative control and economic stimulation. The former is realized through promulgation of relevant laws and government regulations/standards governing the means and quantity limit of the diseconomy the producer is allowed to produce. Economic stimulation, on the other hand, includes these measures such as imposing charges on actions affecting the environment negatively and granting financial subsidies.

III. Environmental audit is important in promoting accurate verification of the net output volume of the State and the real cost of enterprises

From a macro perspective, for a long time, some countries have been one-sidedly pursuing for GDP increase by making economic development their priority and have caused disastrous results. If we deduct the cost of environmental protection and environmental damage from the GDP of the same period, the GDP these countries achieve might become too insignificant. As a trend of development, the model of achieving temporary economic increase at the great expense of polluting the environment and damaging human health will gradually be eliminated in the world. From a micro perspective, as enterprises only take into account these artificial costs and tend to ignore these resource costs and environmental costs when calculating the costs of their products. The false increase of profits at the expense of using the environment free of charge is not conducive to the long-term development of enterprises. Therefore, conducting environmental audit extensively can impel us to take full consideration of the cost of social ecological resources and calculate accurately the net national product and the cost of production of enterprises.

IV. Environmental audit is important in the realization of sustainable development of the economy

The theory of sustainable development is rather new, emerged with the extensive discussion about the environment and development in the world since the 1980s. In the evolution of the theory, the following agreements have been reached despite the various explanations available by different research organizations and scholars. First, it is stressed that human economic actions should be in harmony with the natural development rather than achieving development through exhausting natural resources and polluting the environment with over-exploited technologies and investments. Secondly, it should be emphasized that while developing and consuming, people should make themselves and the future generations have equal opportunities, and should not make the future generations suffer from the damaged environment resulting from the drop of the environmental quality. Thus, sustainable development is a development model based on the modification of the traditional economic development model and is an inevitable choice by the history. In 1992, most nations, in response to the call made by the World Conference on Environment and Development, put up policies with achieving sustainable development as the prerequisite, taking a major step in the transition from traditional environment development model to the strategy of sustainable development..
It could be predicted that the role of environmental audit will become even bigger in the development of the national economy with more and more successful environmental audits.

Internal Audit and Risk Management

In recent years, internal audit organizations have started to get involved in risk management regarding it as an important aspect of internal audit. This practice has become universal in the international circle of internal audit, so much so that in its 1999 definition of internal audit the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) regarded effectiveness of evaluating and improving risk management and control as an essential part of internal audit.

1. Risk and Risk Management
1.1. Risk, Risk Elements, Risk Accidents and Losses

Risk refers to the uncertainty that exists in certain context and within prescribed period of time, leads to expenses, losses and damages and can be known and controlled. Risk is objective, universal, inevitable, recognizable and controllable. In its process of formation, risk involves risk elements, risk accidents and risk losses.

Risk elements refer to elements that arouse or increase the occurrence of risk or influence the severity of risk. There are three types of risk elements.1. Physical elements. These are direct conditions increasing the occurrence of risk or influence the severity of risk. 2. Ethic elements. These are elements that deliberately cause risk or extend risk losses due to personal dishonesty or malicious intentions. 3. Psychological elements. These are elements that lead to increase of risk or severity of risk losses due to subjective negligence or fault.

Risk accidents are accidents directly or indirectly leading to losses in risk management. Therefore, such accidents are called media of losses.
Losses refer to non-deliberate, non-planned and non-predicted reduction of economic value, usually measured in monetary terms. Losses can be direct or indirect. Direct losses are substantial losses while indirect losses include losses in terms of extra expenses, revenue losses and liability losses. Losses in terms of extra expenses refer to expenses incurred for necessary repair or relocation. Revenue losses refer to reduction in profits due to damage of facilities and consequent failure to produce goods. Liability losses refer to liability of compensation arising from errors or accidents that cause physical injuries or infringement on property.

1.2. Risk and Risk Management

Risk management is a special management function and a management science that is developed in combination with previous experience and contemporary scientific achievements for the purpose of pursuing safety and happiness. As for the concept of risk management, First World Business consultants believes that risk management refers to all efforts exerted by enterprises or organizations to control contingent losses and preserve revenue generation ability and assets. From the above definitions of risk management, we can draw the following conclusion:
*Risk management is a systematic process which covers risk identification, measurement and control;
*Risk management is aimed at controlling and reducing losses, and promoting economic benefits or social effectiveness of relevant units or individuals;
*Risk management is a method of management.

2. Drives for Internal Audit to Participate in Risk Management

Internal audit concerns itself with risk management for the following major reasons.

2.1. Increasing Risks Faced by Enterprises

In recent years, with social and economic development, especially with the furtherance of economic globalization, the operating context of enterprises has become increasingly complex while their operating risks have increased enormously. The arrival of knowledge economy worsens risks faced by enterprises. Therefore, reduction of risks faced by enterprises is critical to the realization of corporate goals and thereby of critical concern to enterprise management. Internal audit aims at increasing corporate value and improving corporate operation. Internal auditors are management consultants to their enterprises. It follows naturally that internal audit departments and internal auditors have a role to play in risk management.

2.2. Internal Audit's Longing for Development

Internal audit departments are always looking for new areas that are important to enterprises in order to play a more important role in their enterprises. The unprecedented emphasis placed on risk by enterprise management has provided an excellent opportunity for the development of internal audit. The participation of internal audit in risk management will enable internal audit to update and increase its role in the enterprise. For this reason, IIA has exerted relentless efforts to promote such participation and included risk management in the definition of internal audit as an essential component.
2.3. Ability of Internal Audit to Play a Unique Role in Risk Management

Internal audit can play three roles in risk management.

(I) Internal audit can manage risk from an objective and overall perspective

Risk is infectious, non-symmetrical and easy to pass on in enterprises. In another word, risk caused by one particular department or consequences arising from negligent risk management by such a department will pass on to other departments ultimately leading to a difficult situation for the whole enterprise. For this reason, some departments will incur the risk of unethical transfer as risk is at least not borne individually by the originating department. For instance, in order to save purchasing cost, the purchasing department tends to ignore the review of material specifications, types and quality, or deliberately buy defective goods. Such hidden risk will be reflected in the workshops or sales department, leading to ultimate enormous losses to the enterprise. Therefore, the understanding, prevention and control of risk should be considered from an overall perspective.

Internal audit organizations do not participate in specific business activities, thereby independent of business management departments. For this reason, internal audit is capable of recognizing risk from an overall and objective perspective and putting forward suggestive measures for risk control.

(II) Internal audit can control and instruct enterprise risk strategies

An internal audit department is in-between enterprise directorate, general director and various functional departments. Therefore, internal auditors are capable of acting as coordinator of long-term enterprise risk strategies and decision-making. Through coordination of long-term plans and short-term realization, internal auditors can adjust, control and instruct enterprise risk management strategies.

(III) Suggestions put forward by internal audit are more likely to arouse attention

Although some enterprises have their own risk management departments, they are a functional department reporting to the general manager without much independence. While producing opinions, such departments are under pressure of the management authorities. For instance, even if the risk management department finds that a certain investment project is too risky for implementation after project evaluation, the general manager will still promote its implementation in order to inflate his own performance record. Thus the risk management department is restricted in its function. With its independence from the management authorities, internal audit can directly report its opinion of risk assessment to the directorate, thus increasing attention from the management authorities.

2.4. Influence of External Audit

In recent years, CPAs have been extending their scope of business continuously. Risk assessment is a major component of their newly added assurance service. However, this will not influence internal audit, because internal audit departments and internal auditors enjoy advantages beyond the CPAs. For example, internal audit departments and internal auditors have a better understanding of enterprise risks, and have a more acute sense of responsibility towards the prevention of enterprise risk and realization of enterprise goals. Compared with external audit, internal audit is more qualified to do this job.

3. How Does Internal Audit Participate in Risk Management

Risk management conducted by ordinary risk management departments and that by internal audit departments are both inter-related and different. Both are aimed at reducing enterprise risk. However, the two differ in their roles in risk management.

Risk management carried out by internal audit departments is a re-monitoring process on the basis of risk management conducted by other departments. Such risk management process covers three aspects:

*To assess sufficiency of risk identification;
*To assess appropriateness of risk measurement;
*To assess sufficiency of risk prevention measures and put forward measures for improvement.

3.1. To assess sufficiency of risk identification

Risk identification refers to the process of judging, classifying and certifying the nature of existing and potential risks. In other words, risk identification determines what risks are faced or will be faced by the enterprise. Internal auditors need to assess whether the identified risk is sufficient, i.e., whether major risks faced by the enterprise have all been identified, and to find what risks have not been located. Methods applied herein include decision-making analysis, feasibility analysis, statistical forecast analysis, input-output analysis, flow-chart analysis, asset-liability analysis, cause-effect analysis, loss list analysis, insurance investigation and expert investigation.

3.2. To assess appropriateness of risk measurement

Risk measurement refers to the ultimate estimation of risk, discovery of major risk sources and evaluation of potential risk influence through the combination of qualitative and quantitative measures in order to produce relevant and effective counter measures. Internal audit departments and internal auditors should re-inspect the results of measuring existing risks so as to determine whether such measurement is appropriate and correct inappropriate estimates. Major methods include investigation, expert score rating, risk return (or adjustment of standard discount rate), risk equivalent, interpretative analysis, and Monte Carlo simulation.

3.3. To assess sufficiency of risk prevention measures and put forward measures for improvement

Risk prevention measures are measures adopted for reducing identified and measured risks. They are also referred to as selection of risk management means. Internal audit departments and their auditors should review risk prevention measures adopted by relevant departments to see whether such measures are sufficient and appropriate. Where such measures are inadequate, internal audit departments and internal auditors should put forward improvement suggestions in order to reinforce risk management and reduce risk losses. Applicable methods include risk avoidance, loss control, separation of risky units, risk transfer by non-insurance means (including transfer risk sources, conclusion of accountability exemption agreements, and utilization of accountability transfer clauses in contracts), and insurance.
In conclusion, it is inevitable for internal audit to get involved in risk management due to its operating environment and its own characteristics. In risk management, internal audit departments mainly re-supervise risk management that is completed by other relevant departments. However, this does not mean that internal audit departments can in no way become a direct manager of risk. Where necessary, such departments can directly carry out risk management. The participation of internal audit in risk management is brand new issue requiring lot of exploration and discussion.- Brian Gamanya

Well Managed Wildlife

Well-managed wildlife trade has the potential to be even more of a key development tool for the world’s poor.

Trading Nature: the contribution of wildlife trade management to sustainable livelihoods and the Millennium Development Goals shows that a key development advantage of wildlife trade is the opportunities it offers to the very poor and the level of involvement by local communities. But many of the benefits are threatened when illegal trade is allowed to flourish.Excluding the products of the commercial timber and fisheries industries, the wildlife products covered in the report include medicines, food, clothing, ornaments, furnishings, pets, ornamental plants, zoological and botanical display, research, manufacturing and construction materials. As well as contributing to the incomes of the poor, many also contribute directly to their housing, health and other needs. The report finds that well-managed, legal and sustainable trade can have a significant impact on all eight of the Millennium Development Goals, the globally agreed roadmap which lay out targets in development assistance and poverty reduction.

“Trade in wildlife products can have a significant economic impact on people’s livelihoods, childhood education, and the role of women in developing countries, provided it is legal, well-managed and sustainable,” said Dr Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF International’s Species Programme. Wildlife trade can make a direct major contribution to primary healthcare too—the subject of three MDGs—through the significant trade in wildlife-based medicines of both plant and animal origin. Underpinning the sustainable management of wildlife trade is good governance, the key to MDG 8. Trading Nature examines a series of case studies. For example, Uganda’s lake fisheries produce fish worth over US$200 million a year, employ 135,000 fishers and 700,000 small-scale operators in processing trade and associated industries. It also generates US$87.5 million in export earnings.Analysis of the wild meat trade reveals estimates of contributions of up to 34% of household income in East and Southern Africa.

Wild meat is also providing both an affordable source of animal protein and a livelihood opportunity for men as hunters and women as traders. The report studies the effects of the trade in peccary and caiman skins and vicuña wool in Latin America. The caiman skin trade generates a low income for ranchers compared to cattle, but it can be significant for the poor and landless with few other income-generating opportunities.The report suggests incentives for the conservation and security of natural resources upon which many livelihoods depend. The legal, international trade in wild plants and animals and the products derived from them was estimated as worth close to US$300 billion in 2005, based on declared import values—and the value is rising. “Without good governance, none of the other MDGs are truly attainable,” said Steven Broad, Executive Director of TRAFFIC. “We call on governments to pay greater attention to resource access issues, and to develop innovative approaches to address unsustainable harvesting of the most commercially valuable wildlife commodities.”

For further information:Richard Thomas, Communications Co-ordinator, TRAFFIC, t + 44 1223 279068, mob + 44 752 6646 216,

The profile

What we do

First World Business Consultants offers services in the following areas:- Strategic Environmental and Sustainability Information; Environmental Policy and Programmes; Environmental Management Systems; Environmental Auditing, Assessment and Training; Report and Systems Verification; Assurance Programmes; Environmental policies and legislation are changing rapidly, as is the manner in which these are interpreted and applied.

We can brief you on the way in which national, regional and local environmental policies and legislation is likely to affect your business and assist you in incorporating the necessary and relevant environmental policies into your company policies, programmes and business plans. If necessary, relevant and appropriate training can also be provided.
We can feedback to you current data and thinking on environmental issues and current areas of focus and priority. We can offer you the service on an ad hoc basis (focused consultation or series of consultations) or we can set up a retainer system where we will scan for your particular business and issue you with regular reports and business briefings.

There is a great call for cost-effective environmental training for all sectors of commerce and industry. We are able to prepare customized environmental training to meet whatever your needs may be. We can put together short (4 hour intensive or full day) or long (up to five full days) courses on all aspects of professional environmental training and awareness programmes. For example, we can offer 4 hour intensive training courses for Health & Safety Representatives so that they can include environmental aspects in their regular audits and inspections. At the end of the course, they will leave with a detailed checklist and "mini-manual" on the key points from the course as a handy reference. We can also provide more advanced environmental training and awareness programmes, specialist briefings, and updates for more senior employees and management on the wider issues that must be considered. This level of training will sensitise staff to community issues and assist in avoiding the potential for emotional confrontations or conflict situations.

National and International Standards organisations are beginning to introduce formalised standards for environmental management systems. The British Standards Institute (BSI) first started the process by producing BS 7750: 1992 - Specification for Environmental Management Systems and the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) followed not long after with SABS 0251:1993 Code of Practice for Environmental Management Systems. The International Standards Organisation (ISO) has produced an environmental management systems standard (ISO 14000) series which dovetails with the ISO 9000 quality systems series.
One of our consultants, Arend Hoogervorst was a member of the SABS 0251:1993 Environmental Management Systems Technical Committee and was a member of the local SABS/ISO Technical Committees on Environmental Auditing; Life Cycle Analysis and Terms & Definitions, which contributed to the development of the ISO standard.

What we do

We can advise you on formal and informal environmental management systems and indicate a possible strategy to adopt environmental management systems that are appropriate to your business operation. You may even have existing systems in place, in which case we can evaluate and audit those systems and report to you on effectiveness, areas of improvement, strengths, weaknesses and successes from an environmental perspective.

Environmental auditing is a very powerful tool for measuring environmental performance against environmental policy.
We have had extensive, practical experience in setting up environmental auditing systems and our manual on environmental auditing is due to be published in the near future.

We can assist you in setting up audit systems, we can carry out external audits to verify your existing systems, we can carry out acquisition audits if you need information on the environmental liability of proposes acquisition or partnership; and we can report on environmental "weak points" that may need consideration.

There are always minimum legal requirements to be met in any business and an environmental audit can be a part of your legal compliance programme.

Remember that an environmental audit is not a policing exercise to "catch out" the sectors of neither your organisation that are nor performing to standard. The audit should be a part of the normal, ongoing improvement process that should be a key element of your business plan and your quality assurance and customer satisfaction programme.
The environmental audit helps to answer the question, "Are you practising, environmentally, what your company policy preaches?"
The importance of adding an environmental component to your existing mission statement, company policy and aims and objectives is not only a part of your corporate image but also a vital key to implementing environmental practices as a part of the process of doing business and complying with the law. It is also a necessity, should you be looking to export your goods and services to Europe and North America.

What we do

We can evaluate your existing policy structures and advise you on how to bring in environmental considerations in a meaningful and practical manner that will locate you as one of the environmentally responsible leaders in your business sector.

It is important to make the changes in such a way that they are acceptable to your management and employees, as well as being plausible and relevant to your customers. Training, briefings and support can be provided to assist with this process. We can link into any existing change process programmes that you may have under way and ensure that there is a cohesion and consensus.

Environmental policies have to be followed up with realistic and implementable action plans and objectives. We can assist you in developing action plans and objectives for your business with time frames and review benchmarks.

Strategic Advice: First World Business Consultants offer consultation to sectors assessing how their business is likely to be impacted by environmental and social issues, new regulations, consumer concerns, and supply chain issues and help companies develop appropriate policies and management systems to manage these business risks.

Development Impacts and Planning: Our staffs have a good understanding of the local and international environment, the regulatory needs and community concerns and are able to use this knowledge to help develop solutions that meet the needs of all stakeholders in the developed and developing countries.

Managing Liabilities and Risks: Our work in this area falls into two categories: assisting with mergers and acquisitions to help buyers and sellers fully understand the potential financial value of environmental liabilities; and working with corporations to understand and manage risks.

Managing Contaminated Sites: We provide assistance around the world developing clean up solutions and working with the client as project managers to remediate the sites. At a corporate level, we are working with property managers to devise strategies for managing the entire portfolio of contaminated sites.

Permitting and Technical Work: We work with a host of different on-site operations which can range from an oil rig through to a pharmaceutical site, assisting local managers to meet regulatory requirements and to keep down the costs of environmental management.

Selected Clients List:

City of Windhoek Municipality
GIPF
Namibia Ministry of Environment
Namibia Nature Foundation
Anglogold Gold Mining
Chemical & Allied Industries Association Industry Association
City of Cape Town Municipality
CSIR (Durban) Research & Consulting
Debswana Mining Company (Botswana) Diamond Mining
Dept Environmental Affairs & Tourism Central Government South Africa
Dept Water Affairs & Forestry Central Government South Africa
Development Bank of South Africa Development Financing
ENGEN Refinery Oil Refinery
Enviroserv Holdings Waste Management
ESKOM National electric utility
Hulett Aluminium Metal working
Hillside Aluminium Metal working
Human Sciences Research Council Research
Industrial Environmental Forum Industry Association
Independent Development Research Centre (Canada) Aid Agency
Investec Bank Limited Development Financing
Iscor Steel Steel manufacture
Kelloggs Food manufacture
KPMG International consulting
Lever Ponds Chemical manufacture
Mondi Paper manufacture
NCP Chemical manufacture
Polifin Chemical manufacture
Portnet Port management
PriceWaterhouseCoopers Auditing & Accounting
Robertsons Food manufacture
Richards Bay Bulk Storage Chemical bulk storage
SA Nylon Spinners Chemical manufacture
SAPPI Paper manufacture
Sapref Refinery Oil Refinery
Sasol Chemical manufacture
S C Johnson Wax Chemical manufacture
Sentrachem Chemical manufacture
South African Breweries Brewing
Tongaat Hulett Food manufacture
Umgeni Water Water utility
UNEP Div. of Technology, Industry and Economics United Nations Environment Programme (France)
University of Natal Research & teaching
Van Ommeren Tank Terminal South Africa Chemical bulk storage
Wastetech Waste management

Some of Our People

Brian Gamanya

Brian is a Chief consultant at First World Business Consultants and he is the owner of the company. Has worked for British American Tobacco where he got his Scholarship, experience, traineeship and mentoring between 1993 and 2000. Brian has been involved in research with various private consulting groups within this period to now. He has been involved in environmental supervision for several years providing extensive knowledge of environmental management and marine conservation issues within Southern Africa and abroad. His scientific studies focused on food science, project management and environmental management. Brian graduated from Birmingham University in 2002, and now focuses primarily on running the consultancy firm and doing environmental community projects. He is a chartered environmentalist and accredited by Environmental Science Committee of Heads of Environmental Sciences (CHES) Accreditation Scheme.

Brian is currently working on a project with the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) introducing Green Pack to African countries.

A multi-media educational resource pack The Green Pack is a multi-medium environmental education curriculum kit to teach children about environmental protection and sustainable development. The Green Pack is primarily intended for European primary school teachers and their students. The Green Pack’s interactive and multi-media presentation makes it a lively source of information for anyone interested in environmental challenges.

Office number:+26461220336
email:first@iway.na

ISO 14000

The series of ISO14000 standards are designed to cover:

Environmental Management Systems

Environmental Auditing

Environmental Performance Evaluation

Environmental Labelling Life-Cycle Assessment

Environmental Aspects In Product Standards

Why have these standards?

A set of international standards brings a world-wide focus to the environment, encouraging a cleaner, safer, healthier world for us all. The existence of the standards allows organizations to focus environmental efforts against internationally accepted criteria.

At present many countries and regional groupings are generating their own requirements for environmental issues and these vary between the groups. A single standard will ensure that there are no conflicts between regional interpretations of good environmental practice.

The fact that companies may need environmental management certification to compete in the global marketplace could easily overshadow all ethical reasons for environmental management. Within Europe, many organizations gained ISO 9000 Registration primarily to meet growing demands from customers. ISO 9000 quality registration has become necessary to do business in many areas of commerce. Similarly, the ISO 14000 management system registration may become the primary requirement for doing business in many regions or industries.

Who do the standards apply to?

The standards apply to all types and sizes of organizations and are designed to encompass diverse geographical, cultural and social conditions. For ISO14001, except for committing to continual improvement and compliance with applicable legislation and regulations, the standard does not establish absolute requirements for environmental performance. Many organizations, engaged in similar activities, may have widely different environmental management systems and performance, and may all comply with ISO14001.

What do the standards apply to?

This is primarily for the company to decide, and to
clearly document the extent of coverage. However, limiting coverage to a small [inconsequential] area may provide competitors with an ideal marketing opportunity!. There does not appear to be a limit to the coverage of the environmental management system in that it can include the organization's products, services, activities, operations, facilities, transportation, etc. From a slightly different viewpoint, all of the elements in the previous sentence should be considered for environmental impact resulting from current practices, past practices and future practices, ......and should further be reviewed for their impact under normal, abnormal and emergency conditions.

General Description of ISO14001

ISO 14001 requires an Environmental Policy to be in existence within the organisation, fully supported by senior management, and outlining the policies of the company, not only to the staff but to the public. The policy needs to clarify compliance with Environmental Legislation that may affect the organization and stress a commitment to continuous improvement. Emphasis has been placed on policy as this provides the direction for the remainder of the Management System.

Those companies who have witnessed ISO9000 Assessments will know that the policy is frequently discussed during the assessment; many staff is asked if they understand or are aware of the policy, and any problems associated with the policy are seldom serious.

The Environmental Policy is different; this provides the initial foundation and direction for the Management System and will be more stringently reviewed than a similar ISO9000 policy. The statement must be publicised in non-technical language so that it can be understood by the majority of readers. It should relate to the sites within the organisation encompassed by the Management System, it should provide an overview of the company’s activities on the site and a description of those activities. A clear picture of the company’s operations.

The preparatory review and definition of the organization's environmental effects is not part of a ISO14001 Assessment, however examination of this data will provide an external audit with a wealth of information on the methods adopted by the company. The preparatory review itself should be comprehensive in consideration of input processes and output at the site. This review should be designed to identify all relevant environmental aspects that may arise from existence on the site. These may relate to current operations, they may relate to future, perhaps even unplanned future activities, and they will certainly relate to the activities performed on site in the past (i.e. contamination of land).

The initial or preparatory review will also include a wide-ranging consideration of the legislation which may affect the site, whether it is currently being complied with, and perhaps even whether copies of the legislation are available. Many of the environmental assessments undertaken already have highlighted that companies are often unaware of ALL of the legislation that affects them, and being unaware, are often not meeting the requirements of that legislation.

The company will declare its primary environmental objectives, those that can have most environmental impact. In order to gain most benefit these will become the primary areas of consideration within the improvement process, and the company’s environmental program. The program will be the plan to achieve specific goals or targets along the route to a specific goal and describe the means to reach those objectives such that they are real and achievable. The Environmental Management System provides further detail on the environmental program. The EMS establishes procedures, work instructions and controls to ensure that implementation of the policy and achievement of the targets can become a reality. Communication is a vital factor, enabling people in the organisation to be aware of their
responsibilities, aware of the objectives of the scheme, and able to contribute to its success.

As with ISO9000 the Environmental Management System requires a planned comprehensive periodic audit of the Environmental Management System to ensure that it is effective in operation, is meeting specified goals, and the system continues to perform in accordance with relevant regulations and standards. The audits are designed to provide additional information in order to exercise effective management of the system, providing information on practices which differ to the current procedures or offer an opportunity for improvement.

In addition to audit, there is a requirement for Management Review of the system to ensure that it is suitable (for the organization and the objectives) and effective in operation. The management review is the ideal forum
to make decisions on how to improve for the future.

First World Business Consultants

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Environmental Consultants

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