Case study

(Read the case study and answer the short structured problems that follow)

Global industry has brought exceptional prosperity and enhancement in the quality of life, but has also created vast amounts of industrial, consumer and commercial waste and poisonous gases. It has also resulted in quickly depleting natural resources. Concerns about pollution have resulted in introduction of environmental regulations in several countries, and accumulating evidence regarding the global warming and the impact of human activity on environment have brought about a focus on what can be done, both globally as well as locally, to minimise environmental damage. It is significant to ensure that measures are taken to decrease and handle the impact on the environment by adopting correct activities in an organization or collaboration with the external parties. A significant concept behind efforts to decrease damage to the environment is - sustainability, ‘an idea which gained significance due to the publication of - Our Common Future‘also known as the Brudtland Report. The concept of the environmental sustainability has continued to form the basis for many global initiatives, such as the Earth Summit in 1992, where the adoption of Agenda 21 encouraged the practice of environmental sustainable management by developing responsible entrepreneurs. The development and prospect success of hotel industry depends on the accessibility of natural resources. Moreover, the natural environment of a destination is characteristically one of the major assets for the local hotel industry. At the same time, but, hotels are among some of the larger consumers of energy and water resources and also generate large amounts of waste.   Two important programmes throughout the 1990s included the development of the International Hotel Environmental Initiatives (IHEI) and Agenda 21, which further led to the development of voluntary systems such as environmental management systems and eco-labels and so on. The literature also point to that EMS is the most preferred voluntary system adopted by most hotels all around the world.

In order to further comply with EMS cycle, hotels started complying with dissimilar certifiers who aid organisations to verify their environmental management systems. The most common certifiers that were adopted by hotels are the use of ISO 14001 and Green Globe 21. These two EMS frameworks are the most admitted by hotels worldwide because they enhance environmental performance and compliance with environmental legislations. It has been found that implementation of both the frameworks are rapidly increasing worldwide among various accommodation sectors which are diversely spread across countries and regions. Since then it has been observed that many hotel organisations have undertaken various green initiatives and have adopted environmental management systems. Previous studies, have reported that EMS is a reliable and workable instrument that aids hotel organisations to attain their environmental targets.

Required:

problem1. Determine and clearly describe the advantages of implementing ISO 14001 to the hotel sector?

problem2. The International Organization for the Standardization (ISO), were asked prior to the Earth Summit in 1992, to participate and make international environmental standard. Describe why do we require environmental standards?

problem3. According to ISO 14001, based on the methodology known as Plan-Do-Check-Act a continual improvement process of five particular phases exists. Give concise notes on each particular phase as per ISO 14001.

problem4. describe how ISO14001 can be used by the Mauritian hotel sector to enhance their environmental performances, hence achieving to some extent environmental sustainability.