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Environmental Management System

Forest and Fire EMS cycle
As a requirement of the Our Forests, Our Future policy statement, DSE has implemented a Forest and Fire Environmental Management System (EMS). The basic components of the EMS are:
  • the Environmental Policy
  • the identification and ranking of significant environmental aspects and risks
  • objectives and targets for sustainable forest management
  • a plan to achieve the objectives and targets
  • operational controls – a series of standard operating procedures for DSE's operational forest and fire activities
  • corrective action and incident reports
  • monitoring and reporting on DSE's operational activities
  • an audit program which includes internal, external and third party audits
  • management review.

The EMS covers operational activities such as prescribed burning, road building, recreation services and timber harvesting. It ensures that we:

The supporting framework for the EMS is the Environmental Charter for Victoria's State Forests, while sustainable forest management objectives are provided by the Sustainability Charter for Victoria's State Forests.

We are committed to obtaining accreditation of the Forest and Fire EMS to ISO 14001 standard. This will ensure that a robust system is in place to implement the principles within the Charter and Policy on the ground.

Following EMS accreditation, we will pursue forest certification for Victoria's forests (Australian Forestry Standard, Forest Stewardship Council). Forest certification will extend on current environmental objectives covered in the Forest and Fire EMS by incorporating social and economic objectives into the management system.


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