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Environmental Auditing and Management in Local Government
Author(s) -
JACOBS M.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
water and environment journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1747-6593
pISSN - 1747-6585
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-6593.1992.tb00794.x
Subject(s) - local government , audit , stewardship (theology) , business , internal audit , general partnership , environmental resource management , function (biology) , environmental audit , environmental planning , process (computing) , public participation , process management , accounting , public relations , public administration , political science , computer science , environmental science , finance , evolutionary biology , politics , law , biology , operating system
New holistic approaches to environmental management by local authorities are described. Two kinds of audit, the state of the environment report and the internal audit, are defined. State of the environment reports are assessments of the condition of the local environment, generally based on existing data. They provide information about the environment to the general public and enable councils to determine environmental strategy priorities. They are giving local authorities a new environmental stewardship function. An internal audit is an assessment not only of the authority's impacts as a producer but of its environmental interactions as a regulator, influencer and manager of the environment. For some councils, auditing is becoming a continuous process through which environmental factors can be taken into account as a routine part of policy making and implementation. Both kinds of audit are changing the relationships of local authorities, reducing internal departmentalism and leading to wider consultation and partnership with local communities.