Strong environmental performance is considered to be a key facet of a company’s Licence to Operate. High quality and robust environmental data related to ecological communities, discharges, emissions, resource use and impacts are vital for organisations to efficiently reduce environmental risk, demonstrate compliance, achieve positive environmental outcomes and measure the success of environmental initiatives.
A good data management system can provide a real solution to the all too commonplace scattered bits of information and unrelated spreadsheets haphazardly stored throughout network drives or personal computer desktops in an organisation. A good system should be able to handle and make sense of large volumes of information by storing, collating, centralising and displaying environmental data in a coherent way. This makes auditing a breeze (or at the very least – less of a chore), enabling easy access and legibility when required to present such data.
Organisations that are committed to ensuring quality data tend to stand a better chance in achieving good environment outcomes opposed to those that may be more haphazard in their approach to environment and sustainability data handling. Good data makes it easier to spot adverse environmental impacts, track project progress, highlight project successes, address failures, and ultimately optimize decision making. A user friendly and fit-for-purpose environmental data system therefore should have a robust and accurate handling, storage and retrieval process appropriate to its frequency, detail and purpose.
Acquiring and utilising environmental data can be used to assess long term management performance as in the case of Newmont’s Mt. Leyshon Mine. Here, Newmont has implemented a monitoring network to better understand the site water balance and the relationships between flow conditions and water quality. This has been implemented to aid the establishment of a more accurate mine closure design and closure criteria. Automated monitoring is not the be all and end all of sound data management however. Even basic data management with sound principles of retrieval and storage could bring about greater transparency, easier reporting, accountability and more targeted environmental risk mitigation measures.
The importance of well-managed data is a view shared by Yale University who published the recently released 2020 Environmental Performance Index (EPI). When interviewed about current trends noticed during the 12th biennial EPI study, a lead author of the report highlighted the need for a more data-driven and empirical approach to environmental protection.
The popular tenement management tool LandTracker now has an environmental data capability linking with tenements and environmental reporting groups. LandTracker allows online access, data storage in a centralized place, an excel style functionality, and easy data input. Minimal manual handling options bring with it the reduced likelihood of human error and reduced operational risk. With LandTracker you can effortlessly produce information for report submissions and automatically send them to relevant parties on an automatically recurring basis.
With the plethora of regulatory compliance reporting under the responsibility of the typical environmental professional, a good data management system can be of immeasurable personal benefit.
For more information on how LandTracker might be of use to you and your company, please contact us LandTrack Systems.
Learn more about Environmental data management by attending LandTrack System’s Environmental Essentials Training Course
