Welcome to ENVR S341 Green Management: Sustainable Product Life Cycle, Environmental Management Systems and Regulations!

This Course Guide tells you briefly what the course is about and how you can work your way through the course material. It also tells you how much time you will probably need to spend in order to successfully complete the course. Finally, it provides you with a general guide as to when your assignments are due. After this introduction, which gives a general overview of the course and lists its aims and objectives, there are sections on:

• course materials
• course assessment, including information about assignments and examinations.

While much of the content of this Course Guide is similar to that of other HKMU courses, some information is specific to ENVR S341 Green Management: Sustainable Product Life Cycle, Environmental Management Systems and Regulations. Please read below carefully.

About the course

ENVR S341 Green Management: Sustainable Product Life Cycle, Environmental Management Systems and Regulations is a two-semester, 10-credit undergraduate course. ENVR S341 is an updated version of ENVR S319, which has the same name and forms an excluded combination with ENVR S341. Although the course materials of ENVR S341 are based on the theories and principles of ENVR S319, about 30% of the course has been updated, and ENVR S341 includes considerably more local information on environmental legislation and management in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta.

ENVR S341 is divided into ten study units, and is intended to take you about 40 weeks to complete. The course has been specially designed by HKMU for students who want to pursue the BSc (Hons) degree in Environmental Studies and the BSc (Hons) degree in Environmental Studies with Management. Students taking this course are assumed to have finished a major portion of middle level and higher level courses from the BSc general degree in Environmental Studies. Although ENVR S341 is a stand-alone course, the course has strong links with ENVR S237 Environmental Control and Public Health, ENVR S335 Environmental Control, Monitoring and Modeling and ENVR S320 Environmental Impact Assessment.

Course aims

ENVR S341 aims to help you develop the knowledge and skills needed to address the multi-disciplinary issues of environmental protection. The course also helps you to become more familiar with current trends in environmental legislation and management. You will learn how to analyse cases of special environmental interest and become competent in dealing with environmental management and legislation in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta. The course includes a project assignment that helps to train you in implementing environmental management and auditing procedures in the workplace.

Course learning outcomes

After studying ENVR S341, you should be able to:

1. Assess the value of environmental management and auditing in enterprises, and the importance of environmental legislation.
2. Examine how environmental legislation, management and auditing are integrated into the private and public sectors.
3. Apply an integrated knowledge of environmental science and technology to environmental practices and management in different industries and workplaces.
4. Analyse the principles and elements of environmental management and auditing systems that achieve sustainable development.
5. Review an environmental management system and audit, and evaluate its effectiveness in various work settings.
6. Analyse and implement the frameworks and regulations of environmental legislation.

Course organization

The following chart gives a brief overview of the course structure:

The course does not have a set textbook. Instead, you will be supplied with materials from a wide range of sources. The course materials consist of this Course Guide and ten study units. The study units are:

Unit 1 Introduction to environmental management

Unit 2 International best practice and environmental economics

Unit 3 Environmental management systems and ISO 14000 — context and models

Unit 4 Environmental law and the Hong Kong legislative process

Unit 5 The common law and anti-pollution legislation

Unit 6 Management of land and natural resources

Unit 7 Environmental management and legislation in the PRC

Unit 8 Environmental monitoring and auditing

Unit 9 Case studies in environmental management and legislation

Unit 10 Environmental sustainability, with particular reference to the Pearl River Delta

In each study unit, you will be asked to refer to supporting readings including excerpts from journals, newspapers, government reports, reference books and articles downloaded from the Internet.

You will also need to frequently access the annual report of the Environmental Protection Department at http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/misc/ehk07/english/other/contents.htm.

Recommended references

The following references are recommended if you have a limited background in environmental science. Copies of these are available in the HKMU Library.

• Chan, A T, Hedley, A J, Hills, P R and Zhong, J H (2001) The Air We Breathe: Air Pollution in Hong Kong, published by The University of Hong Kong.
• Green, R (1993) Effluent Treatment and Waste Minimization — Environmental Auditing: the US Experience, No. 132, Paper 2, IChemE (all sections).
• Jain, Urban, Stacey and Balbach (1993) Environmental Assessment, McGraw Hill.
• Ledgewood, Street and Therivel (1992) The Environmental Audit and Business Strategy — A Total Quality Approach, Financial Times, Pitman Publishing.
• A Guide to the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance, published by the Environmental Protection Department, HKSAR Government (first published on September 1997, updated in subsequent years).
• A Guide to the Water Pollution Control Ordinance, published by the Environmental Protection Department, HKSAR Government (all chapters).
• Environment Hong Kong 2004, published by the Information Services Department, HKSAR Government, 2004.
• Environmental Guidelines for Planning in Hong Kong — an Extract from the Hong Kong Planning Standards & Guidelines, published by the Government of the HKSAR (first approved and published on August 1990, updated in subsequent years).
• Technical Memorandum on Environmental Impact Assessment Process, published by the Environmental Protection Department, HKSAR Government (first published on September 1997, updated in subsequent years).
• The Operation of Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance in Hong Kong, April 1998–December 2001, published by the Environmental Protection Department, HKSAR Government, 2002.
• Waste Reduction Framework Plan 1998–2007, published by the Environmental Protection Department, HKSAR Government, 1998.

錢俊生, 何建宗, 甄永樂編著, 香港環境與環境保護, 中國環境科學出版社, 1997.

馬小玲 編著, 香港環境保護法制管理, 中國環境科學出版社, 1996.

羅致光議員辦事處, 生態教育及資源中心, 陳竟明, 熊永達, 羅致光, 梁嘉恩, 盧菁, 董禧鴻, 甄永樂 編著, 香港環保演進, 2004.

The following books/articles are highly relevant to this course and are recommended to all students. Individual chapters from these references will be referred to at various points in the study units. Copies of these references are also available in the HKMU library.

Bell, S and McGillivray, D(2000) Ball & Bell on Environmental Law: the Law and Policy Relating to the Protection of the Environment, 5th edn, Blackstone Press Limited.

Shum, C (1998) General Principles of Hong Kong Law, 3rd edn, Longman.

Environmental Management Systems — Implementing ISO 14001 in Asia (1999) published by Sweet & Maxwell Asia.

ISO 14001 — Environmental Management Systems — Specification with Guidance for Use, published by the ISO (first published in 1996, updated in subsequent years).

ISO 14004 — Environmental Management Systems — General Guidelines on Principles, Systems and Supporting Techniques, published by the ISO (first published in 1996, updated in subsequent years).

ISO 14010 — Guidelines for Environmental Auditing — General Principles, published by the ISO (first published in 1996, updated in subsequent years).

ISO 14011 — Guidelines for Environmental Auditing — Audit Procedures — Auditing of Environmental Management Systems, published by the ISO (first published in 1996, updated in subsequent years).

ISO 14012 — Guidelines for Environmental Auditing — Qualification Criteria for Environmental Auditors, published by the ISO (first published in 1996, updated in subsequent years).

周其華, 蘇德永, 劉永懋, 劉鵬飛, (主編), 環境保護法律全書, 中國檢察出版社, 1994.

國家環境保護總局政策法規局 編, 地方環境保護法規選編, 學苑出版社, 1999.

國家標準匯編 — 環境保護綜合類, 中國標準出版社, 1997.

國家標準匯編 — 環境質量與污染排放,中國標準出版社, 1998.

陳錫僑, 譚衛廣 編著, 二十世紀的澳門環境, 澳門社會科學學會出版, 2004.

劉培哲 編著, 可持續發展理論與中國21世紀議程, 氣象出版社, 2001.

Electronic references

The course materials will encourage you to seek out and use information contained in various important websites. Ideally, you should have access to a modern IT system giving full access to the Internet and the World Wide Web. The HKMU Computer Laboratory offers you this access.

The following webpages are useful sites for learning more about environmental management and environmental quality:

• Environmental Management Tools (for Hong Kong): http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/how_help/tools_ems/overview.html
• ISO — International Organization for Standardization: http://www.iso.org/iso/home.html
• ISO 14000 Information Centre: https://www.iso.org/iso-14001-environmental-management.html
• 國家環保總局 (http://www.sepa.gov.cn) < 科技標準 > ISO14000國家示範區 ；http://kjs.mep.gov.cn/hjbhbz//

The following webpages are useful sites for learning more about environmental legislation in Hong Kong and the PRC:

• Bilingual Laws Information System (BLIS): http://www.blis.gov.hk
• Department of Justice webpage: http://www.doj.gov.hk
• Environmental Protection Department webpage: http://www.info.gov.hk/epd/ (This webpage contains extensive information on environmental legislation in Hong Kong.)
• Hong Kong Legal Information Institute (HKLII): http://www.hklii.org/
• The Hong Kong Judiciary: http://www.judiciary.gov.hk/en/index/index.htm
• 國家環保總局 (http://www.sepa.gov.cn)  政策法規 ；http://www.sepa.gov.cn/gzfw_13107/zcfg/fl/

The following are more useful sites:

EPD (2009) Executive Summary of Review of the Air Quality Objectives and Development of a Long Term Air Quality Strategy for Hong Kong: http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/misc/er/er2011/eg/PDF/Fullset_eng.pdf

HKSAR Government (2009) Legislative Council Panel on Environmental Affairs — Latest progress of implementation of the New Nature Conservation Policy: http://www.afcd.gov.hk/english/conservation/con_nncp/files/legco_eng1_march2009.pdf

CEDD (2009) Kai Tak Development — EIA Executive Summary: http://www.epd.gov.hk/eia/register/report/eiareport/eia_1572008/ExecutiveSummary/ES_PDF/ESEnglish.pdf

EPD (2009)'s noise solutions:

For new roads: http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/noise/prob_solutions/eng_measures.html

For engineering measures: http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/noise/prob_solutions/new_road.html

For traffic management: http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/noise/prob_solutions/noise_measures.html

EPD (2008) Pearl River Delta Water Quality Model — Final Study Report: http://wqrc.epd.gov.hk/pdf/PRDWQ_FSR_English_Final.pdf (Chapter 1 and Chapter 6)

EPD's examples of EIA practices: http://www.epd.gov.hk/eia/hb/example/SomeExamples.pdf

Integration of Management Systems: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12063-010-0037-z and http://isoupdate.com/resources/the-benefits-of-integrated-management-systems/

Continuous assessment

There will be five assignments. For the first four assignment s, the best three will be counted towards your continuous assessment score (CAS). The last assignment (05) is a final report on an individual project related to implementing environmental legislation and environmental management systems. This project assignment is a compulsory assignment, and you need to get at least 40% in this assignment to pass the course. You will also need to orally present your project results to your tutor and tutorial group classmates.

Examination

The final examination willbe of three hours' duration and will account for 50% of the overall course score. The examination will consist of questions which reflect activities and assignment problems that you have encountered.

The following table summarizes the course assessment for ENVR S341.

Tutors

Your HKMU tutor provides formal tutorials and is also available for telephone discussion, support and tutorial guidance. He or she will also provide extensive feedback on assignments.

Tutorials

Several two-hour tutorials will be provided in ENVR S341 Green Management: Sustainable Product Life Cycle, Environmental Management Systems and Regulations. Tutorials are designed to encourage discussion of the units and the readings, to answer questions that you have about the course, and to expose you to other students' perspectives on the key issues of the course.

Day schools

There will be two to three day schools arranged throughout the course. You must attend at least one of the day schools to fulfil the academic requirements of the course. However, you are strongly encouraged to attend all of the arranged day schools.

During the first and second day school, you will participate in interactive activities led by consultants and environmental practitioners. The sessions will aim to extend and inspire you, and features may include workshops, surveys, experiments, experience sharing, case analysis, and question and answer segments.

At the last dayschool, you shall present the findings from your individual projects to your tutor and classmates. The aim of this presentation is to share ideas and generate stimulating comments/challenges from classmates.

For details of tutorial and day school dates, please refer to the Presentation Schedule which comes with the first mailing.

A note about the developers of this course

Prof. Ho Kin-chung, BBSobtained his BSc (Hons) degree in Biology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He graduated with an MSc degree in Environmental Resources from Salford University in the United Kingdom. In 1991, he obtained his PhD degree from the University of Hong Kong after three years' part-time study.

From 1981 to 1992, Prof. Ho worked in the Water Policy Group of the Environmental Protection Department, Hong Kong Government. He is currently the Dean of the School of Science & Technology at Hong Kong Metropolitan University. He has published more than 200 academic works including 22 books, ten CD-ROMs and self-learning units, ten governmental technical reports and about 160 research articles in journals and conference proceedings.

Prof. Ho has been appointed by the government of the Hong Kong SAR as a member of the Town Planning Board, the Advisory Council on the Environment (ACE) and its subcommittee on EIA, the Advisory Committee on the Quality of Water Supplies, the Advisory Committee on Red Tide, and the Court of Baptist University. He is also the chairman of Green Power, a renowned green group in Hong Kong. With regard to polar research, Prof. Ho has visited Antarctica twice and the Arctic five times. His research interests include biogeography of harmful algae; formation mechanism of red tide with regard to ratios in nutrients; river and coastal water quality; ecological significance of lichens; environmental law and policies in Hong Kong and mainland China; sustainable development; cross-border environmental collaboration; environmental ethics and environmental education. In October 2004, Prof. Ho was awarded the Bronze Bauhinia Star (BBS) by the Chief Executive of Hong Kong for his distinguished contributions to environmental research and environmental protection.

Dr Ng Gan Che is a principal of Australasian Consultants, which specializes in educational and environmental management consulting. Over the years Dr Ng has undertaken several consultancy projects in higher education planning and management as well as research in environmental management. He has published widely in these two areas and has written courses for distance learning in the field of environmental geography. He also conducts collaborative research with scholars in China.

Dr George Cho is an Associate Professor in the School of Resource, Environmental & Heritage Sciences, Faculty of Applied Science at the University of Canberra. His field of research and teaching includes environmental law and planning, geographic information systems (GIS) and the law, Third World development and issues related to teaching and learning at tertiary level. He has published extensively in these areas and has produced several self-teaching modules in GIS for use in tertiary institutions. He has taught at universities in Canada, New Zealand and the UK. His present research is on environmental auditing standards.

This Course Guide has given you information about the aims, study schedule, learning materials, assessment and tutor support for ENVR S341 Environmental Legislation Management.

ENVR S341 aims to help you develop the know3ledge and skills needed to address the multi-disciplinary issues of environmental protection. The course will also familiarize you with current trends in environmental legislation and management.

We hope you enjoy the course and are able to apply what you learn in this course to your professional work.

努力 (Onward)！