In addition, an Environmental Protection Agency may also be created to coordinate environmental assessment activities and to monitor follow up actions. As well as specific environmental agencies, new units or departments concerned with environmental issues are being created in technical ministries. Such units may have narrow duties related to the responsibilities of the institution. For example, several units could be concerned with various aspects of monitoring water pollution levels and setting acceptable quality standards. The responsibilities of all the relevant institutions needs to be clearly understood.
Institutional weakness is one of the major reasons for environmentally unsound development.
The multiplicity of institutions may also mitigate against effective enforcement of environmental control measures. The EIA must cover such issues in depth and highlight contradictions, weak or impractical legislation and institutional conflicts. To overcome such problems an EIA should propose appropriate solutions. This should include institutional strengthening. Legal framework for EIA Environmental policy without appropriate legislation will be ineffective as, in turn, will be legislation without enforcement.