Improving Organisational Effectiveness and Accountability for Environmental Protection

Abstract

In Chapter 2 it was suggested that a policy framework is needed for the effective implementation of environmental policies and programmes. A suggested framework included the following: policy instruments; environmental protection legislation; the setting of national environmental standards pertaining to water, air, effluent discharge, noise, waste disposal, pesticide residues and odours; laboratory facilities to test quality assurance and control of industrial emissions, effluent and other polluting substances; and an administrative system to enforce environmental laws and regulations and secure compliance by industry and the relevant government agencies through prosecution and court action. Also discussed, though briefly, was the need for trained administrators who are fully sensitive to environmental issues, and the importance of maintaining an administrative vision when faced with environmental crisis. But the experience with implementing any framework has been that things do not proceed in a textbook manner; there are always institutional and administrative factors that either thwart the implementation process or obstruct the management strategy. What are these factors? Are they inherent institutional and administrative weaknesses? Can they be surmounted? This chapter examines various institutional and administrative weaknesses that may creep into a system, recommends mechanisms to handle such problems, and discusses the need for accountable environmental management. The chapter concludes with a plea for a parliamentary commissioner for the environment. Although the discussion in this chapter is general and drawn from the experiences of industrialised countries, the same problems are faced by India and other developing nations; in this regard the author agrees with Peter Blunt that ‘just as organisational malfunctioning knows no national boundaries so too do certain strategies for improving organisational effectiveness.’¹