Around the world, it is increasinglybeing recognized that for sustainability goals to bereached, efforts need to go beyond compliance with standardsand mitigation of adverse impacts, to identifyingenvironmental sustainability as an objective of thedevelopment process. This requires a focus on policies thatpromote integration of environmental, sustainability, andclimate change considerations into development strategiesand sector reform. Because sector reform brings aboutsignificant policy change involving adjustments in laws,policies, regulations and institutions, it is a sensitivepolitical process often driven by strong economic interests.Policy makers are subject to a number of political pressuresthat originate in vested interests. In situations such asthese, the recommendations of environmental assessment areoften of little relevance unless there are constituenciesthat support them, and with sufficient political power tomake their voices heard in the policy process. While strongconstituencies are important during the design of sectorreform, they are even more important during implementation.It follows that effective environmental assessment in sectorreform requires strong constituencies backing uprecommendations, a system to hold policy makers accountablefor their decisions, and institutions that can balancecompeting and, sometimes, conflicting interests.
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