However, the institutional setting of the agencies under its supervision was subject to significant adjustment as part of the Programme for Restructuring the Government’s Central Administration (PRACE). The purpose of this programme, launched by the central government in 2005, was to increase the coherence and efficiency of public administration. The APA is the principal body responsible for monitoring and implementing environmental policies with regard to climate change, air pollution and air quality, noise reduction and waste management.1 In the area of nature protection and biodiversity conservation, reorganisation of the Institute for Nature Conservation and Biodiversity (ICNB) has included the establishment of five new Regional Departments for Management of Classified Areas (DGACs). In 2009, the Institute for the Regulation of Water and Solid Waste (IRAR), responsible for regulating water and waste services, was reorganised into the Water and Waste Services Regulation Authority (ERSAR).