Human resource capacity is one of the key factors influencing what regional institutions can actually do. The European Commission—die heart of the European Union (EU) administration— employs over 23,000 people in total; the two Directorates for Environment and Climate have staffs of 454 and 137, respectively; the European Environment Agency, which deals mainly with monitoring and information brokerage, employs around 200; and a number of environmental research centres are also part of the EU administration, adding further expertise and capacity. While a comparison of the secretariat capacity of die EU and die Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is perhaps unfair, given diat they have different mandates, it is notable that ASEAN’s secretariat employs just over 300 people and the department dealing with environmental issues has fewer than 10 staff members.