Guest blog by Sairah Tariq, Campaign Communications Officer, RSPB NI.
It has been a year since the UK voted to leave the European Union and still we don’t know what the consequences of Brexit will be. There is lots of political uncertainty; Theresa May has a reduced majority, there’s a possibility the government will change within the two year negotiating period and Sinn Fein and the DUP have still not come to a power sharing agreement in Stormont. May has also appointed Michael Gove as the new Environment Minister, a man who tried to ban climate change from the geography curriculum and the Conservatives now have a slim majority at Westminster.
Brexit has also created several complications for the island of Ireland because the EU has substantial environmental legislation that member states must follow. Post-Brexit, Northern Ireland will no longer be covered by this common EU framework meaning there’s a risk we could see lower environmental standards in Northern Ireland, which would have a detrimental impact on the rest of the island.
The European Parliament hosted an event in Dundalk on Friday 16 June for environmental NGOs to come together and discuss what impact Brexit will have on the environment in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Lynn Boylan MEP said that it was very unlikely that the UK will replace the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) fully because of the amount of money involved. In 2015, Northern Ireland received £280 million through CAP. Dr Cara Augustenborg pointed out that farmer’s income in Northern Ireland has declined by 7.5%. Without direct subsidies from CAP farmers could potentially be worse off than before.
The Republic of Ireland has taken positive steps towards environmental protection; the Dáil has banned fracking whereas greenhouse gas emissions in the north are up. The Republic of Ireland will be one of two EU countries set to miss the legally binding 2020 greenhouse gas emissions targets. This just goes to show that pollution does not respect borders and differing legislation and practise can put another part of the island at a disadvantage.
However it’s not all doom and gloom, the overarching feeling at the event was that it’s now vitally important that the environmental community and nature friendly farmers north and south of the border come together to secure a better environment post-Brexit and ensure that environmental protection measures are not scaled down.
It’s not just the UK and devolved governments we should look to in order to ensure that environmental protections are maintained post-Brexit, as the EU institutions and the 27 EU Member States, including the Irish government, also have a role to play in negotiations. For a start, EU legislation on the environment is based on recognition of the fact that climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss are trans-boundary issues that cannot be addressed by one country acting alone, and this will be no less true once the UK leaves the EU.
The EU-27 will also not want to see the UK gain a competitive advantage by lowering regulation in this area and could make continued adherence to environmental standards a pre-condition to a preferential trading relationship; this is something the European Parliament has already called for in its resolution on Brexit, adopted in April this year.
Brexit gives us a chance to shape environmental legislation, and marine and land-use policies, for the better. With a hung parliament in place, it’s now up to the environmental sector to make the case that the environment is a cross cutting issue that all political parties can unite on. We will be using this as an opportunity to change the way the environment is managed, to ensure we leave it in a better state for future generations.