We are now one year on from the restoration of the NI Assembly and the Executive, a development that we all welcomed early in 2024. Now seems a fitting time to reflect on the performance of the institutions when it comes to our environment and the ongoing biodiversity and climate crisis.
It’s fair to say that the last year has been a ‘mixed bag’ with progress being made in some areas.
In September, we welcomed the long overdue publication of Northern Ireland’s first Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP). Its publication is an important step in the implementation of the Environment Act. We now have a roadmap for improving nature, but we don’t have the legislative basis to ensure that happens. Without that, neither the EIP nor the upcoming Nature Recovery Strategy will be able to help reverse long-term environmental decline.
In January, the Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs issued a statement on the new Sustainable Agriculture Programme (SAP). We were delighted that the Minister said the Farming with Nature Package is one of his top priorities and it is his ambition to scale up nature friendly farming with all farmers being rewarded for delivering environmental public goods, alongside food. However, these measures can only be effective if they are adequately funded and resourced. In the previous NI agricultural budget, direct environmental payments accounted for less than 3% - lower than anywhere else in the UK.
The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) acted on our call to publicly consult on the new draft Seabird Conservation Strategy, as well as other key marine strategies including the Northern Ireland Marine Protection Area Strategy Review, which were carried out last year. This is a step in the right direction for seabirds, but it is now vital that said strategies are implemented and resourced.
Additionally, a consultation has been completed in regards to the Just Transition Commission which will oversee the Just Transition Commission elements of the Climate Change Act. £12.7million capital funding has also been allocated to Just Transition in the 2025-26 Budget, which we hope to see spent effectively. It is disappointing that the Executive still have not agreed a Climate Action Plan that would cover the Carbon Budget period 2023 – 27. We simply cannot afford to fall further behind when it comes to tackling the climate emergency.
A call for evidence has just been made regarding a review of environmental governance, and while welcome, it is long overdue. We remain the only part of the UK and Ireland that does not have an independent Environmental Protection Agency (iEPA). Northern Ireland has historically had unacceptable levels of non-compliance with environmental law. This has resulted in substantial degradation of our environment[1], and brought with it significant social and economic costs.
We need an environmental governance agency that is independent of government and that provides transparency, oversight and enforcement of laws that are in place to protect our environment and safeguard nature and public health.
Progress has been made in the last year in a number of areas. However, when it comes to protecting our environment, success will be measured not in consultations and strategies but in delivery. These strategies need to be adequately resourced and implemented, with meaningful and ambitious targets to ensure delivery for nature – we will continue to campaign for this. We look forward to working with Ministers and MLAs to help save nature.
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[1] Brennan et al. (2017) Political, economic and environmental crisis in Northern Ireland: the true cost of environmental governance failures and opportunities for reform. N. Ir. Legal Q., 68 p.123.