NI Environment Forum – Tuesday, 8 April 2025
Speech by Dame Glenys Stacey - 'Protecting and Improving the Environment'
Good morning.
I am so pleased to be here to talk to you all this morning. I was due to be here last year but unfortunately was unable to attend, so my colleague Richard Greenhous, our Chief of Staff, stood in for me at late notice. So, this is a belated opportunity for me to attend this important event. We have been very busy in the meantime, so there is plenty for me to talk about.
It is also very pleasing to be speaking to you after we have heard from the Minister. It is heartening to hear the detail of the progress being made and the clear commitments now in place. It is a hugely significant step to have ‘Protecting Lough Neagh and the Environment’ included in the Programme for Government and to have the Environmental Improvement Plan, or EIP, now in place. And we of course welcome the commitment that Northern Ireland will contribute its part to the UK’s fulfilment of the global target that at least 30% of land and sea is effectively conserved and managed by 2030, the so-called ‘30 by 30’ target. This means that the Nature Recovery Strategy, or NRS – so many acronyms! - becomes even more important. We are looking forward to that being published.
Indeed, there is a significant backlog of environmental policy. But we are much encouraged by the ambition and intent the Minister has shown. This means that the environment is getting the profile in government that is needed if the urgent progress required is to be achieved.
For us at the OEP, having the EIP in place means that the programme of accountability, our annual, independent assessment of progress, is starting to kick in. We are busy starting that work now and anticipate our first report in summer 2026, shortly after the Department publishes its first Annual Progress Report. I am sure I will be talking again to many of you who are here today about that work, and our findings.
At the OEP, we also welcome the independent review of environmental governance, such an opportunity to review the framework for environmental protection and improvement and come up with a structure that really delivers for NI. We have engaged with that review and provided details of our work and findings where we thought them relevant and helpful. We are in the latter stages of preparing our formal submission to the review.
So, progress is being made, and we can see much to welcome and to give cause for some optimism.
But….. There is always a but, isn’t there?
Much more is needed.
It is our role to hold government to account against its environmental commitments and obligations. We provide independent assessment and advice. In carrying out this role, we strive to focus our attention and available resources on the most significant issues and where we can make the most difference. And to present our work in a constructive way that can be helpful in driving change.
With that in mind, I would like to take this opportunity to talk through some of our work so far, introduce our most recently published work on Protected Sites – hot off the press last week - and look forward to our priorities over the next year or so.
What we have done – key work and findings so far
In order to know how to plan for the future, you need a good understanding of where you are now. Nationally and internationally important species and habitats are in severe decline in Northern Ireland. Therefore, one of the first pieces of work we undertook was a systematic assessment of the drivers and pressures impacting upon nature here.
We had to conclude that current pressures on nature in Northern Ireland are unsustainable and urgent action is needed to protect and improve the environment for this and future generations.
More and more has been demanded of the environment over many years, and our research revealed starkly that more pressure has been applied than land and water can bear.
The report found that the two principal pressures causing biodiversity loss are land use change and pollution, both closely linked to agricultural intensification. Excess nutrients, in the form of fertilisers and animal wastes from farming and in the form of wastewater from sewage, are the main forms of pollution having an impact. The agri-food industry in its current form is making unsustainable demands on the environment.
Alongside agriculture and sewage management, other issues contributing to on-going biodiversity loss include waste management, resource extraction, urban development and chemical pollution.
We identified three areas where action should be prioritised:
Reduce pollution by nutrients from farming and sewage. Northern Ireland has an unsustainable nutrient surplus. More on this later.
Change some land use to restore habitats. Most semi-natural habitats have been destroyed or become fragmented by land use change. A focus on restoration and nature-positive land use change is essential.
Reduce material and ecological footprints. The extraction, consumption and disposal of raw materials are causing widespread damage to biodiversity within Northern Ireland and beyond.
We have also looked closely at water in Northern Ireland, and published a report on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) Northern Ireland Regulations.
We found that while the legislation is broadly sound, it is not being implemented or delivering as it should for Northern Ireland’s lakes, rivers and coastal waters. Another sobering picture. Our report included the latest data, which showed that some things are getting worse rather than better, with just 31% of surface water bodies in Northern Ireland in a good ecological condition. This is a fall of 1% from the corresponding figure of 32% in 2015. DAERA has set a working target to bring 70% of water bodies to ‘good status’ by 2027. However, the failure to implement the WFD NI Regulations effectively means this target and others are now unlikely to be met.
We called for DAERA to publish the latest River Basin Management Plan – as required by the regulations - as soon as possible, and put it into action. This plan is important because it sets out the objectives and measures needed to protect and improve water bodies.
We also called for the draft RBMP to be strengthened by including specific environmental objectives for all individual water bodies, with a tangible and detailed programme of measures to meet these objectives in practice and the scale of funding needed to do so.
Here we are, six months after our report was published, and still no RBMP in place.
I would also note here a significant development in the Courts in England, with the Court of Appeal judgment in the Pickering case many of you will have been following, which has determined that the WFD regulations there require specific plans for specific water bodies.
We have been quite busy with our enforcement function too, with two investigations concluded and another underway.
Our first investigation in this jurisdiction considered DAERA’s advice to planning authorities on ammonia emissions, the ‘operational protocol’. We concluded that the department had failed to comply with environmental law, but did not continue with further action as the Department eventually withdrew its guidance – following a judicial review pre-action letter from the OEP. We have determined that the guidance introduced in its place does not represent a failure to comply with environmental law.
We also launched an investigation after the statutory deadline for the EIP to be in place for NI – 25 July 2023 – passed by with no EIP in place. We wanted to make it clear that the EIP is of such importance, providing as it should the roadmap for how Government will tackle the pressing environmental pressures, that the delay was unacceptable and should be as short as possible.
So, within a snapshot of our work in NI so far, we can see:
Unsustainable pressures on the environment
Ineffective implementation of environmental laws
Governance that failed to address key environmental pressures
Delays in putting in place vital plans to drive change
Our most recent work - Protected Sites
To bring things right up to date, our latest report examines how well laws designed to protect key areas for nature, such as the Antrim Hills, Upper Lough Erne, Lough Neagh and Rathlin Island, are working.
I do not need to tell this audience that these areas, and others like them, represent the most important of Northern Ireland’s natural landscapes and biodiversity. They support rare or threatened plants, animals and habitats, and, indeed, its famed geological features. Because of their importance to nature, they are legally designated as protected sites, with the aim they will be properly protected and managed.
However, not enough sites have been designated, and the condition of those that have been is getting worse rather than better.
The proportion of habitats and species features of these sites in favourable condition dropped from 61.7% in 2008, to 51.5% in 2024. Work to earmark further sites for protection has slowed, with Northern Ireland lagging behind the rest of the UK, Ireland and Europe in its coverage of protected sites.
Instead of seeing the improvement of these precious sites, we see deterioration. And the designation of areas as protected sites has effectively stalled with no new sites being designated since 2018, leaving important places for nature unprotected.
Our report identifies that the failings are largely not in the legal framework for protecting these natural treasures, instead it is the implementation of these important laws that is falling short.
We make 14 recommendations to DAERA. These include to:
Set legally-binding targets for increasing the designation of protected sites and restoring their condition – and support this with a plan to make sure the targets are met and that they are reviewed regularly
Ensure that tailored and ongoing advice and support is available to all owners and occupiers of protected sites
Ensure that restoring protected sites is a key consideration in the new Farming with Nature agri-environment scheme, which is currently being developed by DAERA
The 30 by 30 target, identified as such a priority for government, is fast approaching. The designation of more protected sites must be kick-started and work to restore them must be significantly scaled-up and sped-up if Northern Ireland is to contribute, as it has committed, to vital global targets and turn things around.
It is not easy. But nothing worthwhile ever is. We don’t believe the challenges are insurmountable. It can work in future, as we have seen that it has worked in the past when there were periods of good progress.
There are dedicated people committed to this work, but they must now have the support from across government to match the scale of the task in order to do the job, the way legislation intended.
The EIP includes commitments to increase the area of land that is protected, connected and managed for nature and to improve the condition of protected sites. Those commitments are a most welcome step in the right direction. However, what we must see now is a reset that translates these commitments into results.
We know that resources are constrained. We don’t know what it will take to meet government’s targets. But we certainly recommend that that assessment of what is necessary should be done, and made available for public scrutiny.
With the Protected Sites work, though, it is possible to identify meaningful actions that don’t have huge costs attached to them, including those key recommendations I I just mentioned. Setting legally binding targets, including restoring protected nature sites in the Farming with Nature scheme, and better information sharing, starting out by designating the sites NIEA already know to be priorities, will go a long way.
So it is not simply about needing more resource. Much can be done with better use of the resources already available.
So, what next on Protected Sites in NI?
We now await DAERA’s formal response to our report, which will be due in three months time, and will have to be laid before the Assembly. I welcome already, Minister Muir’s sincere and helpful response to the launch of our report. We will continue to engage with the minister and his team to assist that process, with a view to securing the best outcomes for the environment.
As part of those discussions, we are clear that we found several areas that are falling short from where they should be, but at this stage we have not carried out a formal investigation to confirm whether or not those issues represent a failure to comply with environmental law. We will consider the department’s response carefully before deciding next steps.
Running alongside this, we also have our on-going investigation into whether DAERA, and for that matter Defra, has failed to comply with environmental law relating to Special Protection Areas, or SPAs, for wild birds on land. This includes possible failures to implement recommendations given by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and other conservation public authorities on the classification and adaptation of SPAs and in respect of its general duties to protect and maintain wild bird populations.
Priorities for next year - nutrients
Looking ahead now, at the OEP’s priorities for the year ahead and beyond. I mentioned earlier that we seek to focus our attention and resources on the most significant issues. There is one specific environmental pressure that comes up time and time again in our work in NI.
So I can sum up our priorities in three words: nutrients, nutrients and nutrients.
(Not to say we won’t carry out other work, but hopefully you get the point).
As I said earlier, our report on the Drivers and Pressures impacting on nature in NI found that the two principal pressures causing biodiversity loss are land use change and pollution, closely linked to agricultural intensification. Excess nutrients, in the form of fertilisers and animal wastes from farming and from sewage, are the main forms of pollution having an impact. Following on from this report, we are undertaking a programme of work with three main aims:
To scrutinise government plans to address nutrient emissions from agriculture and wastewater and how they will impact on the delivery of the actions, commitments and targets within the draft EIP.
To determine whether the current regulatory framework controlling nutrient management in Northern Ireland is fit for purpose to mitigate the threats posed to the environment.
To evaluate how agricultural, energy, climate and waste management regulations and policies will impact on the management of nutrients in NI.
This programme of work is being carried out in two phases. An initial phase to gather the evidence on issues and decide how best to use the OEP’s remit and functions is now nearly complete. We commissioned research into the Evaluation of Wastewater System Inputs, a Review of Environmental Assessments and on Understanding Regulatory Divergence, and will put this work into the public domain in due course.
We have also asked for, and received, information from DAERA and NI Water.
As a result of that, a number of work strands have been identified for phase two, including development of a monitoring and evaluation framework to monitor government progress in reducing nutrient pollution to terrestrial and aquatic habitats, and a monitoring report on the implementation of the Nutrient Action Programme Regulations.
We are also scoping some possible areas for investigation of possible failures to comply with environmental law, but as I am sure you appreciate, I can’t say more about that here and now. Watch this space, as they say.
The elephant in the room here is of course, the Nutrient Action Programme. Long overdue to be reviewed and revised, we want to see that finalised and published as soon as possible. It is of such importance.
Conclusion
The environment in NI is under unsustainable pressure. The causes of this are as complex as the solutions are difficult.
A lot of excellent work is being done across the sector to try and turn things round. We see the dedication and expertise in action every day. Government has made significant progress and is moving the environment up the agenda, while resources are tight.
But it appears still more is needed if the concerning negative trends are to be reversed. If nature is to be properly protected and allowed the thrive.
This is not a one-department problem. The EIP, the most important vehicle for driving change, is not a DAERA plan, it is an Executive-endorsed plan. Government must work cohesively, coherently and urgently, and with the environment and agricultural sectors, to put in place the measures to effectively implement the law, ensure governance achieves the right outcomes and key plans are put in place and delivered.
A lot of times, such comments are welcomed with the response – ‘but there’s no money’.
It is a fact of life that Government’s must do more with less. It is possible to do more with the resources available, if delivery planning is effective. Not easy, I know. But it can be done,
But think about the bigger picture, the long term.
Nature sustains the Northern Ireland economy and the health, wealth and wellbeing of its people. Protecting the natural environment is therefore fundamental to achieving economic and social goals. Nature pays back. We have seen that when investments are made, such as in the Antrim Hills, nature has paid back on that investment several times over.
To repeat the message from our report on the Pressures and Drivers impacting on nature - More and more has been demanded of the environment over many years, and it is now clear that more pressure has been applied than the land and water can bear.
Failure to act effectively risks a heavy toll on the prosperity and well-being of future generations.
It is not too late. With concerted commitment and effort we can build on the progress being made, gather momentum and get the job done for those who will follow.
Thank you.
