Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Andrew Muir, has welcomed the approval of Northern Ireland’s Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) which will act as the first Environment Strategy.
Minister Muir said: “I am glad that the [Stormont] Executive has agreed Northern Ireland’s first Environmental Improvement Plan. It provides a set of coherent and effective interventions and measures that can collectively deliver improvements in the quality of our environment.
“In doing so it will improve the health and well-being of all, create opportunities to develop our economy in an environmentally sustainable manner and enable us to play our part in protecting the global environment for years to come.
“In Northern Ireland we face a range of environmental challenges including habitat and species loss, greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions, water, air and soil quality, developing a circular economy, waste management and more.
“The EIP, which is also intended to be our collective response to the global challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change, will be regularly reviewed and revised, as well as face independent scrutiny by the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP), to ensure that all NI departments are taking the necessary steps to improve our environment,” the DAERA minister added.
DAERA officials have worked with key stakeholders, including other departments and external bodies, to develop six strategic objectives for the EIP with the understanding that a better environment can provide economic, social and health benefits for individuals and for society, and outline a pathway to realising these benefits.
The objectives are:
- Excellent air, water and land quality;
- A healthy and accessible environment and landscapes everyone can connect with and enjoy;
- Thriving, resilient and connected nature and wildlife;
- Sustainable production and consumption on land and at sea;
- Zero waste and a highly developed circular economy;
- Net zero GHG emissions and improved climate resilience and adaptability.
Minister Muir said action must start now: “When it comes to the environment maintaining the status quo is not an option.
“We all have a collective responsibility to deliver the change urgently required, the EIP sets an important framework and baseline for action to protect our environment,” he said.
Environmental improvement in NI
The Environment Act 2021, requires an EIP to be published by July 25, 2023 but this could not be met due to the absence of ministers at the time.
The Act defines an EIP as a plan for significantly improving the natural environment and requires DAERA and other NI departments to set out the steps they intend to take to improve the natural environment (and people’s enjoyment of that environment).
The EIP is an overarching document setting out Northern Ireland’s environmental priorities and includes a mix of both existing and new environmental objectives, targets and actions for DAERA and other departments with a role in improving the environment.
A public consultation was launched at COP26 on the draft EIP and received over 2,500 responses.
DAERA is also currently in the process of producing a number of other key strategies and policies on matters such as clean air, peatlands and nature recovery.
These policy specific strategies will deliver more detail in relation to key targets and actions, and these in turn will be reflected in future revisions of the EIP, according to the department.
Office of Environmental Protection
The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has welcomed the first Environmental Improvement Plan being published.
OEP chief executive officer (CEO), Natalie Prosser said: “We welcome the adoption of Northern Ireland’s first Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP). We recognise the key role it plays in protecting and improving the environment and have been calling for its publication and implementation since before the restoration of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
“An EIP is crucial as it should provide the roadmap for how this government will tackle the significant and pressing environmental challenges it faces, such as the current environmental crisis at Lough Neagh.
“This EIP should drive the delivery of how Northern Ireland’s environment is to be significantly improved now and in the future.
“Now the EIP is published we will take stock of how our previous advice given to the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) on how to improve the plan has been addressed,” she added.
The OEP has said it can now begin its work to monitor and report on progress towards delivering the EIP and the impact it has on protecting and improving the environment.
As part of its role, it will make this progress report annually to the Stormont Assembly.
