Urgent action is required to safeguard nature in Northern Ireland (NI) for future generations, implores the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) in its latest report published today (Tuesday, October 15).
The report, titled ‘Drivers and Pressures Affecting Terrestrial and Freshwater Biodiversity in Northern Ireland’ assessed the various factors impinging on the health of the region’s environmental while accounting for the challenges imposed by particular sectors of the economy.
Chair of the OEP, Dame Glenys Stacey said: “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.
“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.
“Government must act urgently and decisively, not only to reverse a lifetime of environmental degradation and to restore the diversity of Northern Ireland’s habitats and species, but also to ensure a sustainable agri-food industry and wider economy.
“Failure to do so risks a heavy toll on the prosperity and well-being of future generations.”
The report finds that land use change and pollution are the principle components behind NI’s environmental decline, which it attributes to agricultural intensification.
The agriculture industry’s demands on the environment are unsustainable in its current practice, with excess nutrients from fertilizers and animal waste making up the sector’s primary pollutants.
The report also highlighted a “significant decline” in hedgerows in NI, which has been driven by field expansion, removal for construction, and inadequate regulatory and protection measures, which were found to be weaker in NI than in other parts of the UK.
OEP Research
“Research indicates that although 97% of farmers with hedgerows on their land were aware of the closed cutting period (CCP), 74% of respondents were unable to give the correct start and end dates of the CCP,” the report laid out, while low rates of inspection make it difficult to assess compliancy.
Gaps in research and data relating to NI’s environment were also raised by the OEP, which stands in contrast with the body of information accumulated in the rest of the UK.
This made accurate broadscale assessments of biodiversity losses all the more challenging to deliver.
Agricultural specialisation has also been problematic for biodiversity, with the contraction of arable and mixed farming likely to have been partly responsible for the decline of several seed eating species of birds.
The increase in livestock numbers have also led to an increase in air pollution, with emissions from agriculture rising by 19% between 2009 and 2019.
The report found that in 2020, cattle were responsible for 66% of emissions, with dairy accounting for 37.3% of this, followed by beef at 29%.
OEP observed that the large-scale expansion in intensive livestock production is responsible for the pollution of freshwater and grassland ecosystems as a result of rising concentrations of SRP and ammonia.
Concentrations of soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) in Northern Ireland’s rivers have increased from a low of 0.047mg/L in 2012 to 0.062mg/L in 2023.
62% of the phosphorus found in freshwater ecosystems has been attributed to agriculture, and an increased presence has affected water quality and composition, which leads to greater incidences of invasive species of plants and animals, including higher rates of algae.
This has also impacted the condition of many of the regions semi-natural habitats which have been awarded priority protection status, with 36% NI’s Areas of Special Scientific Interest (ASSIs) reported to be in ‘unfavourable condition’.
The OEP identified three areas where urgent action is required to address these environmental concerns:
- Farming and sewage management must reduce their pollution in the form of excess nutrient excretion;
- Habitat restoration and nature positive land use change must be prioritised;
- Ecological footprint must be minimesed through the reduced consumption, extraction and disposal of raw materials and fossil fuels.
Agri-environmental policy
The report found that evidence indicates that agriculture policy response to the environmental costs associated with the industry, has been largely ineffective, and with previous agri-environment schemes (AES) found to be insufficient in scale and design.
Uptake of AES have been relatively poor among the farming community, with just with 4.5% of farmland covered by an agreement in 2023, which can be contextualised by the fact that 1% of farm payments were directed towards AES in NI in 2021, in comparison to 12% in England, 4% in Scotland and 6% in Wales.
Questions have been raised as to whether existing environmental regulation “is properly understood by farmers or is being effectively monitored and enforced by government” and the OEP have also claimed that biodiversity objectives have been undermined by incentives aimed at expanding the industry.
The report asserts that while the development of new agri-environmental policy framework is an opportunity to address this ineffectiveness, it appears to be low on the list of government priorities, with an updated (AES) yet to be finalised.
The report finds that the level of funding directed at these schemes is significantly lower that what is required to meet NI’s environmental commitments, representing just an eighth of what would be required.
Alongside agriculture and sewage management, other issues contributing to on-going biodiversity loss include waste management, resource extraction, urban development and chemical pollution.
The OEP’s Northern Ireland non-Executive Board Member, Malcolm Beatty said: “To know how best to act, government must first know well enough how things are, and why they are as they are.
“We hope this assessment provides government with the comprehensive and timely assessment it needs to plan for the future.
“It is such a crucial time, with Northern Ireland’s first Environmental Improvement Plan now in place and other important steps due to follow soon, including the much-needed Nutrients Action Programme, River Basin Management Plans, Nature Recovery Strategy, and Farming with Nature scheme.
“There is an opportunity now for government to lead in renewing the relationship with the natural environment here. It is an opportunity too important to squander.”
