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A draft strategy has been published by DAERA Minister Edwin Poots on behalf of the Stormont Executive which sets out a vision for how NI can preserve, protect and improve our environment going forward.
Covering a wide range of issues from air and water quality through to nature, wildlife, and how we deal with waste, a public consultation on the proposed strategy closes at 4pm on Tuesday 18 January 2022.
From a farming perspective there is little in the document that is directly relevant, aside from a statement that “business as usual for many farms will not be an option”.
The DAERA document goes on to point out that nature friendly farming will be central to delivery, and that “the future is about doing more with less, in a sustainable and innovative way”.
So in practical terms, this Environment Strategy sets the high level direction of travel, and it will be the subsequent action plans and programmes that sit under it that will contain the detail.
As well as the Executive’s Environment Strategy, there is also the Green Growth Strategy published in October 2021 which sets out how NI can move from a high to a low greenhouse gas emissions society while at the same time creating green jobs. According to Minister Poots the Environment Strategy will be key to the delivery of green growth.
A separate strategy on ammonia will be published “very soon” Minister Poots told MLAs at Stormont last Tuesday.
Legislation designed to protect and enhance the environment received royal assent last Tuesday 9 November.
The UK Environment Act applies to England only, although MLAs at Stormont have previously endorsed a principle that provisions in the legislation will also be relevant to NI.
That includes the establishment of an Office of Environmental Protection (OEP), a new independent environmental oversight body. It will effectively take on the role previously undertaken by the European Commission when the UK was in the EU.
The Environment Act also requires government to prepare an Environmental Improvement Plan. It is intended that the NI Executive’s Environment Strategy will be adopted as the first such plan.
Independent
Separate to the OEP is a commitment within the ‘New Decade, New Approach’ agreement which led to the restoration of Stormont in January 2020, to establish an independent environmental protection agency in NI.
It would replace the role mainly played by the NI Environment Agency (NIEA), which is part of DAERA.
However, it is not expected that a new independent agency will be formed in the near future.
£425 per day for environment job
An application process has been opened by DAERA to appoint someone with an environmental policy, legal or science background to be a NI non-executive member of the Office of Environmental Protection (OEP).
The closing date to apply is noon on Friday 3 December, with the successful candidate to take up the role from 28 February 2022. They will be in post for an initial five years, are expected to work four to six days per month, and will earn £425 per day plus travel expenses.
An interim OEP has already been established in England, and will soon take on a formal role.
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