‘It is essential that our politicians and government departments act now’, says wildlife charity as Northern Ireland fails to publish environmental improvement plan before legal deadline

The RSPB NI said the legal deadline missed by the Department for Agriculture, Environment, and Rural Affairs (Daera) "undermines confidence in Daera's ability to protect, enhance and restore nature".

The publication of the first EIP is a statutory duty under the UK Environment Act 2021 and the deadline for release was on Tuesday (July 25).

The Act sets out a framework for environmental governance in Northern Ireland which included EIPs and a new government watchdog - the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP).

The environmental strategy involved public consultation between November 2021 and January 2022, with provisions being approved by the Northern Ireland Assembly on February 22 last year.

The strategy was signed off by Minister Poots prior to the collapse of the Assembly, with the OEP writing to Daera stating the strategy was adequate and appropriate as the basis for Northern Ireland’s first EIP, however with improvement required.

Despite the Department stating that there was no Executive approval to publish the EIP, RSPB NI Head of Policy and Advocacy, John Martin, believes based on the sign off from the former Minister, support from the OEP, and being a statutory duty, Daera can and should have published the EIP even with a caveat of not being adopted by the whole NI Executive.

He said: "It is essential that our politicians and government departments act now, matching the severity of the issue with transformative action. We do not have time to waste. The EIP must be published as a matter of urgency.

“The failure to publish the EIP is just one of many recent failures of the department in its duty to protect and restore nature in Northern Ireland.

"The nature and climate emergency needs urgent action - not missed deadlines, delays and cuts to funding.

A Daera spokesperson stated that the Department is "working through the decision-making process...in the absence of ministers and an Executive" and that they are "committed to protecting and restoring our natural environment."

A statement read: “Officials are very conscious of the deadline for publication of a new Environmental Improvement Programme and are currently working through the decision-making process to determine what action is possible in the absence of ministers and an Executive.

"This process is underpinned and informed by the guidance on decision-making published by the Secretary of State, including the primary principle that departments must live within the budgets allocated to them.

"Regardless of the outcome of that decision-making process, officials across the Department are committed to protecting and restoring our natural environment and are working extremely hard, within the resources available to them, to take forward a significant programme of work for that purpose."

The Department also confirmed their intent on “developing proposals for consultation that will help set Northern Ireland’s first ever Carbon Budget” and “developing a Nature Recovery Strategy for consultation later this year.”

Furthermore, the Department also stated that they are “recognising the valuable role” nature conservation bodes such as the RSPB and others play in helping protect the environment by increasing funding for the Strategic Strand of the Environment Fund this year.