Protecting Northern Ireland’s Environment: The Importance of Strategic Coordination
Brexit introduced new complexities for environmental governance, especially in Northern Ireland, which shares a land border with the EU and remains partially aligned with EU law under the Windsor Framework.
To better understand these challenges, the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) commissioned a report examining how regulatory divergence could affect nutrient management and the protection of shared ecosystems.
The findings state that while some divergence is inevitable, coordination – both east-west and north-south, is essential to safeguard Northern Ireland’s environment.
Disclaimer
The study was delivered by experts from Miller Consulting, Environmental Justice Network Ireland, and the Institute for European Environmental Policy. It reviewed historical and current regulations, assessed nutrient management policies, and explored future scenarios. A “Divergence Register” was developed to track and categorize differences across key domains, the register can be found on the side of this page.
Read the report in full by pressing the blue button on the side of this page.