Northern Ireland: challenges and opportunities for post-Brexit environmental governance

Brexit represents a major change to environmental governance in Northern Ireland and the UK. Yet it is occurring at a time when Northern Ireland has no government, curtailing its ability to engage in both local and UK-wide preparations. Northern Irish stakeholders are worried that tensions between England and Scotland are dominating Brexit preparations, hampering discussions of UK-wide cooperation, as well as of the specific needs of Northern Ireland. They are concerned pre-existing environmental governance issues in the region (such as the lack of an independent environmental agency or the prevalence of cross-border environmental crime) will remain unaddressed, and that current North/South cooperation on environmental issues will be negatively impacted by the Brexit deal. Crucially, the key planks of the UK government’s ‘Green Brexit’ strategy (such as the commitments laid out in the 25 Year Environment Plan and the Environmental Principles and Governance consultation) do not cover the devolved nations. This raises the prospect of further policy divergence and inconsistent implementation and enforcement across the UK, and for Northern Ireland’s environment to continue deteriorating.