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It is clear that the climate and ecological crisis in Northern Ireland (NI) demands urgent attention from public bodies. The need for change is particularly evident with regard to environmental laws which remain deeply rooted in anthropocentric perspectives which continue to prioritise human economic interests, despite the increasing environmental degradation. Thus, in response to such failures there has been a growing interest in the ‘rights of nature’ movement, which takes the view point that nature has intrinsic values which is deserving of legal protection in itself. Resultingly, such ‘rights of nature’ laws therefore offer the potential to provide a higher level of protection, which is arguably much needed. As such the following essay will explore how the ‘rights of nature’ movement has the potential to address the ongoing ecological crisis of Lough Neagh in NI. This will be achieved through a brief analysis of the current crisis facing the Lough, before then looking at the ‘rights of nature’ concept and its application to this crisis. Ultimately, this essay will argue that the most effective solution within this context would be to adopt a community ownership model which incorporates the ‘rights of nature’.
Primarily, in order to understand the need for a new approach to the management of Lough Neagh it is crucial to consider the background to the crisis. In general advocates of the ‘rights of nature’ approach argue that current standards of environmental legislation are inadequate. This idea is particularly relevant in NI where the standard of environmental regulation is notoriously poor. Over two decades ago environmental lawyer Sharon Turner warned that the lax regulation would turn NI into a ‘pollution haven’ (Harte Coyle Collins, 2024). Unfortunately, this prediction has clearly materialised, as demonstrated by the current crisis facing Lough Neagh.
Although activists have been concerned about the health of the Lough for decades, it is has particularly gained public attention in recent years due to the very visible explosion of blue-green algae. This harmful algal bloom represents a threat to the biodiversity and wildlife on the Lough, as well as potentially public health, as the Lough is the source of 40% of NI’s drinking water (Barry, McGeown & Taylor, 2023, p.6). The main driving factors behind the pollution of the Lough are thought to be agricultural fertiliser runoff, potential sewage discharge and other exploitative practices, such as mining and sand dredging.
Ultimately, such issues are thought to stem from the mismanagement of the Lough by the governmental and regulatory bodies responsible for it, such as the Department of Agriculture, DEARA, NI Water and others (Barry, McGeown, & Taylor, 2024, p.4). For example, while there might be a temptation to blame the agricultural industry, it must be kept in mind that the intensification of farming practises was promoted by government policies such as the 2013 ‘Going for Growth’ campaign. While this initiative resulted in a predictable increase in farming output, the government failed to implement and enforce sufficient checks to ensure that the health of the Lough was not then sacrificed (Barry, McGeown, & Taylor, 2024, p.20). This is just one example of the trend in which the NI government has been seen to continuously prioritise agriculture over environmental health. This is again exemplified by the failure to properly discipline those who are discovered breaking environmental laws. This is evidenced by the repeated violations by Mash Direct, a large food producer in NI, who has faced only small-scale fines,
despite pleading guilty to polluting NI waterways on numerous occasions (Barry, Mcgeown & Taylor, 2024, p.18).
Moreover, the degradation of Lough Neagh is compounded by the sand dredging. While the water of Lough Neagh cannot be owned, like all other bodies of water in law (McNeill and Brennan, 2023), the ‘bed and soil’ of the Lough, are owned by the Shaftesbury Estate, which receives the profits from the sand extraction (McNeill and Brennan, 2023, p.3). This private ownership arguably frames the Lough as an economic resource to be exploited (Barry, McGeown & Taylor, 2023, p.4). Thus, given the massive cultural, economic and and environmental importance of the Lough and the current crisis (Owens, 2024), private ownership has become increasingly controversial, leading to leading to calls that the Lough be taken entirely into public ownership (McNeill and Brennan, 2023, p.3). However, this in itself would arguably not be enough, as public ownership does not guarantee improved environmental protection. This was demonstrated by the challenge brought by Friends of the Earth in 2017 against the Department of the Environment’s refusal to issue a Stop Notice to the Shaftesbury Estate and others, regarding the unauthorised sand dredging which was occurring. Although the Court of Appeal referred the issue back to the department to reconsider, which appeared to be a positive outcome for the environmental protection of the Lough, the government ultimately granted permission, citing the economic benefit derived from dredging as in the public interest (Macauley, 2017). This therefore demonstrates that even if the Lough were to be brought under public ownership, it might still result in a prioritisation of economic interests.
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About the Author
Erin Marrs is a third year Law with Politics student at Queen’s University Belfast and has a particular interest in issues relating to the environment and social justice.
Featured image appears courtesy of a Creative Commons License. Greenjellyfish25, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons