Action is urgently needed to protect and restore Northern Ireland’s ‘natural treasures,’ says OEP report - Office for Environmental Protection

Urgent action must be taken to better protect and restore Northern Ireland’s most precious places for nature, a report released today [Thursday, April 3] has found.

In its latest report, the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) examines how well laws designed to protect key areas for nature, such as the Antrim Hills, Upper Lough Erne, Lough Neagh and Rathlin Island, are working.
These areas and others represent the most important of Northern Ireland’s natural landscapes and biodiversity. They support rare or threatened plants, animals and habitats.

Because of their importance to nature, they are legally designated as protected sites, with the aim they will be properly protected and managed.
However, not enough sites are being designated, and the condition of those that have been is getting worse rather than better, the OEP reports.
The habitats and species features of these sites that were in favourable condition dropped from 61.7% in 2008, to 51.5% in 2024. While work to earmark further sites for protection has slowed, with Northern Ireland lagging behind the rest of the UK, Ireland and Europe in its coverage of protected sites.

Natalie Prosser, OEP Chief Executive Officer (CEO), said: “The need to act is urgent. Instead of seeing the improvement of these precious sites we see deterioration. And the designation of areas as protected sites has effectively stalled with no new sites being designated since 2018, leaving important places for nature unprotected. Our report identifies that the failings are largely not in the legal framework for protecting these natural treasures, instead it is the implementation of these important laws that is falling short.”