Northern Ireland: Land of Plenty?

The Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs has published ‘Land of Plenty?’ – a new report detailing a proposal for a land use policy in Northern Ireland. The report’s publication is timely, coinciding with Fields Good, the annual regenerative agriculture festival in Belfast, and an announcement that DAERA will start preparing its own land use framework. This is exciting. Northern Ireland is the latest of the four UK countries to develop a spatially explicit approach to land use decisions, reflecting many years of research into what that development might look like. 

Northern Ireland has a unique set of land use challenges. Its distinct land ownership patterns, thanks to centuries of unequal power relations and a conscious move to undo them, reflect a deep emotional and cultural attachment to the land. The country's agricultural sector is particularly influential, thanks to its cultural significance and its outsized role as a major protein producer within the UK. This means that the possible trade-offs, and mutual benefits, between food production and nature restoration are politically charged. Not to mention that Northern Ireland’s porous border with the Republic of Ireland means it has more demand than the rest of the UK to align its policies and regulations with the EU.  

The report, and accompanying announcement, is a testament to the Working Group that made the report possible: farming unions, environmentalists, town planners, researchers, community groups and others. Each gave considerable time and attention, over six months, to identify the core concerns and what a successful land use policy might need to work effectively in the country. Expert counsel from the Joint Nature Climate Committee and AFBI, careful stewardship from FFCC’s John Woods, and political support from Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir have been integral to the success of this report. Without all these moving parts pulling in the same direction, this outcome would not have been possible. 

Northern Ireland has the advantage of examining what has come before it. Scotland is now on its fourth land use strategy, and England’s first Land Use Framework was published earlier this year: both taking quite different approaches. Wales’ primary land use legislation is different still: a planning document rather than an environment or farming document, Future Wales 2040 nonetheless takes a spatial analysis of what land will be needed to meet Wales’ goals and targets. ‘Land of Plenty?’ clearly draws inspiration from each of them: including principles for decision making, accessible spatial data at multiple scales, a more bottom-up approach in scale of decision making and proposing a Land Use Commission to oversee evidence and measure progress. It is important to note that not all views expressed in the report necessarily represented the views of every individual in the working group or their associated organisations.

With Northern Ireland on the way to developing their own land use framework, all four nations will have a land use policy. This means that the four countries of the UK are world-leaders when it comes to building effective governance frameworks for land use, with only Denmark and the Netherlands matching this ambition. It is one thing, however, to provide data and legislate: it is another to make it work in practice. Meeting the various targets demanded of land, ensuring resilience across systems and fairness for citizens, is a much longer process than simply publishing a policy. Implementing those policies to effectively meet the various demands of land is another thing – and it needs delivery mechanisms that work in practice. 

The advantage to four nations having their own, distinct land use policies is that they can share insights, learn from each other and speed up the curve needed to get there. Sharing what’s working, how, and why in one country, can have pay offs for all the countries. After this summer's successive heatwaves, wildfires ripping across the countryside and many months of drought, the urgency of making better land use decisions has never been clearer. This is where having effective land use policies can make the difference. Producing the right food in the right place, restoring nature and water to full health, as well as building houses and renewable energy, and ensuring that all these are done in a way that builds systems resilient to climate impacts and possible supply chain disruption has ever been more clearly needed.