Environment back on agenda

Waste disposal and transport were contentious issues

By BBC NI's environment correspondent Mike McKimm

It was a curious year for Northern Ireland in environmental terms.

A lot happened but there is not much to show for it ­ yet.

Legislation was to the fore during 2000. A strategy for dealing with the mountains of waste our society produces, was launched in the spring, promising a change in the way it is managed.

Currently almost all waste in Northern Ireland goes to landfill tips, with less than 5% of it being recycled.

Dealing with waste - a new stragegy is launched

The new strategy promised to change all that as soon as new matching legislation and resources were made available.

Lots of new protected habitats were announced, either as Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), or through funding or gifting of land to environment organisations.

As a result, almost all the important bogland in Northern Ireland is now protected, including some of the most important unspoiled habitats in Europe.

But the announcements of the SACs and new national reserves was diluted by a relatively low level of protective resource.

Areas of Special Scientific Interest in the province are still blighted by development and pollution.

One of them - Larne Lough - has now become the subject of a campaign to combat such damage because local environmentalists are worried about the increasing destruction.

A huge investment is needed in the railways

The year also saw startling changes in the transport debate.

A shock announcement from the local rail operators that the system was becoming almost too unsafe to run, began a major debate on the whole subject of transport.

Since then, the assembly has voted a sizeable budget to improve the rail and bus system in Northern Ireland, before it grinds to a halt.

But the money will not be available until next April ­ so 2000 ends with no change to transport.

Subject of debate

Even some of the promised road improvements have been put on the proverbial long finger ­ because of money shortages.

These are just some examples of how the subject of the environment, once all but comatose in a Northern Ireland dominated by the decades of the Troubles, has now jumped into the headlines.

But at least people are discussing it seriously.

It has become a subject of discussion and debate on a daily basis and is starting to appear in the documents of companies and, more importantly, the policy of local government.

Until now, few politicians in Northern Ireland would have bothered with the subject.

Suddenly in 2000, not to be openly debating the subject and even challenging environmentally-hostile schemes and events, could be seen as a vote loser.

And that can only be good news for the environment.