Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Time for minister and Executive to face reality
If you’d told me a few years back a man who once denied humans were changing our climate would be the very politician chosen to save us from ever rising carbon and methane emissions at this vital juncture, I’d have spat out my coffee.
Yet here I find myself trawling through a platform piece by Agriculture and Environment Minister Edwin Poots in which he says “climate change is the defining crisis of our time”.
On the one hand I admire how the former farmer appears to be facing this challenge head-on with a huge uptick in environmental releases ahead of COP26.
In recent weeks he has partnered with the National Trust to “enable future development of the woodlands” and welcomed Northern Ireland’s first sustainable agriculture degree at CAFRE.
He made Queen’s geography professor Julian Orford, an expert on sea level change and coastal barriers, deputy chair of the Council for Nature Conservation and the Countryside.
Mr Poots has also spoken of how farm businesses are already playing their part in tackling the climate crisis.
He said: “The future is about delivering both food and environmental outcomes in a sustainable way.
“Our farmers are up for the challenge and, indeed, many have already invested in green technology and embraced environmentally-friendly farming practices.”
He also revealed how 19 of Northern Ireland’s bathing waters are classified as “excellent” – so can get a blue flag.
And while this is all positive stuff we can’t forget about what he’s not doing.
Much of what is contained within the Executive’s draft
Green Growth strategy which he has published for consultation is great but we mustn’t forget it’s a strategy and not law.
As for net-zero for Northern Ireland – no way, he says.
And an independent environment agency as promised? You have to be kidding.
Then there’s Islandmagee, where he recently approved underwater gas caverns that will kill an area of seabed 100m squared. We still haven’t got a Climate Bill, though we’re told it’s coming.
Step in to save an ancient oak woodland? I’ll write a letter.
He also wants to cull thousands of protected badgers over bovine TB – even though there are doubts about its effectiveness. What’s that about biodiversity? And there still haven’t been any major changes in how farmers are compensated for their vital work to make sure they are doing everything they can to protect the range of biodiversity on their land. The soil health scheme, I admit, is a step forward.
But it’s not nearly enough to encourage a move away from the incessant grass growing for silage that marks much of what our countryside is used for.
Young climate activist Anna Kernahan has been protesting about the climate crisis since her school days and isn’t fooled by the loose promises from above.
As many us of were wrapped up warm at home this week carving pumpkins and making apple tarts for Halloween, the university student has been standing in the rain calling for our leaders to “tell the truth at COP26”.
“They have to be honest,” she told me. “We are not asking for huge, overwhelming things – we are simply asking for the bare minimum which is for them to be saying facts – which isn’t difficult.
“We are asking them to use the science that is indisputable... and not fall short of being in line with it every single time.”
Anna, like many, is sick of the “lies” and “empty promises” coming from our leaders. As while the world works towards “net-zero’” by 2050 – the science says that’s too late.
I asked Anna if she has hope for COP26.
She replied: “No. Not even a little bit. It’s terrifying.
“The current system that we are in has caused the climate crisis and so we need a complete overhaul.”
With that in mind, let’s take a look at our Environment Minister and government’s performance so far.
Minister Poots himself, said: “We face numerous other challenges aside from tackling climate change including improving air quality, tackling plastic pollution, achieving zero waste and the development of a circular economy.
“We simply cannot continue with a ‘business as usual’ approach – we must act now before it is too late.”
But what does that even mean? We have to keep the world below 1.5 degrees of a rise to stave off the worst of what’s coming.
But the promise of an 82% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050 in Northern Ireland isn’t enough.
The Minister, and indeed the Executive, do need to have a word with themselves about the reality of what we are facing and stop with this constant rhetoric about “balance” to protect the economy.
Could COP26 finally be the moment the penny drops about how delaying the inevitable will only end up costing us all more in the end?
Like Anna, I do not hold much hope. But on the other hand, I’m praying it is.
The minister has to stop the rhetoric about balance and the economy