Monitoring post-Brexit environmental divergence on the island of Ireland: The role of civil society
Publications: Linking the Irish Environment
Brexit poses a significant threat to environmental governance on the island of Ireland due to regulatory divergence between Northern Ireland (UK) and the Republic of Ireland (EU). This divergence—differences in laws, standards, and implementation—risks creating regulatory gaps, enforcement issues, funding loss, economic imbalance, conservation problems, cross-border cooperation difficulties, and transboundary pollution.
There are three main areas of divergence:
- Covered by the Windsor Framework,
- Not covered by it,
- Linked to North-South cooperation.
Most formal monitoring focuses on areas under the Windsor Framework, leaving large gaps—particularly in environmental law. Civil society organizations are severely constrained in their ability to monitor divergence due to lack of resources and capacity, jeopardizing all-island environmental collaboration.
To address this, the report recommends:
- Creating a civil society-led all-island divergence observatory.
- Expanding formal monitoring to include environmental issues.
- Integrating environmental divergence into intergovernmental bodies’ work.
Supporting actions should include:
- An all-island environmental agreement,
- Dedicated funding and tools for civil society,
- Better data sharing and cross-border consultation,
- Enhanced roles for institutions created under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
Urgent action is needed to equip civil society to protect and advance environmental cooperation across Ireland.
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