Guest election blog – Social Democratic and Labour Party by Dara McAnulty

I am an author and environmental activist from Northern Ireland who believes that the environment must be protected both to help preserve the natural world and to protect the people who live in it.

In the past, I have participated in a local Stormont election where my single transferable vote preferences included Alliance Party, Sinn Fein, Green Party and the Social Democratic and Labour Party. I am not a member of any party and have no real political connections other than support for parties that I believe can make a positive impact on the natural world and help people live in mutual coexistence.

This is my review of the environmental policies set out by the SDLP in their election manifesto.

Things I like:

• There is a detailed section within the SDLP manifesto for many different environmental issues that is larger than any of the other Northern Irish parties. A key pledge is the formation of an independent Northern Ireland Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to implement the government’s pledges to protect the natural world. Whilst this is admirable, it does not mention that we already have a Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) which has been held back by a lack of resourcing, legal powers and failure of magistrates to impose in full, the proper judicial penalties and fines.
• The pledge to fight for a Lough Neagh Recovery plan is something that needed to happen a long time ago but with the current polluted state of the Lough, is all but essential now. This pledge extends to all bodies of water, to reduce the rampant amounts of water pollution. All our water bodies are in dire need of conservation efforts and better overall management of agricultural practices, land ownership and discharge regulation.
• They also wish to establish an all-island animal cruelty register that will allow for the tracking of those people who are convicted of animal abuse thus preventing them from buying or owning animals anywhere on the island. This will help to combat the epidemic of animal cruelty and attempt to end the harm and inhumane treatment of the animals we live alongside.

Things I don’t like:

• The SDLP does not say how the EPA will be protected and supported to ensure it can deliver on environmental commitments.  Nor has the SDLP mentioned the role of the oversight body, the Office of Environmental Protection  (OEP) and what role it has in supporting the NIEA does its job. My concern is that the creation of EPA is a headline grabber rather than an actual attempt to implement policy to ensure environmental protection.

Overall: this is a very detailed manifesto that covers a wide range of issues affecting the environment, and presents many different ways that policy could be used to aid the conservation and protection of the natural world. There is the issue of how the Environmental Protection Agency would operate but in general it some desire to attempt to resolve these issues.

This is a manifesto that sees the destruction of the natural world around it and provides a path to protecting it.