Review of Environmental Assessments for Nutrient Management in Northern Ireland

About

Office for Environmental Protection awarded a contract to DTA Ecology for a review of the application of environmental assessments in the management of nutrient inputs to the environment in Northern Ireland.

The review evaluated the appropriateness of environmental assessments for the Nutrient Action Programme (NAP) and Future Agricultural Policy (FAP) in relation to environmental risks from nutrient inputs, reviewed evidence underpinning the need for an appropriate assessment of nutrient inputs to aquatic ecosystems, evaluated links between Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) of nutrient inputs to aquatic protected sites and other regulations such as the NAP and Urban Wastewater Treatment Regulations (UWWTR), and identified gaps in the application of environmental assessment for nutrient management and risks to protected sites.

The scope focused on Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA) and HRAs conducted for the NAP and FAP, considering nutrient emissions to aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems inside and outside protected sites, and separately examined the need for and scientific evidence underpinning an appropriate assessment under Article 6.3 of the Habitats Directive for nutrient inputs to aquatic protected sites and its links with the NAP and UWWTR.

The contract value was £83,910.