The Earl of Shaftesbury has expressed his desire to transfer ownership of Lough Neagh, owned by his estate, to a charity or community trust model with rights of nature included. However, the earl acknowledged that the transfer process “may take time”. The proposal comes as the Lough Neagh Report is set to go before the Stormont Executive again next week.
Following the blue-green algal crisis of Summer 2023, there have been calls for the Lough to be transferred to public ownership in Northern Ireland. In his article, the earl questions “to whom?”. He added that there is currently no entity that is offering to take it or guarantee to improve the environmental health of the Lough.
While the Shaftesbury Estate holds the rights to the bed of the Lough, five companies have been granted licenses to extract sand for which they pay a royalty to the estate. The earl acknowledged that unauthorized and illegal sand extraction had been taking place for a number of years, and the estate had made repeated attempts to stop it.
Nicholas Ashley-Cooper, the Earl of Shaftesbury, said his estate’s Lough Neagh Ltd. company “has no control” over the water in the Lough and the nutrients that go into it. He added that collective action was needed to find solutions to the issues facing the Lough. The earl describes the current state of Lough Neagh as “deeply upsetting” and believes a charity or community trust model with rights of nature included is “the best way” to support the Lough’s long-term future.
Rights of Nature is a legal theory that seeks to grant rights to elements of nature to protect them from harm and allow them to flourish. The earl would like the Rights of Nature enshrined in the transfer of ownership. In the Republic of Ireland, the government has been asked to consider a referendum on the issue. The Lough Neagh Report, commissioned by the Department of Agriculture, Environment, and Rural Affairs, does not examine the ownership of the Lough as part of the immediate solutions required. The Executive discussed the report at its most recent meeting, and Minister Andrew Muir has urged ministerial colleagues to approve it at the next meeting
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