How can citizens help balance nature and economy at Carlingford Lough?

The future of Carlingford Lough depends on finding the right balance between economic development and bringing nature back to good health. How do we strike that balance, and how can local people help shape and safeguard the Lough for the long term?

Carlingford Lough is one of Ireland's most distinctive coastal environments -  ecologically rich, culturally significant, and uniquely trans-boundary. Its governance arrangements are complex. Straddling the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, the lough is jointly overseen by Loughs Agency, established under the Good Friday Agreement to protect fisheries, improve water quality, and support biodiversity within Carlingford Lough. 

Government departments in two jurisdictions make decisions that directly impact the lough, planning decisions are made by two councils operating within different systems, and a complex mosaic of public and private landowners shapes what happens on its shores and in its catchment. This fragmentation has real consequences: data is siloed, enforcement is uneven, and communities on both shores have long felt disconnected from the decisions that shape the place they call home. 

The lough is also under pressure. Native oyster populations have collapsed, seagrass meadows are declining, and the people who have known it all their lives have watched these changes happen, often without any meaningful say in what comes next.

In early 2026, thirteen people from those communities came together to change that. Selected by democratic lottery to broadly represent the diversity of life around the lough, they formed the Carlingford Lough Citizens' Jury - the first ever cross-border democratic lottery process on the island of Ireland. Facilitated by Involve, in partnership with The Wheel's Shifting Tides project and supported by Creative Ireland, the jury met across three full in-person days and a final online evening session between February and March 2026.

The jury was convened to answer a single calling question: The future of Carlingford Lough depends on finding the right balance between economic development and bringing nature back to good health. How do we strike that balance, and how can local people help shape and safeguard the lough for the long term?

Over the course of their deliberations, jurors heard from scientists, port representatives, community activists, business representatives, cooperative development practitioners, and cross-border governance specialists. They debated, drafted, and negotiated. 

The jury concluded their work by agreeing three guiding principles and seven recommendations, each supported by a supermajority of at least 80% of jury members. 

The three principles are: 

1. Ecological protection; 
2. The lough is one community with equality and parity between the two shores; 
3. Accessible and inclusive information under a consistent voice.

The seven recommendations call for: 

1. Investment in cross-border community partnerships; 
2. Improved infrastructure for tourism and residents; 
3. Structured youth engagement and education; 
4. Restoration of native species and habitats; 
5. A public data portal for monitoring the health of the lough; 
6. Support for local economic actors through a Community Wealth Fund; 
7. And stronger trans-boundary governance to ensure the lough is managed as a single, thriving ecosystem.

The process also had a measurable impact on the people who took part. Before-and-after surveys show that jurors left with a stronger understanding of local decision-making, a greater sense of their own ability to influence it, and increased confidence in civic participation. Six out of nine expected to be more active in their community as a result. Nobody expected to be less.

These recommendations are not the end of a conversation. They are the beginning of one: grounded in local knowledge, shaped by genuine deliberation, and offered in the hope that the people, the economy, and the ecology of Carlingford Lough will be considered together rather than in competition.