Strengthening wildlife response collaboration at the regional level

The EUROWA Secretariat, Sea Alarm, is continuing its communication with the European Regional Agreements to integrate wildlife response into national emergency response systems and explain how EUROWA can provide assistance in case of an oil spill incident. European authorities are the main end users of the EUROWA networks’ expertise, so the network works to encourage them to integrate EUROWA objectives to drive forwards oiled wildlife preparedness at a national and regional level.

EUROWA or Sea Alarm have had a regular presence at European regional agreement meetings since 2003, via observer status at HELCOM, OTSOPA and being a member of the Mediterranean Assistance Unit, coordinated by REMPEC.

In the first half of 2026, EUROWA activities have been shared with European authorities at several meetings, including the March meeting of the HELCOM Wildlife Expert Group (which Sea alarm also chairs) and the RESPONSE group meeting in June. Staff from Sea Alarm also attended the Bonn Agreement’s OTSOPA meeting in May. Latest developments from the EUROWILD project were explained at these meetings, including reporting on the NGO-authority workshop held earlier this year and the new training courses being developed under the project, which are now available to EUROWA members and other interested parties across Europe. Sea Alarm has also recently extended its MoU with REMPEC, providing a mechanism for Mediterranean states to call on EUROWA expertise.