Coming soon – new tools from EUROWA-2 project presented at HELCOM Response

The EUROWA-2 project is developing tools which will help governments develop their oiled wildlife preparedness through an integrated approach. Responding well to oiled wildlife incidents and other marine wildlife emergencies needs a multidisciplinary, integrated approach where key authorities operate jointly. Over 25 Baltic Sea oil spill response authorities learned more about these tools at the 29th meeting of HELCOM Response.

Saskia Sessions-Puplett (Sea Alarm/EUROWA Secretariat), gave an update on the EUROWA-2 project at the meeting on 29 September, including a summary of the outcomes of the (WILDLIFE, formerly EWG-OWR) group . Saskia recapped the objectives of the EUROWa-2 project and outlined three tools which are being developed:

Recommendations on structure and content of a national oiled wildlife response plan which will provide a step by step guide for authorities on what guidance a plan needs to provide and why.

Exercise guidelines giving pointers to authorities on organising a range of wildlife response exercises for countries at different stages of their preparedness.

Tabletop exercise package based on a fictitious environment encouraging multi-disciplinary mixing and exploring issues of integrated management.

The meeting also heard about two workshops being organised under the EUROWA-2 project where these tools will be rolled out for national authority participants. Invitations for these workshops have been circulated by the Secretariats of HELCOM, the Bonn Agreement and Barcelona Convention. The first workshop will be organised in Brussels (Belgium) in January 2022 and the second will be held in Spain in March 2022 (location and dates to be confirmed). Spaces are still available at both workshops, so authority personnel interested to attend should contact the EUROWA Secretariat for more information.