Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
The 4-day workshop on strengthening marine pollution incident resilience in the Pacific concluded on a high note in Honiara over the weekend.
A group photo with the tabletop exercise map.
The workshop was funded by the UK government’s Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs under the Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP) as part of the Blue Planet Fund.
It was delivered by the UK’s Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).
The workshop brought together key stakeholders, enhancing local and regional collaboration, communication and strengthening Solomon Islands’ environmental response capabilities for marine pollution emergency incidents.
The workshop strengthened preparedness from any future threats from marine pollution, including oil spills and potentially polluting shipwrecks.
Participants identified the gaps in existing contingency planning to respond to marine incidents and increased their ability to engage, assess and monitor potentially polluting wrecks in the region.
With participants from across Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and the Regional Agencies, the workshop provided a platform for better communication, collaboration and learning about responding to Maritime Pollution in the Pacific.
According to UK Cefas facilitator, Freya Goodsir, the workshop was a fantastic success build capacity, communication and collaboration to respond to any future events. She added:
We found it extremely valuable to understand how passionate colleagues were about protecting our oceans. Together we have improved Solomon Islands ability to respond to any future threats to our marine environment.
Delegates from Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Kiribati, Australia, Samoa and the United States took part in the four-day workshop in Honiara.