The 3rd Joint NOWPAP Oil Spill Response Exercise and Forum on Sakhalin Projects

In order to strengthen the collaboration among NOWPAP member states to deal with oil spills, the 3rd Joint NOWPAP Oil Spill Response Exercise was successfully conducted on 4 September 2010 in Wakkanai, Japan. Sponsored by Japan Coast Guard and the State Marine Pollution Control, Salvage and Rescue Administration of the Russian Federation, several vessels from Japan and Russia with various oil recovery and treatment equipment participated in the exercise. Representatives from all NOWPAP member states along with several hundred local citizens observed the exercise. Two Japanese helicopters were also involved in the exercise, simulating spraying of oil dispersants and rescuing people from the sea.

Immediately following the exercise, a forum on Sakhalin oil and gas projects was organized, where responsible officials in charge of oil spill contingency in NOWPAP member states, experts and representatives of oil producing and shipping companies shared information on oil spill response and preparedness measures. As the region has experienced rapid economic development, demand on oil export and import has been increasing significantly through maritime shipping, including the oil produced by the Sakhalin projects. Therefore oil spills are a major concern of NOWPAP states that suffered from the recent incidents, and consequently developed and adopted a regional oil spill contingency plan in 2004. Since then, three exercises have been organized, two previous ones conducted in Russia and China respectively. During the forum, activities relevant to the implementation of the regional contingency plan were introduced by the NOWPAP Marine Environmental Emergency Preparedness and Response Regional Activity Centre (MERRAC).

New RAC Directors Onboard

Two gentlemen came on board recently as new directors of NOWPAP Regional Activity Centres, stepping up the ongoing efforts for the implementation of NOWPAP activities. Mr. Norihiko TANAKA from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan has replaced Mr. Hidemasa Yamamoto as the new CEARAC director and Mr. Hongbo SHANG from the Policy Research Centre for Environment and Economy of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China became the new director of DINRAC to succeed Mr. Jianguo Wang, who had finished his 9-years service for DINRAC. In recognizing his contribution to DINRAC and NOWPAP in general, Mr. Wang was given a plaque of appreciation. We warmly welcome Mr. Tanaka and Mr. Shang on board and wish Mr. Yamamoto and Mr. Wang a bright future at their new posts. NOWPAP Participation in Writing the 2011 UNEP Yearbook

NOWPAP has been invited to participate in a writing workshop in Prague for the UNEP Yearbook 2011, to contribute on-site perspective on the topic of plastics pollution as one of the emerging issues to be addressed in the Yearbook. As NOWPAP has been implementing a regional action plan on marine litter in the recent years and plastics account for a majority of marine litter, experiences and information gathered in the NOWPAP region will be useful in the process of compiling the Yearbook.

NOWPAP MERRAC and POMRAC Focal Points Meetings

Two of the NOWPAP Regional Activity Centres, POMRAC and MERRAC, have organized their Focal Points Meetings respectively on 26-27 May and 8-11 June 2010 in Busan and Daejeon, Republic of Korea. After reviewing the on-going projects, the two Regional Activity Centres will continue the following activities:

POMRAC

• Preparation of a regional overview on “Atmospheric Deposition (AD) of Contaminants in the NOWPAP Region with Special Case Studies on Anthropogenic and Natural Changes” using AD modeling data.

• Preparation of a regional overview based on the case studies on “River and Direct Inputs (RDI) of Contaminants with Focus on the Anthropogenic and Natural Changes in the Selected Areas of the NOWPAP Region”.

• Further implementation of “Integrated Coastal and River Basin Management” (ICARM) taking into consideration the results from case studies.

MERRAC

• Organization of the 2010 MERRAC Expert Meeting and Oil Spill Exercise in Hokkaido, Japan on 5 September 2010.

• Collection of information through questionnaires on the implementation of NOWPAP Regional Oil and HNS Spill Contingency Plan.

• Publishing the results of completed specific projects on HNS (Hazardous and Noxious Substances) Training Manual, HNS Database, and Regional Report on HNS Preparedness and Response.

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