Guyana continues to enhance oil spill response

─ recently participated in regional oil spill response workshop

DPI, Guyana, Friday, March 15, 2019

With first oil expected in a matter of months, Guyana continues to engage in several activities aimed at enhancing the country’s response mechanism in the event of an oil spill.

Director-General (ag) of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig recently attended the Sub-regional Level II Workshop on the Oil Pollution Response Convention (OPRC) and International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Guidance on the Implementation of an Incident Management System (IMS).

The workshop which was held in Basseterre, St.Kitts and Nevis commenced on Monday, March 11 and ran for four days. The objective was to train spill managers and incident commanders in the tactical aspects of spill preparedness and response, in addition to the application of incident management systems to assist the effective coordination of spill response.

The four-day seminar provided an opportunity to strengthen regional cooperation and to evaluate aspects that may be incorporated into future revisions of the regional Caribbean Island OPRC Plan and the Central American OPRC Plan.

As part of the networking process, Lieutenant Colonel Craig presented an update on Guyana’s current oil spill preparedness plan.

The International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation (OPRC) 1990 facilitates international co-operation and mutual assistance in preparing for and responding to a major oil pollution incident. A plan, providing a framework under which the Island States and Territories may cooperate at the operational level in responding to oil spill incidents, was developed. This was done with the overall objective of providing mutual assistance from member states, territories, and organisations in the event of a major oil spill incident which exceeds the response capability of a national government or oil industry.

On Monday, CDC in collaboration with IMO, the United Nations Regional Coordinating Unit for the Caribbean Environment Program UNEP-CAR/RCU and RAC/REMPEITC-Caribe will be hosting a three-day workshop at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) on contingency planning and implementation of the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Cooperation. The aim is to provide participants with a comprehensive overview of the National Oil Spill Response Contingency Plan and the requirements, policy, and procedures for implementation in the event of an oil spill.

Anara Khan

Image: Civil Defence Commission