Training on Oil Spill Response in Caribbean

International Maritime Organization (IMO) has conducted a Level 2 Training Course on OPRC (Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation) in St Kitts and Nevis  for oil spill response managers in the wider Caribbean region.

Participants from 15 countries attended the IMO-funded event, which is focused on tactical aspects of spill preparedness and response, and applying incident management systems to assist effective coordination of spill response.

The countries were Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Guyana, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.

The event showcasedsuccess stories of several countries in ratifying relevant international preparedness and response conventions, adopting national oil spill legislation and developing oil spill response capacity.

This training course supports the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the associated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 14 – Life Below Water, by developing capacity to protect marine and coastal ecosystems.

The course is taking place under the auspices of REMPEITC-Caribe, the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency, Information and Training Centre for the Caribbean, which was set up under the UN Environment’s Regional Seas Programme for the Caribbean.