NOWPAP MERRAC update

At its 12th Focal Points Meeting (FPM) and the 4th Competent National Authorities (CNA) Meeting for NOWPAP Regional Oil and HNS Spill Contingency Plan held in Daejeon on 1-3 June 2009, NOWPAP Marine Environmental Emergency Preparedness and Response Regional Activity Centre (MERRAC) approved the workplan and budget for the 2010-2011 biennium.  In conjunction with the FPM and CNA Meeting, an International Workshop on the Response to Marine Pollution in the NOWPAP Region was also held on 5 June in Incheon, where representatives from the NOWPAP member states shared information and practices on oil spill preparedness and response.   As the region is at the high risk of oil spill incidents demonstrated by the real disaster of Hebei Spirit in December 2007, NOWPAP members pay great attention to regional cooperation on the issue and tried to be better prepared.  In 2008, Second NOWPAP Oil Spill Exercise was held in Qingdao, China.  In 2009, two NOWPAP BRAVO exercises were successfully conducted to check the communication efficiency among member countries in response to oil spill under the NOWPAP Regional Oil and Hazardous and Noxious Substances Contingency Plan (RCP).  In addition, MERRAC has shared it successful story recently with the South Asia Cooperative Environment Programme (SACEP) in order to help them to get their oil spill contingency plan adopted.