Through this project, Governments in supported countries may also request direct technical assistance on specific areas, such as Environmental Impact Assessment reviews and Strategic Environmental Assessments, methane emissions reduction, and oil contaminated site assessments and remediation. Technical assistance is often targeted to support a specific capacity need over a shor-term period.
Technical Assistance delivered in OfD-supported countries include:
- Technical reviews of Environmental Impact Assessment reports of oil and gas projects in Myanmar (2016), which was geared towards strengthening capacities of the Environment Conservation Department, Government of Myanmar
- Strengthening institutional capacities of the Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Oil, Government of Iraq, to undertake oil contaminated site assessments in ISIL-conflicted areas (2018) – The ISIL conflict resulted in extensive environmental damage and oil contamination in areas which were retaken by the Government of Iraq.
A press release on a 5-days training event in September 2018 was published by UNEP and the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI).
- Strengthening institutional capacities of the Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Oil, Government of Iraq on oil contaminated remediation techniques (2019)
Training videos documenting the bioremediation process in a step-wise manner were developed in English and Arabic. A news story about the training event and the bioremediation trial was also widely disseminated on UNEP and UNAMI websites and social media.
- Integrating methane emissions reduction in Iraq’s update of its Nationally Determined Contributions, in collaboration with UNEP’s Climate and Energy Branch (2020-2021)
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Preliminary Strategic Environmental Assessment for Somalia’s potential oil and gas sector (2021-2022)
- Facilitating digitalization of EIA database management for the Government of Iraq (2020-ongoing)
- Supporting Iraq’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory with a focus on methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, in collaboration with the Norwegian Environment Agency, Carbon Limits and UNEP’s Climate and Energy Branch (2022 - ongoing)
