Regional Expert Meeting on National Action Plans for the Implementation of the Regional Strategy for Prevention of and Response to Marine Pollution from Ships (2016-2021)

The Regional Expert Meeting on National Action Plans for the Implementation of the Regional Strategy for Prevention of and Response to Marine Pollution from Ships will be held in Barcelona, Spain between 8 and 9 November 2016. The Meeting will open on Tuesday, 8 November 2016 at 09:00 hours and is expected to close on Wednesday, 9 November 2016 at 13:00 hours.

This event, which is being organised by the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC), is co-financed by the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Integrated Technical Cooperation Programme (ITCP) and the  Mediterranean Trust Fund (MTF).

The Meeting is being convened pursuant to the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP)’s Programme  of Work for 2016-2017 adopted by the Nineteenth Ordinary Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean (Barcelona Convention) and its Protocols, which was held in Athens, Greece from 9 to 12 February 2016 (COP19).

In accordance with Specific Objective 3 of the Regional Strategy for Prevention of and Response to Marine Pollution from Ships (2016-2021), hereinafter referred to as the Regional Strategy (2016-2021), adopted by COP19 (Decision IG.22/4-UNEP(DEPI)/MED IG.22/28), this Meeting aims at supporting the preparation of National Action Plans (NAPs) for the implementation of the Regional Strategy (2016-2021) based on a commonly agreed template, including national assessment.

A well-structured and specific NAP clearly defining the procedures and required actions that will help each country to implement the Regional Strategy (2016-2021) will ensure, or at least facilitate, the attaining of the aims and objectives of the said Strategy with the support of REMPEC.

Such initiative would also facilitate the linking of the NAP with IMO efforts concerning the definition of IMO instruments compliance gaps, inter alia the IMO Member State Audit Scheme (IMSAS), including the IMO Instruments Implementation Code (III Code), IMO’s plans to assist developing countries with the preparation of national maritime policies focusing on IMO related issues, and, ultimately, to define a plan of action to fill the identified gaps. In other words, the NAPs would provide a useful tool to assess progress in individual countries and guide them in their implementation efforts in a tailored manner, including the carrying out of a national assessment and the definition of the remedial action that may be deemed necessary.

In this context, REMPEC developed, with the support of the services of a consultant, a draft common template based on the twenty-two (22) Specific Objectives of the Regional Strategy (2016-2021) and the outputs relating to the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention. The draft common template gives guidance to translate into actions the said objectives and outputs, schedule in time the implementation of the said actions, and allocate the roles and responsibilities among the various stakeholders. The Centre also prepared the required narrative and guidance  to facilitate the understanding of the common template and to support Contracting Parties in the development of their NAP as a living tool that can be reviewed and updated regularly, based on new external developments and on-going internal achievements.

The draft common template will be presented, discussed and tested during the said Meeting and will be finalised, taking into consideration the comments and the amendments proposed by the representatives of the Contracting Parties during the Meeting, prior to onward transmission to the Twelfth Meeting of the Focal Points of REMPEC, to be tentatively held in Malta in May 2017.