The Closure Event for the West MOPoCo PROJECT – Apr 28, 2021

    The West MOPoCo project is drawing to an end. The Secretariat general for the Sea (SGMer) organised on April 14th 2021 an online closure event of the Western Mediterranean Marine Oil & HNS Pollution Cooperation project, funded by the European Civil Protection for over 2 years.

    The event was animated by the countries Beneficiaries: Algeria, France, Italy, Malta, Morocco, Spain and Tunisia, as well as the project Beneficiaries : the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC), the Bonn Agreement for the Greater North Sea and its approaches and the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) for the Baltic Sea, Cedre, ITOPF Ltd. and ISPRA and partners involved in its implementation. It gathered over 100 participants from 19 countries, the European Union, international organisations and industry representatives.

    The event aimed to :

    • Present the latest results of the project in preparedness to chemical pollution events, and their contribution to a series of past, on-going and future projects advancing knowledge and capacities on HNS marine pollution preparedness and response.
    • In particular the publication of the Marine HNS Response Manual Multi Regional Bonn Agreement, HELCOM, REMPEC, developed by CEDRE, ISPRA and ITOPF with contributions from the national authorities from the Mediterranean, the Greater North Sea and its approaches, and the Baltic. The Manual is available on the project website
    • The update and upgrade of the database on chemical products transported and the decision-support tool for first responders MIDSIS-TROCs 0

    A Roundtable with the project partners, to share the results of the project in strengthening pollution preparedness in their country and their feedback and experience on the implementation of this cooperation project funded under the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM 2021). Participants highlighted needs for follow up actions, and new gaps and areas for further cooperation efforts in marine pollution preparedness and response, to be addressed in future projects, work-programmes and regional strategies.