The Gambia - National Workshop on Oil Spill Contigency Plan

Information

Objectives

The Republic of The Gambia has in recent years made considerable progress in establishing the conditions necessary to respond to oil spills. This has involved; establishing a competent authority to deal with marine incidents, the ratification of relevant International Agreements, and their subsequent implementation which is ongoing.

The vehicle of implementation is through the maritime strategy, of which a stated purpose to create the mechanisms for the protection and conservation of biodiversity and marine and coastal resources against oil pollution. Under these drivers, The Gambia has been working to strengthen its national capacities through the process of preparing a National Oil Spill Contingency Plan (NOSCP). The general objective is to establish a mechanism to respond to situations of spills of oil and other hazardous substances, or situations of imminent threat of such spills, to define the responsibilities of the intervening entities and to establish the competencies of the authorities responsible for carrying out the tasks.

To accelerate this work, in 2022 The Gambia formally requested assistance from the GI WACAF for continued development of its NOSCP. Finalisation of this document for adoption is an integral component in the implementation of the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Cooperation (OPRC ’90), which was ratified by the Gambia in 2013.

The request for assistance from The Gambia has resulted in the current Project which has been jointly funded between GI WACAF and The Regional Partnership for the Conservation of the Coastal and Marine Zone (PRCM). The goal is to ensure a case and country-specific approach to the formulation of a response strategy and operational plan that complements existing national processes and frameworks and results in a NOSCP that is ultimately approved and formally adopted by the Country.

This workshop was one of the activities under the Project.

The aim of this workshop was to train key entities on the fundamentals of oil spill response, following the standard format and content contained across the IMO OPRC training courses but tailored to be relevant to the specific risks and conditions identified in The Gambia.
The workshop had the secondary aim of conducting round table sessions with key stakeholders to progress discussions and finalise roles and responsibilities, the organisation of a response from both an inter and intra-agency perspective and to define specific response strategies that will be included in the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan (NOSCP).