The South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme (SACEP) and the Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP) of the UK Government jointly organised a regional capacity building programme on Marine Pollution Responses in the South Asian Seas Region which was held last week at Cinnamon Grand, in Colombo.
The landmark initiative seeks to bolster regional cooperation and readiness to address the critical issue of marine pollution, which Sri Lanka has had significant experience with following the recent maritime disasters including the fire on board the MT New Diamond oil tanker on the east coast, and the worst marine pollution incident in Sri Lankan history, the Singaporean flagged MV X-Press Pearl box carrier fire which sank in the anchorage off Colombo Port.
The event saw the participation of distinguished guests, including British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Andrew Patrick, and Ministry of Environment Additional Secretary Pathma Abeykoon, experts and officials from South Asian Seas Programme (SASP) member countries: Bangladesh, Maldives, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, officials from the Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP), South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme (SACEP), and Resource persons were also present.
The five-day workshop, which was conducted throughout last week had been designed to achieve several key goals, including – reinvigorate the SACEP Framework; evaluate existing capacities and progress made by countries, while identifying barriers to implementation,; enhance national-Level discussions; provide a platform to assess gaps in readiness, explore opportunities for mutual aid, and promote better regional collaboration and coordination. Also, to learn from global best practices; share lessons from incidents; highlight best practices, and identify training needs to strengthen regional expertise; and develop future plans; establish the groundwork to update the South Asian Cooperative Environment Programme (SACEP) regional plan, ensuring a long-lasting and effective partnership.
The programme was supported by the Ocean Country Partnership Programme, funded through Official Development Assistance (ODA) under the UK’s Blue Planet Fund, SACEP said.