Stakeholders updating National Oil Spill Contingency Plan in Y'de.

This is the focus of a three-day seminar, which kicked off in Yaounde Monday. The seminar will end today Wednesday.

It is organised by the Pipeline Steering and Monitoring Committee, PSMC; the body tasked with coordinating and implementing the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan. 

The seminar was officially opened by Igor Emmanuel Soya Bissaya, who sat in for the Chairman of the Pipeline Steering and Monitoring Committee, Adolphe Moudiki, who doubles as the Executive General Manager of the National Hydrocarbons Corporation, SNH. 

The SNH official said it was an honour to officially flag off the seminar, on behalf of the Chairman of the Pipeline Steering and Monitoring Committee, Adolphe Moudiki. He recalled that the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan was created by Presidential decree on July 7, 1997.

Bissaya said it is an inter-ministerial structure, which, among others things, is responsible for coordinating the intervention of various government structures involved in the construction and operation of pipeline projects as well as environmental and oil spill management. 

He said it was on this roadmap that the State drew up the oil spill response plan, under the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan, to combat accidental oil spills.

He further explained that the plan was drawn up as part of the project to build environmental management capacity in Cameroon's oil sector. 

Bissaya said it was drawn up with the support of an international firm that was selected after a competitive bidding process and subsequently adopted by the presidential decree of October 29, 2009.

Bissaya said after over a decade of implementation of the plan, the Yaounde seminar, therefore aims to revisit the document “in order to update it to take into account the new realities of our context, marked by the accelerating development” in the sector of activity.

“The final product of this meeting should enable better prevention and adequate management of cases of accidental oil spills that could occur throughout the national territory,” Bissaya said. 

He also seized the opportunity to, on behalf of the SNH Executive General Manager, thank all those who have contributed unreservedly to the process of updating the national plan, which began in June 2023. 

He sounded upbeat that preliminary work already carried out will enable participants “to move forward more effectively in updating the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan”. 

Bissaya, on behalf of the Chairman of the Pipeline Steering and Monitoring Committee, wished all participants fruitful and constructive exchanges that will contribute effectively to the improvement of the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan. 

Focus of three-day seminar 

For three days, participants will brainstorm on five themes during five different sessions to be coordinated by different experts. 

The first will touch on examining the various national and international laws that are not taken into account by the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan.

This will be followed by evaluation of the response system in terms of organisational structures, roles and responsibilities.

The third area of focus will be on evaluation of the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan implementation strategies.

The fourth session will touch on analysis of risk sources, the environment and impacts on sensitive areas such as marine and terrestrial environments while the last session will zoom on implementing a prevention strategy on accidental oil spills. 

About the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan

The National Oil Spill Contingency Plan is an implementation manual that was adopted by Presidential Decree No. 2009/338 of October 29, 2009. 

It aims to enable the State identify and list the ecosystems in the national domain, specify pollution risks by type of hydrocarbon, validate mitigation and remediation options.

It also helps the State to be prepared to deal effectively with accidental oil spills and put in place the organisation, coordination and methodology for deploying response resources, so as to reduce the impact of oil spills.

National Oil Spill Contingency Plan comprises two documents, viz the main volume and implementation manual.

It has two principal principles of implementation, viz the principle of graduated response to oil spill, which involves adapting response strategy and resources to the scale of the spill and its impact on the environment while the Polluter Pays Principle touches on costs of pollution prevention, abatement and control measures.

Why update the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan

Since its adoption, the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan, it should be noted, has not been reviewed.

According to experts from the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds, IOPC Funds, of which Cameroon is a member, and the International Maritime Organisation, IMO, the plan, which is an integral part of the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan, needs to be reviewed every five years.

This is to enable it take into account changes in the physical and institutional environment, as well as technical developments affecting the nature of pollutants and pollution control methods.

The plan, it was detailed, is being reviewed at the institutional level for implementation of the revised administrative organisation of the provinces, which have become regions; consideration of the possible revision of the statutes and missions of administrative bodies.

At the operational level, it is updated following actions carried out to develop an effective awareness-raising strategy, the development of intervention strategies, including the different types of simulation exercises, their frequency and the appropriate training for the players involved in the different links of the intervention chain.

It is also for the development of a funding strategy for exercises and spill response, updating the list of different sources of pollution, inventory of standards and requirements for oil spill response.

It also elaborates, controls and evaluates sheet to ensure that operators comply with and apply the safety rules deriving from the above-mentioned standards and requirements among others. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post issue N0:3232 of Tuesday September 17, 2024