As part of United Nations-coordinated efforts to address the risk of an oil spill from the FSO SAFER moored off the coast of Yemen, the International Maritime Organization and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Yemen are supporting contingency planning workshops to strengthen Yemen's oil spill response capability.
Following the first workshop in Sana'a in February, the second set of workshops were held in Aden in March, focussing on contingency planning and shorelines response management.
The workshops aimed to address current capacity to respond to a spill from FSO SAFER. They assist in clarifying equipment and resource requirements; developing response strategies; and addressing the topic of waste management. The information gathered will serve to identify further training needs for the respective authorities and will allow for the updating of the country's national oil spill contingency plan.
The workshops were coordinated by UNDP Yemen, funded by IMO's Integrated Technical Cooperation Programme, with technical support provided by IMO.
The United Nations’ senior management has instructed the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, David Gressly, to provide UN system-wide leadership on the FSO SAFER case and coordinate all efforts to mitigate the threat. A UN-coordinated proposal to transfer the oil currently onboard the FSO SAFER to another vessel is under development and has received widespread support.