In news: 8th edition of two-day National Level Pollution Response Exercise, ‘NATPOLREX-VIII’, was conducted by Indian Coast Guard (ICG) off Mormugao harbour, Goa.
About the Exercise-
- The objective of NATPOLREX-VIII is to enhance the preparedness and response capability of all the stakeholders in combating marine spills.
- It aims at validating the procedures and guidelines as contained in the National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan (NOSDCP) at the national and regional levels under the aegis of South Asia Cooperative Environment Programme (SACEP) MoU to which India is a member state.
- During the exercise, various components of NOSDCP were invoked to validate and improve the contingency plans and evaluate preparedness of the resource agencies as well as stakeholders to meet any marine spill disaster at sea.
- The exercise is being coordinated by ICG encompassing assets from resource agencies and stakeholders including Ports, Oil Handling Agencies, Coastal States/Union Territories and other resource agencies.
- The exercise consisted of a two-day programme featuring table-top exercise, pollution response workshop on marine Oil and HNS spill followed by exercise at sea, which was reviewed by Chairman NOSDCP in presence of National and International Observers.
- Besides NATPOLREX, ICG is concurrently conducting a capacity building professional training course in Marine Oil Response and Preparedness for 45 international participants from 18 countries including member states from Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) at Chennai from April 18-29, 2022.
South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme (SACEP)-
- It is an intergovernmental organization, established in 1982 by the governments of South Asia to promote and support protection, management and enhancement of the environment in the region.
- SACEP member countries are Afghanistan , Bangladesh , Bhutan , India , Maldives , Nepal , Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
- Its vision is ‘A healthy environment, resilient society and regional prosperity for the present and future generations’ through the 2020 – 2030 decade.
Source: PIB
