EUROWA project selected for funding by the European Commission

Sea Alarm recently was informed by the European Commission that the EUROWA proposal  (European Module for Oiled Wildlife Emergency Response Assistance) has been selected for European funding.

In this project Sea Alarm will partner with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA, UK), the Wildlife Rescue Centre Ostend (WRCO, BE), ProBird (DE) and WWF Finland (FI) to develop a Module, consisting of experts and their equipment, for international Tier-3 oiled wildlife response in Europe.

The various project streams will:
•    Develop a Standard Operational Procedure (SOP) for the mobilisation and activities of the new Module according to DG Echo’s published Guidelines, and other international standards for oiled wildlife response and preparedness advocated by the oil industry, e.g. International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA) and Oil Spill Response (OSRL).
•    Develop a professional training course allowing a pool of European Experts to develop knowledge and skills at a competency level that would qualify them to become a member of the new Module and be able to form part of an international response team.
•    Provide this training course at the end of the project for interested European experts from Member States so that the new Module can draw from a considerable number of qualified experts
•    Maintain the Sea Alarm owned stockpile of oiled wildlife response equipment and ensure the availability and mobilisation of that equipment in Europe as part of the Module.
•    Test the new Module as part of an international exercise.
•    Submit the Module to the European Commission at the end of the project for consideration as a Module to be registered in the Common Emergency Communication and Information System (CECIS).

The project, in which experts from ELF (EE) and Oniris (FR) are also participating, will deliver the Module as part of a Tier-3 response concept, plus a group of experts from a large number of European countries that can populate the Module according to the needs of a requesting party. The project will start January 2015 and runs until 31 December 2016.