Arctic Preparedness Platform for Oil Spill and other Environmental Accidents (APP4SEA)

There are two main aspects:

1. Increased shipping becomes possible between Europe and Asia through the Northern Sea Route or North-East Passage as ice breakers are not needed anymore. This can divert significant part of global shipping activity between Europe and Asia from the Suez Canal route to the Arctic Ocean;
2. Oil and gas reserves, which have been stored in the bottom of the sea under a thick sea ice coverage, become available for developing.

These developments are expected to boost the Arctic economies and increase the economic well being of the people, but these potential gains are not risk free. As traffic increases in the region, oil rigs and pipelines are set up in Arctic seas, the risks of potential accidents are increasing too. The Arctic region has been spared from large-scale oil spills, since the ice and cold has kept us away from the north. However, if the seas become more accessible because of global warming, we must be ready to deal with potential oil spills.

This is why  APP4SEA has been set up. We need to be ready for oil spill accidents in the Arctic. The main goal of the proejcts is to improve our preparedness for such accidents, save the environment and keep communities and their sea food supply safe. 

To learn more about the project, just move to the  "About the Project" site.