About the Project
The 21st century has put the Arctic under the spotlight, the region has transformed from world’s periphery into center of global attention. Driven by the impacts of global climate change, increased industrial and economic activities, the Arctic coastal communities are expected to undergo major changes in the coming 50 years. These will have great impacts on their habitual environment and traditional lifestyles.
It is expected, that there will be significant increase in human activity in the Arctic region already by 2025. This will include coastal and intercontinental shipping, increased fishing activities, oil and gas exploration and extraction, maritime tourism, research and other governmental activities. There will be:
- more oil and gas deposit fields opened for licensing,
- more transport and cruise ships crossing the ocean,
- more industrial projects in the Northern Periphery and Arctic region.
All of the above, whether we want it or not, will increase the chance of ecological accidents in the region.
We have currently a great deal of gaps in our preparedness system. These include the following ones
- There is not a clear picture about the future maritime activities or the shipping trends. How fast will shipping increase in the Northern Sea Route, once seas become ice free in the Summer? How fast is oil and gas extraction sites expected to expand and to which areas?
- The Arctic is vast, distances are long and we do not have enough equipment, capacity and competence, to cover all the corners of the Arctic. Whether it is a case of oil spill, or cruise ship in distress, which has to be evacuated from passengers, there is not enough ships, aircraft nor human resources to cover the whole Arctic.
- We lack common training and exercise platforms for education between oil spill response authorities of the Arctic countries and other educational institutions involved in maritime and oil spill issues.
Overall project goal of the APP4SEA project is to work with the following issues:
- Pooling competences across the region;
- Upskilling local authorities in charge of oil spill response;
- Raising awareness in coastal communities;
- Protecting natural and cultural heritage.
The main project objectives include the following ones:
- Introduce local coastal authorities to state-of-the-art technologies to improve their organizational knowledge and operational performance;
- Make sure that internationally/locally discovered know-hows are recognized and used;
- Form a transnational expert pool to share knowledge on oil behavior on sea, oil spill response methods, experience with tools and models;
- Provide local authorities and communities with an open access knowledge bank;
- Offer a decision-making tool that can be used to improve efficient response and thus minimise ecological impacts;
- Offer interactive educational material for educational institutions.
The project is divided into following six workpackages:
- WP1 - Best Technological Practices
- WP2 - Interactive Smart Map
- WP3 - Shared Oil Weathering Database and Oil Spill Response Model
- WP4 - Environmental Contamination and Ecological Impact
- WP5 - Communication
- WP6 - Management
The implementation period of the project is 5/2017 - 4/2020.
The target groups of APP4SEA can be divided roughly into the following two groups:
- The general public, the people living in the communities in the North. Are we aware of what happens in the European Arctic, what kind of changes and challenges will happen as the Arctic seas open up?
- Local authorities in charge of oil spill response. How can they improve their preparedness and be better equipped to to act, should an oil spills happen in the Arctic waters?
Check "Contact" tab for more information about the partnership.