Strengthening capacity of African countries to deal with oil spills

The capacity of twenty-two African countries* to deal with oil spills is being strengthened during the 9th Regional Conference of the Global Initiative for West, Central and Southern Africa (GI WACAF) in Accra, Ghana (7-10 November). The conference was designed to address the challenges of oil spill preparedness and response in the region, to review the progress achieved since the last regional conference, and to foster discussions to set the strategic priorities for the next biennium (2023-2024). Organized at the end of each biennium, this regional conference is a regular key event in the GI WACAF Project.   

Launched in 2006, GI WACAF is a successful cooperation project between IMO and IPIECA, the global oil and gas industry association for advancing environmental and social performance. It was created with a shared desire to improve the level of preparedness and response to oil spills in the west, central and southern Africa region.

The success of the GI WACAF Project relies heavily on the involvement of its partner countries. To meet this objective, participants were invited to share their experiences and good practices, to identify priorities to strengthen spill response preparedness and potential need for support from the GI WACAF for the next biennium.

As part of IMO’s ongoing efforts to support Member States and industry with the 2030 Agenda and the related SDGs, in particular, SDG 5, to advance gender equality, a dedicated session on mainstreaming gender in the maritime sector of west, central and southern Africa was organized by the IMO-established Women in Maritime of West and Central Africa (WIMOWCA).  

The 9th GI WACAF Regional Conference was delivered through IMO’s Integrated Technical Cooperation Programme (ITCP). 

* Angola, Benin, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Namibia, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and Togo.