Lessons Learnt: Oiled Wildlife Response in Asia

Abstract

In Asia, the concept of wildlife response is a novel idea. Unlike in Europe where there is various wildlife groups actively carrying out the conservation of wildlife, in Asia, wildlife conservation is not viewed with a high priority. Only a handful of wildlife organizations exist. Many of these have not had the opportunity to respond to an oiled wildlife incident. Due to the limited availability of regional resources in Asia to respond to wildlife impacted by oil, international assistance might be required. Since the closest available resources are located in the Oceania region, a significant delay is expected before a substantial wildlife response could be mobilized. Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL) collaborates with Sea Alarm Foundation, a wildlife non-governmental organization, to address issues related to oiled wildlife response. OSRL has stockpiles of wildlife response equipment in Southampton, Bahrain, Fort Lauderdale and Singapore, which can be mobilised in the event of an incident. Each stockpile consists of a combination of specialised scientific and basic equipment. However as transportation requires time, it could require several days for some equipment to arrive in remote locations. In addition since Asia has a limited number of personnel who are trained to use this equipment, personnel will also have to be moved. One major concern is to manage the time of arrival of equipment and trained wildlife responders in-country, ensuring that they arrive at site together thus facilitating an effective and efficient response. This paper will highlight the lessons learnt from various responses, which comprises the element of wildlife response, that OSRL was actively involved in and how these lessons have been used to enhance oiled wildlife response capability in OSRL to better serve Asia.