EUROWA

Elements from the EUROWA Basic Responder Course have been used in a large scale exercise organized in the Dutch Wadden Sea, which took place in early September 2017. Claude Velter of the Wildlife Response Centre Ostend led the wildlife component of this exercise, assisted by Monique de Vrijer of the Karel Schot Wildlife Centre in Rotterdam.

The European Commission has recently given its final technical and financial approval of the EUROWA project, marking the completion of an important first stage in developing international oiled wildlife response capability in Europe. Capacity to assist an affected country in response to oiled wildlife was created during the EUROWA project (2015-16) and consists of a team of oiled wildlife response experts and equipment that can be mobilised internationally in Europe via the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism.

Now that the EU-funded project is closing, what happens with EUROWA, the EUROWA Module, and this newsletter? Although the EU-funded project is closing, it does not mean that the cooperation of those involved in the project will sunset.

In 2015-2016, EU funding allowed the project partners and subcontractors to develop and deliver a set of very important building blocks that will serve European authorities, NGOs, and potential oil spillers in dealing professionally with the challenges connected to the oiling of wildlife.

The EUROWA Project Team gathered for their last Team Event to showcase SPECIALIST training and exercise modules, and to evaluate and close the EU-funded project. The event took place from December 12-16 at the RSPCA’s Wildlife Hospital in Mallydams Wood, UK.

In September and October the EUROWA project held a series of pilot training events in Belgium designed to test courses developed over the last two years.  Participants with varying levels of expertise and experience from ten European countries gathered in Ostend to attend the two pilot training events and provide feedback on the course content and approach.

EUROWA partners met in Hamburg for a second equipment inspection and evaluation exercise aimed at refining and maintaining the stockpile of specialised oiled wildlife response supplies in readiness. ProBird, one of the EUROWA partners, kindly provided local support for the event.

A key element of the EUROWA Module project is to reach out to the anticipated end-users and to explain what is being developed and how the Module would benefit various stakeholders in European countries once it is up and running. The main target group are the authorities in European Member States, who are the parties likely to request the activation of the EUROWA team and its equipment.

To help interested parties learn more about how the EUROWA Module will work, a set of e-learning tools is being developed with the aim of providing answers to such questions as what the EUROWA Module is, what it can do, and how this oiled wildlife module can be invited and integrated into a spill response.

The e-learning tools are designed to create a better understanding of what an international oiled wildlife team can bring to the table during a response, and to allow governments and NGOs to review the processes involved in initiating a EUROWA response before a spill occurs.

The EUROWA project partners are tasked with developing training course materials aimed at certifying responders and veterinarians at different functional levels within a response team. As part of the package, the project team have created a series of manuals to accompany the other training materials developed for Module team members.

When an oil spill occurs, one big question is: do we have the right tools for the job of responding? Oiled wildlife response is no exception, as capturing and rehabilitating oiled animals requires a set of specialised equipment of which there are relatively few stockpiles available internationally. European oiled wildlife responders recently came together in Germany to consider this question, within the framework of the EUROWA project.