Dr Sylvia Jagerroos
Environmental Resource Management (ERM),Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Title: Environmental sensitivity mapping as a management tool for Coastal protectionin the contingency planning for oil spill response
Biography
Biography: Dr Sylvia Jagerroos
Abstract
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history. Extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitats, fishing and tourism industries was reported, and is still ongoing today. One of the primary objectives of oil spill planning and response, after protecting human life, is to reduce the environmental consequences of a spill. This objective is best achieved if the locations of sensitive resources are identified in advance, so that protection priorities can be established and the most appropriate clean-up strategy selected. The most commonly adopted approach to define these sensitive areas or receptors are based on the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) Mapping strategy, where the data collected are divided into different categories of sensitivity with their relevant features and stored in a GIS database. The question is whether the operators are updating their coastal areas sensitivity map accordingly and efficiently and whether the operators are sharing their data with government agencies, in order to enhance coastal conservation and coastal protection and maximise the response in case of an emergency event.