The second meeting of the Global Project Task Force (GPTF-2) of the Global Environment Facility (GEF)/United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)/IMO GloFouling Partnerships Project
A representative of the Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (PERSGA) participated in the second hybrid Biofouling Global Task Force meeting (GPTF-2) which was held at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) headquarter in London during the period of April 11-13, 2022. The meeting was attended by representatives from all lead Partnering countries (LPCs) including Jordan for the region of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, five Regional coordinating Organizations (RCOs), the global industry alliance (GIA), the international council for marine Industry Associations (ICOMIA), the BELLONA Foundation, BIMCO (the international shipping associations representing ship-owners) amongst others, also allowing online participation.
One of the primary objective of the GPTF-2 was to review the performance of the project during the last two years (since the first Global Project Task Force inception meeting, held in April 2019) and discuss challenges faced in the implementation of the project’s activities at the global, regional and national levels as well as mitigation measures.
The PCU together with the delegates discussed and approved the proposed workplan (2022-2025) which was designed to redistribute activities until the new end date of the project (31st May 2025), and agreed on corrective and adaptive actions to ensure the project achieves the desired results and goals.
The meeting was chaired jointly by representatives from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Moreover, a newly signed IMO and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) project on biofouling management, namely TEST Biofouling, which will complements the existing Global Environment Facility (GEF)/United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)/IMO GloFouling Partnerships Project has been introduced. The TEST (Transfer of Environmentally Sound Technologies) Biofouling Project will run for four years (2022-2025). This additional project is funded by NORAD for around 4 Million $US.
The TEST Biofouling Project will focus on demonstrating technical solutions in all the GloFouling partner countries (12 LPCs and 13 PCs). The TEST Biofouling will complements GloFouling Project by 12 small scales national demonstration projects in Lead Countries as well as 3 large-scale regional demonstrations Pilots of most cutting-edge technologies for in-water cleaning in the selected IMO Maritime Technologies Cooperation Centres (MTCC) from Africa, Pacific and Caribbean regions. Additionally, the project will provide capacity building courses in developing countries.
The next GPTF-3 meeting is foreseen to be held in March 2025.