Finnish support for combating oil pollution in Lebanon
Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland
Ministry of the Environment
Press release 305/2006
22 August, 2006
Finland is supporting efforts to prevent oil pollution along the Lebanese coast by sending oil spill clean-up equipment for the use of the Lebanese Government. Financial support from Finland’s development co-operation funds is being channeled to the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), who will urgently deliver the necessary equipment to the crisis area. The total costs of this assistance will amount to some 600,000 euros.
The decision to provide assistance was made in response to a request submitted by the Lebanese Government and the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea for the EU to put its Civil Protection Mechanism into operation. This mechanism is designed to protect people from destruction related to natural or man-made disasters.
EU member states’ oil pollution combating assistance is being harmonised by the European Commission. Many EU countries have already offered to help Lebanon, but there is still an urgent need for more technical assistance. It is expected that oil clean-up operations will ultimately take several years.
"As the country currently holding the EU Presidency, Finland calls on all EU countries to provide assistance to the Lebanese Government," says Finland’s Minister of the Environment Jan-Erik Enestam. "The Mediterranean Sea and the Baltic are both strategically important marine areas for the European Union, and this means that preventing oil pollution is a crucial issue for the whole Union. Around both seas the increasing transportation and handling of oil and chemicals represent a potentially serious threat to the environment and human health,” stresses Enestam.
Approximately 15,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil is estimated to have been spilt into the sea after Israeli forces bombed a heating plant at Jiyeh, south of Beirut. Oil slicks have contaminated beaches along 150 kilometres of the Lebanese coast. The oil spill is a serious threat to wildlife, especially seabirds and sea turtles, and it also endangers local groundwater supplies. The beach at Byblos, a UNESCO world heritage site, is covered by a layer of oil 1.2 metres thick.
Finland’s Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paula Lehtomäki, who has recently visited the affected area, describes the oil spill as a serious threat to the region, its residents and their livelihoods, emphasising that action must be taken immediately. "This situation is already significantly disrupting the lives of ordinary Lebanese people. Repairing the environmental damage caused by the war is an important step in the reconstruction of the region,” says Lehtomäki.
For more information: Anna Gebremedhin, Counsellor, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 9 1605 6396, Olli Pahkala, Counsellor, Ministry of the Environment, tel. +358 9 1603 9737, Kari Lampela, Division Manager, Finnish Environment Institute, tel. +358 20 490 2471
EU Commission Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC):
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/civil/prote/mic.htm(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window)
Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC):
http://www.rempec.org/(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window)
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP):
http://www.unep.org/lebanon/(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window)