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International commitments

Examples of coordination for international conventions:

Fiji: International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), 1973

• Negotiations - Department of Environment, other interested parties
• Actual signing - Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Coordination and Implementation - Department of Environment
• Consequent establishment of National Oil Pollution Committee (to develop national oil pollution contingency plan)
• Damage of oil spill was minimized by equipment and personnel available as a result of the implementation of the plan.

For MARPOL, negotiations were undertaken by the Department of Environment on behalf of the country, the actual signing of the Convention was done by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and implementation was the responsibility of the Department of Environ-ment. For the implementation of this Convention, the Department estab-lished the National Pollution Committee to develop a national pollution contingency plan. Early in 1997, an oil spill occurred in the port of Suva. Fortunately, the contingency plan contained the procedures to deal with such oil spills. Moreover, equipment and trained personnel were also available to minimize the extent of the pollution. Thus, the oil spill was dealt with successfully.

 

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