Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit

Guidelines for the Development of a National Environmental Contingency Plan

Prepared by Peter G. Belling, Spill Consulting Services,
consultant to the Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit

Table of contents

Chapter 1 PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS

  • Relationship

  • Single Focus Plan

Figure 1: Suggested link of a national environmental contingency an to a national disaster plan

  • Features
  • Terminology
  • Concept

Figure 2: Simplified schematic of a national environmental contingency plan

Chapter 2 SUGGESTED OUTLINE AND CONTENT

  • Plan Outline Considerations Summary
  • A. Approvals Instrument (Mission Statement)
  • B. Table of Content

Quick Guide

  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Authority, Regulatory Tools, Obligations
  • 3. Scope and Responsibilities
  • 4. Relationship with Other Plans
  • 5. Response Elements
  • 6. Response Operations
  • 7. Support Measures
  • 8. Administrative Elements
  • 9. Annexes
  • Reference Material

PREFACE

All societies face risks of accidents that have the potential to jeopardize the health and safety of individuals, groups or entire communities, and an organised response to such threats is usually achieved through disaster plans. A majority of such disaster plans establish a rigid command structure to address human health and safety issues, evacuation, crowd control and other emergency services, and may include a listing of expertise and/or specialized equipment and similar resources that may be of assistance. Most disaster plans are prepared for, and are administered by, those groups and agencies in society responsible, staffed and equipped for civil defense or similar emergency services. These agencies usually have authority to deal with life-threatening events, crowd control and other police-type matters, and society expects such services from these type of agencies.

When it comes to environmental emergencies, many disaster plans tent to be silent on the topic of environmental aspects of emergencies. Some disaster plans appear to be prepared with an assumption that environmental aspects would be taken care of by appointing, to a decision-making group under the disaster plan, a representative from an agency with responsibility for environmental programmes without elaborating on the expected participation of the representative, and a few disaster plans describe tasks for key members, assigned to decision-making groups created by the plan for the purpose of resolving issues, in only vague terms.

Disaster plans could count on environmental aspects of larger emergencies to be taken care of through separate environmental response procedures as a sub-plan to the disaster plan, or through a separate environmental contingency plan. Such environmental contingency plans or procedures can be developed to be quite focused, and could be implemented by government agencies with responsibility for environmental programmes. If such procedures or environmental contingency plans were to be detailed enough, they could also be implemented for those events where the environment is threatened, but for which the implementation of the overall disaster plan would normally not be considered. This situation could occur for events where health and police-type emergency services are not part of the response requirements, but for which an organised response is still essential. If an event is complex and involves serious health issues or the type of matters usually handled by fire, police or other first responders, these response components are best delivered by the associated overall disaster plan.

Environmental contingency plans tend to fall into the category known as ‘agent-specific’ plans and this group of plans usually cannot be expected to address matters beyond the mandate of the host agency. Environmental agencies are usually responsible for establishing and enforcing environmental standards, and these agencies normally do not have the authority to effect evacuations, rescue, crowd control or other emergency services that may come into play in large-scale events even if the event at hand may be described by some observers as an environmental disaster. Environmental agencies, thus, generally need to rely on civil defense, health or other emergency services to deal with issues that are beyond their own mandate. An effective partnership between various contingency plans and between various agencies for complex events is therefore indicated.

These Guidelines focus on the development of a national environmental contingency plan, and the Guidelines suggest a strong partnership amongst all agencies with expertise and response resources that can be utilized effectively in a response to the unauthorized or accidental release of materials or substances that are hazardous to mankind and other living things, or are a threat to any part of the ecosystem. The Guidelines suggest that a response to such pollution incidents will most probably require the expertise and response resources from several agencies, and that this requirement necessitates participation by, and close cooperation amongst, response partners.

The Guidelines suggest further that response procedures for environmental emergencies or environmental contingency plans should be developed so that they can form part of, or serve as sub-plans to, overall disaster plans. In this manner, environmental aspects of larger disasters can be satisfactorily addressed. In fact, these Guidelines focus on the development of environmental contingency plans, (within the mandate limitations of the host agency) as stand-alone instruments for major pollution incidents that do not require the implementation of an overall disaster plan. This focus is based on the assumption that a strong environmental contingency plan which can take care of environmental emergencies has the capacity to take care of environmental aspects of larger emergencies for which an overall disaster plan is implemented. The reverse is not necessarily true.

A national environmental contingency plan prepared with these Guidelines should be a valuable adjunct to a national disaster plan, and be able to serve as one of perhaps several types of sub-plans to an overall disaster plan. As any sub-plan to a national disaster plan, a national environmental contingency plan should be supplemental, and subordinate, to the overall disaster plan. It is given that the overall disaster plan is designed to address larger societal issues of which consequences to the environment are only one of possibly several aspects.

The guidelines for the development of a national environmental contingency plan have been prepared as a suggestion for the development of a response structure suitable to deal effectively with environmental emergencies. These Guidelines focus on an organised response for an agency responsible for environmental matters in partnership with other agencies who may participate with the environmental agency in a response to an environmental emergency. An environmental contingency plan, developed under these Guidelines, should provide an adequate response to accidental releases of pollutants within the mandate limitations of the environmental agency, and at the same time, complement an overall disaster plan.

These Guidelines are presented in essentially two parts. Chapter 1 introduces, in general terms, desirable features and characteristics applicable to national environmental contingency plans under the title of Planning Considerations, and was prepared with assistance of information obtained from an array of reference material listed at the end of the publication.

The second chapter of the Guidelines, and the bulk of this publication, is titled a Suggested Outline and Content of a National Environmental Contingency Plan. This portion of the Guidelines was prepared with the assistance of ideas found in existing contingency plans available during the preparation of this publication. Chapter 2 introduces nine segments, or parts, of a suggested national environmental contingency plan, and discusses the merits and contents for each part. Each part is illustrated with suggested wording for a sample plan, under the same segment title.

A supplementary publication to these Guidelines is available under the title of A Sample National Environmental Contingency Plan. This Sample Plan is an organised collation of the sample segments presented for illustrative purposes in the second chapter of these Guidelines, and the Sample Plan offers the complete content of a suggested national environmental contingency plan without interrupting the suggested plan with discussions.

In summary, the guidelines in this publication offer suggestions for the development of an agent-specific contingency plan, namely a national environmental contingency plan. These Guidelines are based on a review of applicable resource material at the Geneva library of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA); resource material provided by the UN Environmental Programme, Industry and Environment Office (UNEP IE), Awareness and Preparedness for Emergencies at Local Level (APELL) programme; reference material of the author; and several existing environmental contingency plans included in the list of reference material in this publication; as well as comments received from a group of national experts charged with guiding the program activities of the UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit.

The UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit invites anyone who may need additional assistance in the preparation of a national environmental contingency plan, and anyone who may wish to comment on this publication, to contact the:

Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit
Emergency Services Branch
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Palais des Nations
8-14 Ave de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland

Phone: + 41 22 917 1142 OR + 41 22 917 1815
Fax: +41 22 917 0257
E-mail: ochaunep@un.org

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