AGIP KCO’s Commitment to Wildlife in the North Caspian

A three day wildlife response training course was recently conducted in November in Atyrau, Kazakhstan for Agip KCO personnel. The training course was carried out by Virginia Nelson in conjunction with Curt Clumpner and Michelle Bellizzi of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) Response team.

The training course was carried out under the development of the Wildlife Response Plan (WRP), which is a tool to ensure that Agip KCO has in place procedures to respond in an efficient manner to marine oil spills that may threaten wildlife in the North Caspian where the company operates. The training is in line with Agip KCO’s commitment to maintaining a response management system that incorporates all elements of an oil spill response with particular emphasis on health and safety. Agip KCO is committed towards staff development and recognises the need to educate personnel in their role and responsibilities towards the environment and in particular wildlife.

Training included instructor led classroom lectures and practical exercises that demonstrated how to capture, handle and care for affected birds. The training course was a great success as participants were actively engaged throughout. The participants showed an enthusiasm to learning and concluded that the training gave them the confidence to assist with a response, should this ever be required