EVALUATING EDUCATIONAL NEEDS IN MARITIME EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT WITHIN THE ARCTIC: THE CASE OF SWEDEN

Climate change and diminishing sea ice pave the way towards increased human activities in the wider Arctic region. However, these new opportunities for shipping, tourism, energy exploration and various other sectors also involve risks, with ship accidents and oil spills standing out. The status quo pressing problem concerns habitat degradation, and other negative impacts on the Arctic environment, as well as the implementation of stricter maritime preparedness and environmental regulations. Following the introduction of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (Polar Code) and related amendments, it has become crucial for the Arctic States to emphasize on improving the prevention and crisis management regime pertaining to large maritime emergency incidents. The Marpart project on maritime preparedness and international partnership in the High North is an ongoing research project concerning Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Greenland, Iceland, and Russia. The principle objective is to map and highlight the challenges of large-scale emergencies in an Arctic context and recommend improvements in the preparedness and crisis management domains. One part of the project, MARPART-2 MAN, is focused on the development of competence needs coupled with gaps related to the competence of personnel at the on-scene tactical level, mission coordination at the operational level, and staff management at regional and national strategic level. To that end, a comparative study has been conducted among five countries that have operational experiences regarding large-scale incidents in extremely cold climate areas. The World Maritime University (WMU) has been responsible for the review of the Swedish emergency response capacities. The assessment concerns mapping current educational programs and training within Swedish emergency management in academic and professional training institutions with a special focus on the High North. The outcome identified important gaps between the demand side competence needs and the supply side within emergency management education. WMU, with its capacity-building focus, is playing a pivot role in the following areas: a) designing new educational activities, training, and exercises which aims to fill this gap, and b) developing concepts and tools for simulation for improving the crisis management of large maritime emergency actions.