24 May 2012: Specialists from across the Americas met to discuss environmental issues involved with port management and development, and to advance a hemispheric agenda for the sustainable management of ports.

The Third Conference on Environmental Port Management brought together over 120 delegates from Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Uruguay and Venezuela. It convened in Montevideo, Uruguay, from 22-24 May 2012, and was organized by the Inter-American Committee of Ports (CIP).

During the Conference, participants heard presentations by national and regional experts, as well as specialists from the International Maritime Organization (IMO). They discussed environmental management certification, management of environmentally sensitive zones, the impact of climate change on ports and coastal zones, the treatment and use of contaminated mud from port dredging, port facilities for receiving ship wastes, ballast water discharge, environmental impact assessments (EIAs) of port development, port contingency plans, visual and auditory pollution in ports, and pollution caused by oil spills and hazardous chemicals.

Conference participants also discussed implementation of the CIP Action Plan for 2012-2013, adopted by the CIP Executive Board at its 13th Meeting in March 2012, in Lima, Peru. The Plan aims to build a hemispheric agenda for a solid and sustainable port sector in the Americas and contains six thematic elements, one of which is Sustainable Port Management and Environmental Protection. Under that element, the Plan emphasizes, inter alia, biodiversity and ecosystems preservation, environmental impact minimization, greater energy efficiency and the overall improvement of environmental management in the port (“green ports”) and their logistics chains.

The CIP, comprised of top governmental authorities for port affairs, serves as the permanent inter-American forum for the 34 member State of the Organization of American States (OAS). The CIP’s First Conference on Environmental Port Management was held in April 2007, in Panama City, Panama, and the second in July 2009, in Foz de Iguazu, Brazil. [OAS Press Release]