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CEC Madrid Seminar to inform Spanish Guidelines update

2016-05-27

CEDA Environmental Commission (CEC) was invited to take part in a one-day seminar on best practice in dredged material management. The event on 23rd May, in Madrid, Spain, was hosted by Puertos del Estado and its outcomes will feed into the revision of the Spanish Dredged Material Guidelines.

The current version of the Spanish Guidelines has been endorsed by CIEM (Interministerial Commission on Marine Strategy) and is at an intermediate phase before its approval as a Royal Decree. This final stage of the revision work allows for slight modifications to the relevant sections of the Guidelines, and in particular to Annex VI on beneficial use, so the CEC was particularly pleased to accept the invitation to be involved.

Madrid Seminar CompositeAt a well-received and very lively event, a specially invited audience of Spanish and CEDA international experts in dredged material management, some of which were involved in developing the Spanish Dredged Material Guidelines, shared their knowledge and challenges. Presentations covering sustainable solutions from technical, economic and environmental angles, fuelled the debate and panel discussions. Delegates represented organisations including government agencies, port authorities, consultants and dredging contractors. Among them were 35 experts from Spain, from 12 port authorities and 6 other organisations, including Puertos del Estado, CEDEX and Magrama. The event was in Spanish and English and the translators did an outstanding job providing simultaneous translation throughout.

In his welcome address, Álvaro Rodriguez Dapena, Director of Puertos del Estado, set the scene for the day which was chaired by CEDA President, Polite Laboyrie. In a series of excellent talks, experts from the host country, and CEC, discussed current practice and lessons learned. Using case studies, from a number of European countries, including Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Finland and Norway, and examples from the US, the speakers looked at how others have made beneficial use of dredged materials, worked with the natural environment, and dealt with the challenges presented by contaminated sediment.

In the last session, the CEC presented the findings of its review of the Spanish Guidelines along with specific suggestions for amendments. In the very lively panel discussion that followed, the audience shared their thoughts on the suggestions and these will be processed by the Working Group for the amends to the Spanish Dredged Material Guidelines.

All-in-all, those who were lucky enough to be part of the event agreed that it was a very useful day and time well spent. 

Members of the CEC were pleased to have such an excellent opportunity to exchange knowledge, and provide input into the amended Spanish Guidelines and Annex VI. As an added bonus, the event will also be a source of useful examples for the new CEDA Information Paper on Beneficial Use of Dredged Materials (ToR in preparation).

CEC is looking forward to information on the amended Spanish Guidelines. 

See below the seminar programme. The presentations are available for CEDA members on this page. (Search for titles under CEDA & Puertos del Estado Seminar)