Ship Pollution and IMO Environmental Conventions, a focus on MARPOL

The mission of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) as a United Nations specialised agency is to promote safe, secure, environmentally sound, efficient and sustainable shipping through cooperation. Of the 51 treaty instruments for the regulation of international shipping IMO has adopted so far, 21 are directly environment-related.

This course addresses environmental issues under IMO’s regulations. It includes the control and prevention of ship-source pollution covered by the MARPOL treaty, including oil, chemicals carried in bulk, sewage, garbage and emissions from ships, including air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions. Other matters covered include ballast water management, anti-fouling systems, ship recycling, pollution preparedness and response, and identification of special areas and particularly sensitive sea areas.

Course author

Reza Kapo

A marine chief engineer officer with long-standing sea-going experience, with a Master's Degree and a PhD Doctorate in Maritime Affairs.  I worked as an engineer at sea for almost eleven years when I was in charge of training several cadets.  In the last five years, I have been engaged as a research consultant in European maritime projects, where I have been in charge of desktop analyses, conducting surveys, and providing policy/technical recommendations. I have also been regularly involved in teaching activities for a wide range of STCW and IMO courses to marine officers since 2017.

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