Introducing the OIL SPILL Team at the Marine Environment Department, Ministry of the Environment, Estonia (3/3)

Project Lead – Mrs Agni Kaldma

Agni is the content expert in the OIL SPILL project team. Oil spill response and oiled wildlife response have been on her plate since the first large oil spill incident in Estonian waters in 2006. Agni volunteered there, working as an international crime investigator in Estonian Tax and Customs Board those days. Since then, she has gained expert knowledge in the field and is also a member of the European Oiled Wildlife emergency response team, working with oil spills all over the world.

In the Ministry of Environment, Agni’s work is to implement international conventions and European legislation regarding marine environment protection into national law.

Project Manager – Mrs Agnes Unnuk

Agnes has been employed in the Ministry of Environment in the Marine Environment Department since February 2008. She was mainly responsible for implementing the Marine Strategy Framework Directive in Estonia. In addition, she was leading the oiled wildlife response related tasks at that time.

Indeed, Agnes worked in the Ministry when Estonia led the drafting and adopting of HELCOM Recommendation 31E/6 (adopted 20 May 2010) on integrated wildlife response planning in the Baltic Sea area. They also managed to amend the HELCOM Response Manual accordingly and drafted the first Estonian Wildlife Response Plan (both in Estonian and in English), which was adopted by the Estonian Environmental Board in December 2013.

In October 2019, after her maternity leave, Agnes joined the OIL SPILL Project team. Her main task is to put together the Partner Reports, keep an eye on deadlines and how the money is spent.

“Sometimes it also happens so that I write little introduction posts for our OIL SPILL blog about our Ministry and Project Team,” Agnes adds cheerfully.

Text: Agni Kaldma and Agnes Unnuk, Ministry of Environment, Estonia