Workshop on developing future RCA marine environment strategy and Pre-project review meeting on RCA-UNDP post-tsunami environment impact assessment project were held in 20-24 February 2006 in Daejeon, Korea, organized and supported by RCA Regional Office (RCARO). The meetings were attended by more than 25 environment experts from the RCA Member States and international development organizations.

The RCA environment workshop was arranged by the decision of the RCA General Conference Meeting (34th), held in Vienna in September 2005, with the main purpose of developing future RCA environment strategy, in particular the marine environment. The marine environment is considered as one of the most salient issues for the population and for the environment as well of the RCA region. At the Workshop, experts from the RCA Member States specifically underlined the need to cope with such marine environment problems as (1) landbased pollution from domestic and industrial sources with particular emphasis on the sediment contamination and its transport (2) seafood safety in various aspects, and (3) establishment of coastal marine environment radioactivity database.

The RCA-UNDP Post-Tsunami Environment Impact Assessment Project is an RCARO initiated new endeavor for the benefit of the RCA Member States which will be implemented for 3 years beginning from the latter part of this year. After the tsunami tragedy at the end of 2004, many RCA Member States wanted to have a joint coordinated project in such a way that nuclear techniques can contribute to assess the environmental consequences of the tsunami affected areas. The RCARO, having the mandate to promote RCA partnerships, developed a project to that effect, making available the financial support from the UNDP (Korea) and the Government of Korea.

pre-project review meeting developed three objectives of the project, i.e. (1) assessment of toxic elements in sediments in the tsunami affected areas using nuclear analytical techniques (2) identification of contamination of surface and groundwater, and agricultural land due to sediment deposition and seawater intrusion caused by the tsunami, and (3) assessment of the impact of the tsunami- deposited sediment contaminants on the health, and long-term viability of coral reefs and associated fisheries.

At the workshop and the pre-project meeting, marine environment experts from 15 RCA Member States (AUL, BGD, CPR, IND, INS, ROK, MAL, MYA, NZE, PAK, PHI, SIN, SRL, THA, VIE), representatives from UNDP-Korea, UNEP-NOWPAP and IAEA-MEL (Marine Environment Laboratory in Monaco) have participated.