New York 21 September 2022 - United States, other donor governments and the United Nations honor Maryland elementary schoolers at UNGA side-event. When a humanitarian catastrophe looms, you can count on young Americans to step up and make a difference. Students at Westbrook Elementary School in Bethesda, Maryland, heard about a potential oil spill off the Red Sea coast of Yemen, they knew they had to act.
Recognizing the threat, six students from Westbrook’s Green Club organized themselves and helped contribute to the crowdfunding campaign to raise funds to salvage the oil and prevent disaster. The FSO Safer is an aging supertanker in an advanced state of decay that will soon break apart or explode if the world does not act. A massive spill from the Safer would destroy pristine reefs, coastal mangroves and other sea life across the Red Sea, expose millions of people to highly polluted air, and cut off food, fuel and other life-saving supplies to Yemen, where 19 million people already need food aid. The impact would also hit Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia and other countries in the region.
At an on 21 September 2022 during the High-level segment of the UN General Assembly, David Gressly, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, praised the students for recognizing that securing the tanker represented “a common problem for us all.” Westbrook Elementary students attended the event.
In a alongside US, Dutch, and German officials, Mr. Gressly praised the warring parties for reaching a political agreement to allow the operation to move forward, and said the next crucial step was now to carry out the salvage, which should begin in earnest in a few weeks’ time. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) is ready to handle the first stage of the operation. It will take around four months to stabilize the tanker, before the oil transfer can take place. In the event of a spill from the Safer, coastal communities would be hit hardest. Hundreds of thousands of jobs in the fishing industry would be lost almost overnight. It would take 25 years for fish stocks to recover. "We decided to help prevent an oil spill because we want to save sea life & the fishermen of Yemen,” said a Club member. The United Nations is grateful to the students, and other members of the public, who supported the UN’s crowdfunding campaign to prevent $20 billion in potential damage. Generous donors, including 17 UN member states have provided more $75 million needed for the emergency plan to transfer the oil off the decaying FSO Safer. We take note that the youth are leading the way in working towards achieving the , particularly when it comes to climate and the environment.
It is an ongoing effort as the United Nations works tirelessly to secure the Safer tanker which gained traction earlier in 2022. Mr. Gressly, the most senior UN official based in Yemen, visited Washington in May to raise the issue’s profile. This included a range of media engagements, including with magazine, , and recording a , in addition to meetings with counterparts in the US administration, including Special Envoy Lenderking. Since then, Mr. Gressly and his team have worked tirelessly to secure the necessary funding for the operation, which has the agreement of both sides in Yemen’s conflict.
The Safer holds four times the amount of oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez – enough to make it the fifth largest oil spill from a tanker in history. The result will be an environmental and humanitarian catastrophe centered on the coast of a country already devastated by more than seven years of war.
There is urgent need for $38 million to facilitate the second phase of the operation which entails the installation of safe long-term replacement capacity for the Safer. Your contribution will bring this a step closer to finishing the job and send a message to governments and private companies that have not yet contributed to do their part. Members of the public can continue to donate toward the remaining $38 million needed to complete the full operation through the crowdfunding initiative facilitated by the UN Foundation:
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