The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has issued a call for papers for a major global research and development forum on ballast water management, to be held in March 2016.  The forum will provide an opportunity for experts to share the latest developments in technologies that may stop the spread of potentially invasive aquatic species in ships’ ballast water.

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The 6th Global Environment Facility (GEF)-United Nations Development Program (UNDP)- International Maritime Organization (IMO) GloBallast <a href="http://www.ballast2016.com/">R&amp;D Forum </a>and Exhibition on Ballast Water Management will be held from 16-18 March 2016 at the Headquarters of the  International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), in Montreal, Canada.

As the world prepares for implementation of the International Ballast Water Management Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments (<a href="http://www.imo.org/en/OurWork/Environment/BallastWaterManagement/Pages/Default.aspx">BWM Convention</a>), the Forum will focus on: “BWM Convention: Moving towards implementation”.  The treaty, when it enters into force, will require ships to manage their ballast water so that any aquatic organisms and pathogens are removed or rendered harmless before the ballast water is released into a new location.

IMO has been executing the GloBallast Partnerships Project since 2000, to assist developing countries, in particular, to reduce the risk of aquatic bio-invasions.

The IMO-GloBallast R&amp;D Forum is organized every two years and brings together regulatory bodies, the maritime industry, academia, leading scientific experts and technology development leaders in the field of ships’ ballast water management for a comprehensive overview of this rapidly expanding area of research and development and technology commercialization.

<strong>Abstracts</strong>
Abstracts are invited in respect of the planned forum topics:

• Treatment technologies and alternative management options
• Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement
• Regional approaches, risk assessments and exemptions
• Financing capacity building
• Technology testing and approval

A shipping industry forum will also be held.

Abstracts should be submitted by 15 January 2016 via the website: <a href="http://www.ballast2016.com/call-for-papers/">http://www.ballast2016.com/call-for-papers/</a>

The extended abstract should be written in English, be a maximum 250 words and include objectives, results and conclusions.

Abstracts will be reviewed by an international scientific committee and authors will be notified of the acceptance by 29 January 2016.

The full paper should be submitted by 26 February 2016 for inclusion in the Forum proceedings.