Transparency is critical to building trust between all stakeholders. Information and documentation on the panel process, its working arrangements, reports, conclusions and recommendations, as well as company responses, are made publicly available on the IUCN website, unaltered. Panel members’ names, biographies and the panel’s terms of reference are also published.
The roles and responsibilities for everyone involved in the panel, as well as its oversight, were clearly defined at the start, including different IUCN stakeholders and the contracting party.
WGWAP meetings are attended by company representatives, technical contractors, scientists, lenders’ representatives, as well as observers from NGOs, government, other companies, local research institutes and others, all of whom can ask questions and provide data and information.
All of the measures in place to ensure the panel’s independence and transparency have built confidence and trust among stakeholders and credibility of the panel’s operations and findings.
For example, as part of the company’s Monitoring and Mitigation Plan (MMP), an independent observer, contracted by IUCN was present during the the 2010, 2015 and 2018 seismic surveys to develop a first-hand report on the MMP’s implementation and provide any recommendations for improvements in the future. The observer assists the panel and the company in evaluating the effectiveness of the mitigation efforts, providing useful insights to WGWAP, and ultimately the company. Sakhalin Energy is the only energy company operating in Sakhalin that allows the presence of an independent observer as part of its seismic surveys monitoring and mitigation programme, and this is partly due to the long-term collaboration with WGWAP.