The process of planning always starts with one or more key stakeholders who have become aware of the importance of having a dedicated oiled wildlife plan in place.

Awareness may have increased as a result of:

• an incident that has happened in the stakeholder's home country and has revealed the (potential) shortcomings of the existing preparedness systems.
• One or more incidents that have happened abroad and which have demonstrated a worst case scenario, which the stakeholder thinks could be also realistic in the situation of the home country, but for which the national systems are probably not properly prepared.

Between this awareness and the formal adoption and implementation of a new or updated wildlife response plan, a number of steps need to be taken:

• The identification of other key stakeholders
• Having a first meeting or workshop to which other stakeholders or stakeholder groups are invited, to explore their interest in getting involved in a future oiled wildlife response, and hence the planning of that involvement.
• Defining the scope of work that is involved in developing a plan
• A series of meetings or workshop in which elements of a plan are being discussed and where possible agreed.
• The writing of a draft plan and final agreement between all stakeholders on the contents of the plan
• Formal adoption by the authority(ies) that have statutory responsibilities for the maintenance of the plan and its implementation
• Integration of the plan in other relevant plans
• Implementation of the plan, including training, exercises and plan revision.