New initiative to combat growing global menace of environmental crime
UNEP launches "Green Customs" project to help customs officers beat
illegal trade in chemicals, hazardous wastes and endangered species.
Customs officers around the world are getting some extra backup in the
on-going battle to beat the multi-billion dollar illegal trade in
ozone-depleting substances, toxic chemicals, hazardous wastes and endangered
species.
With a focus on training border guards to better spot and apprehend
criminals trafficking in "environmental commodities," a new
"Green
Customs" web site
was launched in early June. The web site is part of an
initiative to help tackle the growth of environmental crime, one of
the most profitable and fastest growing new areas of international
criminal activity.
Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP), which is driving the new initiative, said, "The
smuggling of ivory, tiger bones and rare orchids are a direct threat
to species survival. The illegal traffic of toxic waste negatively
impacts on the environment and health of thousands in the developing
world. At the same time criminal groups smuggle environmentally
harmful products like ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) whose
legal trade is subject to stringent international restrictions."
"Building the capacity of customs officials, who are on the front line
of every country's efforts to combat this illegal trade, is vital,"
said Mr. Toepfer.
Environmental crime is big and increasingly lucrative business.
Thomas L Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General of the Environment and
Natural Resources Division of the US Justice Department, said,
"According to a December 2000 US Government report, it is estimated
that local and international crime syndicates worldwide earn $22 - 31
billion dollars annually from hazardous waste dumping, smuggling
proscribed hazardous materials, and exploiting and trafficking
protected natural resources. When it comes to law enforcement and
customs training around the world, we urgently need a more coordinated
international response to strengthen the domestic capacity of
countries to tackle this problem. The UNEP-led Green Customs
initiative can provide an effective training package for strengthening
domestic institutional capacity on environmental crime and enforcement
of multilateral environmental agreements."
The same US Government report, the International Crime Threat
Assessment, notes that criminal organizations earn $US 10-12 billion
per year for dumping trash and hazardous waste materials. It also says
that the stealing and illicit trade of natural resources, (including
illegal logging and the trade of forest timber) is also a significant
income generator for criminal organizations, earning them $5-8 billion
per year.
The size of the global black market for ozone-depleting substances is
estimated to range from 20,000 to 30,000 metric tonnes annually.
Illegal imports of these substances are far cheaper than CFCs that are
legally recycled or obtained from limited existing stocks.
In an effort to help combat these problems the UNEP-led Green Customs
initiative aims to improve coordinated intelligence gathering,
information exchange, guidance (such as codes of best practice) and
training amongst the partner organizations involved.
The dedicated web site where interested organizations and the customs
officers themselves can get information such as lists of upcoming
training, environmental trainers, and training presentations and more
is a key feature of the project.
The initial partners in the project include UNEP, Interpol (the
international criminal police organization), the World Customs
Organization (WCO) and the secretariats of multilateral environmental
agreements (MEAs) that have trade provisions. These UNEP administered
treaties include the Basel Convention on the Transboundary Movements
of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna
(CITES), and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the
Ozone Layer.
Many of the partners are already collaborating on training and
information exchange. However, one of the aims of the Green Customs
project is to harmonize efforts amongst the various actors,
particularly the MEAs, so that customs officers receive training that
covers all relevant environmental agreements.
"By sharing expertise, experience and infrastructure multilateral
environmental agreements are working together to present a coordinated
customs training front," said Klaus Toepfer. "In addition, this
coherent approach to the problem of illegal trade should help ensure
the implementation and enforcement of the MEAs in question."
"Among its many important activities the World Customs Organization
has been providing investigative support to track environmental
crime," said Toepfer. He said that as the only international
inter-governmental organization specialized in customs matters they are an
essential partner in the new Green Customs initiative we are launching." -
UNEP News release
More information
For more information contact: Robert Bisset, UNEP Press
Officer/Spokesperson for Europe on Tel: 33 1 44377613, Mobile: 33
622725842, E-mail: robert.bisset@unep.fr.
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