Most environmental problems have a trans-border nature and global impact. Illegal international trade in environmentally sensitive items such as ozone-depleting substances (ODS), harmful chemicals, hazardous wastes, and endangered species is a large and increasingly lucrative business. It directly threatens human health, deteriorates the environment, contributes to species loss, results in revenue loss to governments and seriously undermines the effectiveness of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs).
The ODS also contribute to global warming. Evidence exists that organised crime groups are involved in this low-risk but high-profit business. These global environmental crimes call for urgent global coordinated responses, said an official involved with the dialogue.
Customs and border protection officers constitute the frontline of every country's defence against transboundary illegal trade. They are the first link in the compliance and enforcement chain, and without adequate capacity to prevent or detect illegal trade, the rest of the chain will be considerably less effective. Building the capacity of these officers, therefore, is vital.
GCI is an unprecedented partnership of international organizations, whose objective is to enhance the capacity of customs and other relevant enforcement personnel to monitor and facilitate legal trade and detect and prevent illegal trade in environmentally sensitive commodities covered by relevant conventions and MEAs. This is achieved through awareness raising on all relevant international agreements as well as provision of assistance and tools to the enforcement community. It is also complementing and enhancing existing customs training efforts under the respective agreements.
Partners of Green Customs Initiative comprise Basel, Cartagena, CITES, Montreal, Rotterdam and Stockholm agreements, Interpol, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, UNEP, UNODC and World Customs Organisation (WCO).
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