Chinese Customs Officers Trainig on Environmental Crimes

Chinese Customs Officers Trainig on Environmental Crimes



 
May 2007 -  – Specialized training to help customs 
officers deal with environmental crimes is being intensified in the Asia 
Pacific region with help from experts in China. Worldwide, environmental 
crime and illegal trade is, by some estimates, valued at more than US$100 
billion a year. 
The initiative, involving the UN Environment Programme, UNEP, and the 
secretariats of the multilateral environment agreements, the Chemical 
Weapons Convention, the World Customs Organization, and Interpol, is aimed 
at equipping customs officials with the skills and know-how to address 
this growing problem. 

Chinese customs officers are on the lookout for smugglers of endangered 
species, hazardous waste and ozone depleting substances. 
A workshop taking place this week at the Shanghai Customs College aims to 
train the trainers from regional customs agencies. The training emphasizes 
cooperation that is expected to become a lasting partnership between China 
customs officials and the other partners. 
UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said at the meeting, "Customs are in 
the frontline, expected to maximize the benefits society can derive from 
the globalized trading system while also expected to minimize the risks 
and threats that trade can pose - threats from illegal trade in banned or 
restricted chemicals up to managing movements of living modified organisms 
and the illegal trade in rare and endangered wildlife." 
He said China, with some 50,000 customs officials and an increasingly 
important role in international trade and global political life, could 
make a key contribution in this field. 
Currently China Customs operates at 253 first-class ports - including 
airports, sea ports and land passes - approved by the central government 
and around 200 second-class ports approved by provincial governments. 
China has a land border 22,000 kilometers (13,670 miles) long and a sea 
border of 18,000 kilometers (11,184 miles). 

Russian and Chinese border guards on the Manchurian border. (Photo 
courtesy Vincent Malic)
The customs officials and border guards must attempt to detect smuggling 
of endangered species and their parts, controlled chemicals, and hazardous 
waste, among other contraband. 
A wide range of chemicals, including persistent organic pollutants and 
chemicals that deplete the ozone layer, are now controlled, banned or 
subject to phaseouts under multilateral environmental agreements. 
These measures are aimed at protecting public health and the wider 
environment but also present opportunities for unscrupulous individuals 
and organized crime which the Green Customs Initiative seeks to address. 
The Green Customs Initiative was created in June 2003 when UNEP and the 
World Customs Organization signed an agreement to foster stronger ties 
between the two organizations on environmental enforcement issues. 
The initiative focuses on training border guards to better spot and 
apprehend criminals trafficking in environmental commodities. 
The training is begining to show results. 
China Customs seized nearly 8.2 metric tons of dichlorodifluoromethane 
(CFC-12), an ozone depleting substance used in refrigerant and air 
conditioning systems, between September 1 and November 30, 2006. The 
seizures were made in Guandong Province - 752 kilograms in Shengzhen and 
7.5 metric tons at Huanpu Port. 
International trade in ozone depleting substances is banned by the 
Montreal Protocol, an international treaty that addresses the holes in the 
Earth's protective ozone layer caused by the emission of chemicals 
containing chlorine and bromine. 
"Months after he attended a workshop in Wuxi, China, a Chinese customs 
officer in Huanpu Port intercepted the illegal ozone depleting substances 
using methods he learned there," said Ludgarde Coppens, policy and 
enforcement officer, UNEP. 
"It is encouraging to see that our training efforts, involving customs and 
enforcement officers in the 18 participating countries is beginning to 
have payoffs," Coppens said. 
The CFC-12 seizures were part of Project Skyhole Patching, a Chinese 
initiative to combat illegal trade in ozone depleting substances and 
hazardous waste in the Asia Pacific region that began September 1, 2006. 
It involves 20 customs and environmental authorities from 18 countries, 
including Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, 
China, Fiji, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, the Maldives, Mongolia, New 
Zealand, the Philippines, Samoa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. 
Since the project began, customs in Hong Kong, India and Thailand have 
played an active role in sharing information on ozone depleting 
substances. Some countries like Vietnam and Cambodia are holding bilateral 
discussions on illegal trade in ozone depleting substances. 
"This timely information exchange among customs and environmental agencies 
in these countries has helped to monitor the movement of ODS in the region 
as well as other regions" said Liu Xiaohui, head of Regional Intelligence 
Liaison Office for Asia and the Pacific. 
Project Sky Hole Patching is now in its second phase focusing on hazardous 
waste, which began March 1. Phase 1 of the project focused on ozone 
depleting substances. 
Meanwhile treaties such as the Convention on the International Trade in 
Endangered Species, CITES, cover trade in wildlife. 
Clothing trimmed with skins of endangered leopards for sale in a shop in 
Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region. 2006. 
The CITES trade regulations are part of a range of international measures 
to allow legitimate trade in animals and plants and restrict or outlaw 
trade in species under threat of extinction. Customs officers are always 
on the lookout for smugglers of Asian big cats, which are all endangered. 
Sometimes, they are successful. Between 1999 and 2005, Chinese customs 
officers seized 80 tiger skins and 31 skeletons, 744 leopard skins and six 
skeletons, and 19 snow leopard skins and one skeleton, according to a 2006 
report published on the website of the China CITES Management Authority. 
In the largest seizure, on October 9, 2003, the Customs Service of the 
Tibet Autonomous Region seized a cargo of 1,392 animal pelts in Sangsang, 
near the Purang Pass on the China-Nepal border. The haul included 31 tiger 
skins and 581 leopard skins. 
Steiner said it is impressive that a treaty like CITES has, over the 
decades, become as relevant to the work of customs officials as tackling 
illegal trade in arms, drugs, and trafficking in human beings. 
Steiner said, "For UNEP, working with organizations like the World Customs 
Organization, Conventions, national governments and customs colleges in 
order to empower professionals to carry out their work to even higher 
standards, is a critical part of our work." 
For more on the Green Customs Initiative see the ENS story of June 2003: 
Green Customs Initiative Offers Officers New Tools    

       
      

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