Illegal international trade in commodities such as ozone depleting substances, toxic chemicals, hazardous wastes and endangered species can seriously undermine the effectiveness of multilateral environmental agreements.

Building the capacity of customs officials, who are at the forefront of every country's efforts to combat illegal trade, is vital. Training is a key component of capacity building, but can be time consuming and expensive.

The World Customs Organization (WCO) offers extensive training to customs officers with the objective of ensuring the implementation and uniform application of the customs conventions that it administers.

The Secretariats of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) that have trade provisions, such as 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, have already instituted training programmes for customs officials, in cooperation with the WCO, at both the national and regional levels.

Customs officer training is also anticipated to be an important element of the national implementation of the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals in International Trade, and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, once these enter into force.

In UNEP Governing Council Decision 21/27 on "Compliance with and Enforcement of Multilateral Environmental Agreements", the Council recognized that the environmental damage caused by illegal trade is growing, and that continuous efforts are required by relevant agencies to address the problem.

UNEP GC SS VII/4 Decision on Compliance with and enforcement of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) requests the Executive Director to take measures through the programme of work of the United Nations Environment Programme and in close collaboration with other international organizations to facilitate the implementation of the guidelines, and to take steps for advancing capacity-building and strengthening of developing countries, particularly the least developed countries, and countries with economies in transition, in accordance with the guidelines.

Governing Council Decision GCSS.VII.I on "International Environmental Governance" encourages initiatives to enhance collaboration, synergies and linkages between conventions on issues of common interest, such as illegal trade.

The purpose of integrated training is to raise the capacity of customs officials on several multilateral environmental agreements at the same time, which can be more cost effective and efficient than separate training on each individual agreement.

Dates of entry into force of MEAs:

A Workshop on "Codes, Contraband and Co-operation: Working with Customs Authorities To Implement Environment Treaties" was organised by UNEP's Division of Environmental Conventions (DEC) in July 2001 for MEA Secretariats, customs authorities, non-governmental organisations and experts.

Among the recommendations made at the workshop were:

• National and regional integrated training workshops when possible
  
• Preparation of integrated training materials where appropriate
  
• Development of links between existing web sites of MEA Secretariats

A meeting to decide an action plan for further MEA co-operation on training was jointly organised by UNEP's Division of Technology, Industry and Economics (DTIE) and DEC in October 2001, and included representatives of the WCO, and the CITES, Rotterdam, Stockholm and the Basel Convention Secretariats.

The meeting endorsed the concept of integrated training and agreed to appoint a facilitator within UNEP DTIE's OzonAction Programme to prepare a programme for joint implementation of customs training, and to establish an Inter-Secretariat Task Force to oversee all activities.

Programme elements are to include

• an integrated training module
• a "Green customs Manual"
• an experienced professional pool of trainers
  
• pilot integrated training workshops
  
• educational tools such as distance learning techniques and fact-sheets
  
• a model for integrated training addressing enforcement and compliance issues for all MEAs
  
• WCO's Fellowship Programme to build the capacity of customs officers from developing countries on environmental crime issues

For UNEP's OzonAction Programme under DTIE, in co-operation as appropriate, with the Ozone Secretariat, customs training is an important activity for assisting the developing countries to meet their commitments under the Montreal Protocol, which aims to reduce the consumption of ozone depleting substances (ODS)

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal aims to ensure that hazardous and other wastes are managed and disposed of in an environmentally sound manner, to reduce and control transboundary movements of such wastes consistent with their environmentally sound management and to minimize generation of such wastes. It has established a regulatory system for such transboundary movements based on a written notification procedure and prior informed consent. The Secretariat of the Basel Convention, in collaboration with the Convention's regional centres, conducts training to assist Parties, particularly developing countries, in detecting, preventing and controlling illegal traffic of hazardous and other wastes. It also has a mandate to strengthen co-operation and synergies in this matter with the partner organizations under the Green Customs Initiative.

UNEP's Division of Environmental Conventions enhances linkages and co-ordination within and among environmental and environment-related conventions in order to facilitate the implementation by governments of their commitments under the conventions and to strengthen the capacity of governments to implement the conventions to which they are party.

UNEP's Division of Environmental Policy Implementation develops strategic approaches to improve compliance and enforcement of environmental conventions, and policy and activities related to prevention and combatting of international environmental crime, as well as providing advice and support to governments on improving enforcement at the national level, and undertaking related capacity building activities.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) establishes the legal framework for the prevention of international trade in endangered species. The CITES Secretariat administers the Convention, acts in a co-ordinating role, assists Parties with enforcement and training and co-ordinates fundraising for implementation of projects.

The World Customs Organisation (WCO) is the only international inter-governmental organisation specialised in Customs matters. WCO has been providing technical assistance, customs authority contacts, development of the Harmonised System of customs codes, information exchange and investigative support to track environmental crime, as well as developing working groups on wildlife and transboundary organized crime.

• As an international criminal police organisation, the role of Interpol is to co-ordinate and facilitate international co-operation between law enforcement agencies in different countries. Interpol has been actively providing technical assistance, law enforcement contacts and investigative support in combating environmental crime, such as stopping illegal trans-frontier shipments of hazardous waste, illegal dumping, illegal traffic of ozone-depleting substances and illegal trade in endangered species of wild flora and fauna.

The Rotterdam Convention is a multilateral environmental agreement designed to promote shared responsibility and cooperative effort among Parties in the international trade of certain hazardous chemicals, in particular pesticides, industrial chemicals and severely hazardous pesticides formulations, in order to protect human health and the environment from potential harm.

The Rotterdam Convention contributes to the environmentally sound use of certain chemicals by facilitating information exchange about their characteristics, providing a national decision-making process on their import and export and disseminating these decisions to Parties. FAO and UNEP jointly perform the Secretariat functions for the Rotterdam Convention.

The Stockholm Convention entered into force in 2004.

Interpol has prepared a training program on investigative techniques in recognising environmental crimes relating to water and air pollution, hazardous waste, and wildlife. Training was arranged in Eastern and Central Europe and for Southern African countries during 1999 and continued into 2002.

WCO conducts a range of training and technical assistance activities to (1) ensure the implementation of customs conventions (such as the Harmonized System for the classification of goods, the production of foreign trade statistics, the GATT/WTO valuation system, the Harmonized Rules of Origin, and other governing standard procedures); (2) improve the effectiveness of customs administrations in enforcement; (3) greater transparency in procedures, (4) [and to enhance good governance].

Using voluntary contributions, the Secretariat of the Basel Convention and its regional centres for training and technology transfer organize training workshops for customs and police officers, environmental officers and representatives of port authorities on the prevention and detection of illegal traffic. Parties to the Convention have also adopted 'Guidance Elements for Detection, Prevention and Control of Illegal Traffic in Hazardous Wastes', providing a practical guide to assist enforcement of national laws implementing the Convention, and a 'Training Manual on Illegal Traffic', addressing the specific issues of relevance to enforcement officers, including customs officers. Information on illegal traffic under the Convention is compiled at a specific page of the Convention's website (http://www.basel.int/legalmatters/illegtraffic/index.html).

The CITES Secretariat regularly organizes general training workshops for Management Authorities, Scientific Authorities, customs and law enforcement agencies. These workshops usually involve participants from several countries, but national-level training is also supported. Where needed, workshops focus entirely on compliance and enforcement. The Secretariat is currently developing a computer-assisted training programme for customs that will be applicable to all CITES Parties, in collaboration with the Canada Customs and Revue Agency and Environment Canada. This CITES computer–assisted training programme for customs will be available in late 2003.

UNEP-DEPI continues to support training and awareness programmes for national law enforcement officers including customs officials under the regional enforcement arrangement - Lusaka Agreement on Co-operative Enforcement Operations directed at illegal trade in wild Fauna and Flora.

Many of the Partners are already collaborating on training and information exchange, and have signed Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) or similar agreements. Some of these collaborative efforts include:

• Seminars jointly organized by CITES and other organizations;
  

• Joint implementation of measures to combat illegal trade contained in the Memorandum of Undestanding signed by the Executive Secretaries of Basel Convention, CITES and Ozone Secretariats in April 2002;
  

• WCO and Interpol working groups on wildlife crime which CITES also attends

• UNEP DTIE training programmes in collaboration with WCO
  

• UNEP-DEPI has been collaborating with Interpol and WCO on matters related to illegal trade of wildlife fauna and flora species under the Lusaka Agreement on co-operative Enforcement Operations directed at illegal trade in wildlife fauna and flora.
  

• Communication between CITES and WCO to combat illegal traffic in wildlife;
  

• Past training programs between the Ozone Secretariat and WCO to work together against illegal trade in ozone depleting substances
  

• Linkages between the WCO and Interpol where environmental crime has challenged international enforcement and customs authorities

A common agenda under integrated training will ensure that trainees receive balanced instruction on critical elements of the Basel and CITES Conventions, and the Montreal Protocol. Special training modules will be created by blending together the modules currently being used by the individual convention secretariats. An equivalent level of training will be received by all participants.

A pool of highly qualified trainers has been identified, which will constitute a task force to be deployed at each integrated training session. Their skills will be further strengthened through participation in the World Customs Organization's Fellowship Programme. Additional trainers will be added to meet future demand.

Manuals will be compiled and field tested by customs officials, to supplement the training they receive under this programme. These will include a "Green Customs Manual", a collaborative initiative of the Convention Secretariats, and a manual to facilitate the implementation of the UNEP's Guidelines on Compliance and Enforcement of Multilateral Environmental Agreements, which were adopted by UNEP Governing Council in February 2002.

UNEP will develop distance and internet learning techniques for integrated training, in order to reach as many customs officials as possible, and ensure that the highest possible level of training is maintained, drawing on the experiences of the World Customs Organization and CITES. It is also developing a compliance and enforcement manual which it plans to use to train enforcement personnel, including Customs officials.

The endorsement of the governing bodies of partner organizations, and securing adequate funding, are critical to the long term success of the integrated training programme.