The U.N. Environment Program today announced an initiative launched with other international organizations aimed at blocking illegal trade in endangered species, chemicals and hazardous wastes.

Called the Green Customs Initiative, the project focuses on training customs officials to better spot possible illegal items in so-called environmental commodities, a rapidly expanding trade estimated to be worth up to $31 billion annually.

"The smuggling of ivory, tiger bones and rare orchids are a direct threat to species survival," said UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer.  "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 whose legal trade is subject to stringent international restrictions."

Toepfer added that "building the capacity of customs officials, who are on the front line of every country's efforts to combat this illegal trade, is vital."

UNEP's partners in the initiative include Interpol, the World Customs Organization and the secretariats of multilateral environmental agreements 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 and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

"By sharing expertise, experience and infrastructure multilateral environmental agreements are working together to present a coordinated customs training front," said Toepfer.

In addition to training customs officials, the initiative is meant to improve intelligence gathering and sharing of information among partner organizations (UNEP release, June 2).