Illegal trade in ozone-depleting substances rises in Asia-Pacific

Comparing figures between countries trading in ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) shows "a discrepancy between what is being legally exported into a particular country and the actual legal import figures of the country," said Ludgarde Coppens, policy and enforcement officer for the UNEP division of technology, industry and
economics.

"The figures just do not match," he noted. "A good 55 per cent of these goods are unaccounted for."

The size of the black market in developed countries for CFCs in the mid-1990s was estimated at around 16,000 to 38,000 tonnes, said the study unveiled before Earth Day on Tuesday. "The illegal trade in the Asia and Pacific region has increased dramatically."

An analysis of CFC exports and imports between key importing countries including Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Iran and major exporting countries such as China, India and Singapore in 2004 found more than 4,000 tons of CFCs unaccounted for in the importing nations.

Nearly 51 per cent of legal exports from China and 47 per cent of legal exports from India into Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Iran are not found in the import statistics of the importing countries, the study was quoted by DPA as saying. No import license was given.

The study was released prior to the UNEP's Business for the Environment Global Summit Tuesday and Wednesday. Among the lighlights is the awarding of the 2008 Champions of the Earth trophies with a special price going to New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who launched three major policy initiatives to fight climate change.

The others are Prince Albert II of Monaco for his country's policies towards reducing carbon dioxide emissions, Atiq Rahman, the executive director of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies, former Yemen Prime Minister Abdul-Qader Ba-Jammal, former US senator Timothy E Wirth who has been an environmental advocate for 30 years, former Barbados minister of energy and the environment Liz Thompson, and Sudan's senior scientist Balgis Osman-Elasha.

The study said ...