World Customs Organization (WCO) has selected “Customs and the Environment: Protecting our Natural Heritage”, as the theme for the World Customs Day this year. It serves to reflect the dedication and focus of WCO efforts to combat environmental offences, recognizing the illegal trade in the environmentally sensitive commodities is a universal problem. There is a growing concern by the international community and small island nations like the Maldives in particular, about protecting the environment and their natural heritage, due to the increase in population and rampant industrialization. Moreover, it also highlights the importance of a global initiative to overcome the environmental exploitation as modern phenomena like the globalization takes hold of the resources of our planet.

As a result, the World Customs Organization and its 174 members are focusing on the current theme of this year's international customs day and as a member of WCO the Maldives Customs Service participated in workshops carried out by RILO and under the Green Customs Initiative.

WCO regional Intelligence Liaison Office (RILO) for the Asia Pacific has been very active in collecting and analyzing seizure information on environmentally sensitive commodities. In the year between 2006 and 2007, the Sky-Hole Patching Project was launched by the Asia-Pacific RILO and the UNEP regional office in Thailand to keep track of suspicious shipments of ozone depleting substances and hazardous waste. It nvolves 20 Customs administrations and resulted in significant seizures, and has now become a daily monitoring and notification system.

Since the environment issue requires the cooperation with other competent authorities, the WCO took a further step to strengthen its partnership approach by joining the Green Customs Initiative (GCI). The Green Customs Initiative is a partnership of international organizations, cooperating to prevent the illegal trade in environmentally sensitive commodities and facilitation of the legal trade in these. Maldives Customs Service plays a vital role for Maldives in this regard and is also recognized as a member of Green Customs, and a representation has been made at a Green Customs Training Workshop.

The WCO has mobilized the traditional tool- The Harmonized System (HS) – and amended its tariff headings for live animals, meat, skins, and ozone depleting substances to help Customs identify and monitor the most traded commodities covered by Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs).

Today, we are benefiting from these opportune and well organized practices of our enforcement culture. Hence, all these efforts are bound to yield results which are going to improve the quality of life-nationally and globally.