Vital Ozone Graphics: Resource Kit for Journalists

10 side effects The final phase-out dates are in sight for CFCs and other substances that harm the ozone layer – but smuggling operations threaten the continued recovery of the Earth’s atmosphere. When worldwide trade restrictions or bansareplacedonanycommodity – drugs, guns, endangeredspecies or whatever – a black market soon emerges. ODS are no exception. illegal trade in ozone depleting substances 30

In the mid-1990s, when CFCs were phased-out in indus- trialized countries (non-Article 5 countries), illegal trade in those chemicals emerged. By 1996 this trade had reached alarming proportions, accounting for as much as 12–20% of global trade in ODS. It was once quoted in the US as being second in value only to cocaine. A 2006 estimate indicated that CFCs alone accounted for 7,000 to 14,000 tonnes of this trade, valued at US$ 25 to US$ 60 million.

Alternatives can often be no more expensive than ODS, but the problem arises because equipment must often be retrofitted, sometimes even completely replaced, to use the new chemicals. This maintains the incentive for illegal trade, and it will most likely remain attractive until all ODS- using equipment is finally replaced with newer technology that works with ODS alternatives.

EXAMPLES OF ODS SMUGGLING PATTERNS IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC EXAMPLES OF ODS MUG LING PAT ERNS IN A I IFIC

Scale at the Equator 0

1 000 km

Sea of Okhotsk

RUSSIAN FEDERATION

MONGOLIA

KAZAKHSTAN

NORTH KOREA

Qinhuangdao

story ideas

Dalian

SOUTH

JAPAN

KIRG.

Tianjin

KOREA

Qingdao

#10a. Climate criminals. Most people know nothing about black market trad- ing in ODSs. Well-orga- nized packets of mate- rial, providing as much hard data as possible, whatever country-specific info a writer wants and a sense of the good and bad aspects of the global response, if any, would make a good story. #10b. Who are the local authorities responsible for interdicting inter- national shipments of ODSs, and how do they do their business? Simi- larly, who are the deal- ers and buyers? Good op- portunities for local angles interviews.

TAJIK.

Pusan

CHINA

Shanghai

AFGH.

Ningbo

PAKISTAN

NEPAL

BHUTAN

TAIWAN

Guangzhou

Pacific Ocean

Kaohsiung

BANGLADESH

Hong Kong

VIETNAM

LAOS

INDIA

MYANMAR

PHILIPPINES

Indian Ocean

THAILAND

CAMBODIA

PHILIPPINES

SRI LANKA

MALAYSIA

SINGAPORE

Major ODS producers in the region (and in the World) Major destination country for illegal ODS Major transit country of ODS illegal trade

I N D O N E S I A

Identified smuggling routes Major merchandise ports

Source: UNEP ROAP, Illegal trade in ODS in Asia and the Pacific , September 2006.