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20 September 2010
Global Efforts to Halt Ozone Depletion Hailed A Success By UN
Adapted from: Green Razor 135
It didn't happen overnight, but it did happen!
Before the Kyoto Protocol came the Montreal Protocol - an international treaty to protect the ozone layer by phasing out substances thought to be responsible for damaging the ozone layer - the shield that protects life on Earth from harmful levels of ultraviolet rays.
A new report* has hailed this action a success.
Over the past decade, global ozone and ozone in the Arctic and Antarctic regions is no longer decreasing but is not yet increasing.
In addition, many ozone depleting substances are also potent greenhouse gases, so the Montreal Protocol has provided substantial co-benefits by reducing climate change as well.
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Commenting on the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director said: "Today's report underlines that action to protect the ozone layer has not only been a success, but continues to deliver multiple benefits to economies including on efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals. "The contribution to combating climate change is one, but so are the direct benefits to public health. For without the Montreal Protocol and its associated Vienna Convention atmospheric levels of ozone-depleting substances could have increased tenfold by 2050. This in turn could have led to up to 20 million more cases of skin cancer and 130 million more cases of eye cataracts, not to speak of damage to human immune systems, wildlife and agriculture." "The ozone-hole issue demonstrates the importance of long-term atmospheric monitoring and research, without which ozone destruction would have continued unabated and might not have been detected until more serious damage was evident," said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud. "The Montreal Protocol is an outstanding example of collaboration among scientists and decision-makers that has resulted in the successful mitigation of a serious environmental and societal threat.'' |
Likewise, the success of the Montreal Protocol gives us hope that an effective international binding treaty can be negotiated for climate change action beyond 2012 (when the Kyoto Protocol commitment period ends), and in 20 years' time we can celebrate the successes of that treaty in halting climate change.
* The Scientific Assessment Panel will present the Executive Summary of the new report at the next annual Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol, to be held in Kampala, Uganda, from 8 to 12 November 2010. The full body of the report will be available in early 2011.