123 School Work

montreal protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer

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  "Perhaps the single most successful international agreement to date has been the Montreal Protocol. "-Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations
  
       In 1985 the Vienna Convention established mechanisms for international co-operation in research into the ozone layer and the effects of ozone depleting chemicals (ODCs). 1985 also marked the first discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole. On the basis of the Vienna Convention, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was negotiated and signed by 24 countries and by the European Economic Community in September 1987.
       The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer from depletion by phasing out the production of a number of substances believed to be responsible for ozone depletion. The Protocol called for the Parties to phase down the use of CFCs, halons and other man-made ODCs.
       Man-made chlorines, primarily chloroflourobcarbons (CFCs), contribute to the thinning of the ozone layer and allow larger quantities of harmful ultraviolet rays to reach the earth. At meetings in London (1990), Copenhagen (1992), Vienna (1995), and Montreal (1997) amendments were adopted that were designed to speed up the phasing out of ozone-depleting substances.
       The treaty is structured around several groups of halogenated hydrocarbons that have been implicated to play a role in ozone depletion. For each group, the treaty provides a timetable on which the production of those substances must be phased out and eventually eliminated...