MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
UN describes the Montreal Protocol on ozone “a remarkable success story”
Ban Ki-moon said recovering the ozone layer is an example of international cooperation United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called Monday on the international community to continue efforts that will preserve the world’s ozone layer and protect the environment. In his message for the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, Mr. Ban pointed to the Montreal Protocol as an example of how Member States are capable to work for the common good.
“Extraordinary challenges require extraordinary responses,” he said. “A generation ago, the world’s nations agreed to act definitively to protect the ozone layer, initiating an intergovernmental process that blazed new trails.”
Signed on 16 September 1987, the Montreal Protocol aims to protect the ozone layer by taking measures to control total global production and consumption of substances that deplete it, with the ultimate objective of their elimination.
The ozone layer, a fragile shield of gas, protects the Earth from the harmful portion of the rays of the sun, thus helping preserve life on the planet. The Protocol has catalyzed innovation in the chemical and equipment manufacturing industry, resulting in more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly refrigeration systems.
Action under the Protocol has also had significant climate benefits. Many harmful substances have been phased out, such as chlorofluorocarbons once used in products such as hairsprays, which are significant greenhouse gases.
Mr. Ban called the Protocol a “remarkable success story” which provides a “beacon of hope,” and serves to chart a new vision beyond 2015, the deadline for the eight anti-poverty goals known as the Millennium Development Goals.
“Sustainable development – enabled by the integration of economic growth, social justice and environmental stewardship – must become our global guiding principle and operational standard,” Mr. Ban said.
“On this International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, I commend all who have made the Montreal Protocol such an outstanding example of international cooperation. I urge Governments, industry, civil society and all other partners to apply the same spirit to the other great environment and development challenges of our times.”
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Disclaimer & comment rules-
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Read all commentsThe CFC story is a parallel for CO2. Claims of dramatic changes to the atmosphere; time was running out, the world was in danger and it could only be saved by “Global Action”, via the UN of course.
Sep 17th, 2013 - 09:28 am 0Refrigerants were first used in the 1930's, but for public consumption it is usually stated that the Ozone “hole” was first discovered in 1985. However the BAS website shows they have been monitoring Antarctic ozone since 1956.
In that year there was a large increase in the number of ozone measurements around the globe. Gordon Dobson, inventor of the measurement device, said, when discovering the Halley Bay anomaly:
“the values in September and October 1956 were about 150 [Dobson] units lower than expected.. In November the ozone values suddenly jumped up to those expected..”
In spring 1958, French researchers at Dumont d'Urville [opposite side of the South Pole from Halley Bay], reported very low atmospheric ozone levels of 110 Dobson units. This was very similar to levels reported 52 years later in 2010 by BAS.
The ‘Montreal Protocol“ was signed in 1987 and we are told that it has saved the earth from disaster. However in August 2006, the WMO and UNEP said that the Ozone layer would not recover until 2065.
They said, ”Because of special conditions within the Antarctic vortex (a natural cyclone of super-cold, super-fast winds), the Antarctic ozone hole is expected to recur regularly for another two decades.“ So they were then admitting a natural cyclic event. UNEP and WMO are joint promoters of the IPCC.
CFC's also occur naturally, despite claims they are only man made. Halocarbons, including CFCs, are emitted by volcanoes and there are also biological sources.
In 2007, BAS reported reported the discovery of large quantities of ozone-depleting chemicals in the Antarctic atmosphere. They said the source was natural and causing a substantial depletion in ozone above the ice surface.
How big was ”the hole” before we first measured it I wonder?
Climate science is complex, however it obeys all the physical and chemical laws. Of course there are unknowns but overall the models and theories work really well. Simply put high altitude Ozone protects from UV radiation emitted by the sun. CFC's, the vast majority of which are man-made deplete the ozone, particularly in the polar regions. The anti-science arguments used by the polluters, asking for more data or different studies are the same distraction techniques used by the tobacco lobby for all those years. Simply put, the science is rock solid. remember Science is Evidence based. Not Dogma. Plus the scientific use of the word theory is generally mis-understood by the media. Theory doesn't mean the idea is doubt. But instead is scientifically disprovable. The so-called “theory” of Intelligent Design has the major flaw of relying on Dogma and is not disprovable by scientific experimentation. Thus it is in reality a religious belief rather than a science based truth.
Sep 17th, 2013 - 12:27 pm 0“United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called Monday on the international community to continue efforts that will preserve the world’s ozone layer and protect the environment.”
Sep 17th, 2013 - 02:32 pm 0What does this paragraph mean?
Ban Ki-moon is called Monday or he called the international community on Monday.....via a press conference?
Although Monday is of course Moon Day!
It's English.... but not as we know it MercoPress!
Anyway don't get too 'over the moon' Ban Ki, ....
“The volume of ice in the summer is only a quarter of what it was 30 years ago,” says Peter Wadhams, professor of Ocean physics at the University of Cambridge!
Now try to stop all those cows farting and belching.....
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