TNC Writes

Aiming at protecting the climate and the ozone layer, in October of 2016, during the 28th. Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layering Kigali more than 170 countries agreed to amend the Protocol. The phase-down of HFCs under the Montreal Protocol has been under negotiation by the Parties since 2009 and the successful agreement on the Kigali Amendment continues the historic legacy of the Montreal Protocol. Production, consumption, imports, exports, and emissions as well as consumption baselines of HFCs shall be expressed in carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalents. Dr. Molina, one of the researchers who helped diagnose the problem of ozone depletion said the Montreal Protocol has an important future role to play via the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol to phase down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). HFCs are chemicals that replaced CFCs but were found to be thousands of times more powerful than carbon dioxide at warming the atmosphere. Her exa...

This year, we celebrate 35 years of the Vienna Convention and 35 years of global ozone layer protection. The theme for World Ozone Day 2020 is “ Ozone for life: 35 years of ozone layer protection ”. The slogan of the day, “Ozone for life”, reminds us that ozone is crucial for our life on Earth and we must continue to protect the ozone layer for our future generations also. The themes for the last 5 years were also pretty interesting. Lets briefly have an overview of them. In 2015 the theme was” Precious Ozone: 30th anniversary of the Vienna Convention and International Ozone Day 2015” where the Ozone Secretariat conducted the “Precious Ozone” digital campaign and outreach activities to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer.  In 2016 the theme was  “Ozone and Climate: Restored by a world united”. This theme was targeted towards the restoration of the ozone layer by reducing the HCFs level in the atmosphere.  Year ...

To keep the energy up, and inspire the next generation of supporters for the coming challenge, the Ozone Secretariat, in partnership with Marvel Comics, launched an Ozone Heroes campaign – reminding people that our human qualities are what equip us to solve the world’s most pressing problems and that we are all #OzoneHeroes. Stan Lee in collaboration with The United Nations created an audience journey that follows Iron Man and the Guardians of the Galaxy in a Marvel-produced comic as they discover humans are the superheroes who solved the global issue of ozone depletion. Marvel comics had also put out special Guardians of the Galaxy edition titled: Guardians of the Galaxy, Ozone Heroes. The Montreal Protocol is as necessary today as it was in the 1980s, not just for the ozone layer but also as a part of the global efforts to halt climate change.

Since the time when scientists were able to successfully prove that the Ozone layer is depleting at a fast rate and chlorofluorocarbons contribute highly to this depletion, many conventions such as the Montreal Protocol, Vienne convention, etc. were held. After a lot of debating and deliberating on the topic of the ozone layer depletion, many alternatives and solutions were brought up and finally to create awareness, 16th September 1995 was the day when the International Day for the preservation of the ozone layer was first designated by the United Nations General Assembly and since then we have been celebrating this day every year for the past 26 years. The main reason as to why this day needs more recognition would mainly be to create awareness and to acquire environmental friendly techniques to reduce the use of chlorofluorocarbons in our everyday life so that the overall impact of these harmful gases deplete and the ozone layer is able to restore itself back. This day is celebrated...

Planet earth has its own natural sunscreen that shields us from the sun’s damaging ultraviolet radiation. It’s called the Ozone layer which is nothing but a fragile band of gases beginning 15 Km above our planet and reaching up to 40 Km level. Life as we know it wouldn’t be possible without this layer of protection. In 1957, Professor Gordon Dobson of Oxford University discovered the ozone layer. Ozone is made up of three atoms of oxygen therefore its chemical formula is O3. It is a highly reactive gas. It occurs naturally as well as a man-made product. The ozone layer lies in the stratosphere which is above the troposphere and below the mesosphere, in the upper level of our atmosphere. Stratospheric ozone filters out most of the sun’s potentially harmful shortwave UV radiation.