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International Day for the Prevention of the Ozone Layer 16-Sep. 2021


 
Image credit The Quint

International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer 2021 Theme. This year's theme for the International Day for the Prevention of the Ozone Layer is 'Montreal Protocol – Keeping us, our food, and vaccines cool.

There’s a lot to celebrate: A treaty joined by every country on the planet that has virtually eliminated chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and dozens of other ozone-destroying chemicals worldwide, protecting the fragile stratospheric ozone layer we rely on to screen out dangerous ultraviolet radiation. The Montreal Protocol is saving millions of lives and avoiding untold harm to agriculture and other vital natural systems. It’s also reducing the speed of climate change.source nrdc

You can visualize what NASA scientist Paul Newman calls “the world avoided” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfnVz_0Pa3c

September 16 was designated by the United Nations General Assembly as the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer. This designation had been made on December 19, 2000, in commemoration of the date, in 1987, on which nations signed the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

In 1994, the UN General Assembly proclaimed 16 September the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, commemorating the date of the signing, in 1987, of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

The closure of the hole in the ozone layer was observed 30 years after the protocol was signed. Due to the nature of the gases responsible for ozone depletion their chemical effects are expected to continue for between 50 and 100 years. Source Wikipedia

HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE

Humans have been a threat to the natural paradigm of the blue planet. One of the consequences of the oblivious actions harming the environment was the depletion of the fragile layer of gas that protects people on earth from harmful cosmic rays, called the ozone layer.

The Montreal Protocol was a deal for countries across the globe to curb the existence of all ozone-depleting substances such as aerosols, chlorofluorocarbon, halogens, etc., widely used for cooling and refrigeration purposes. The usage of such harmful substances resulted in a hole in the ozone layers in Antarctica, first discovered in 1970, which led to acute global warming in the past 20 years. source news18

António Guterres  the General Secretary of  UN “The Montreal Protocol and the Kigali Amendment show us that by acting together, anything is possible. So let us act now to slow climate change, feed the world’s hungry and protect the planet that we all depend on.” Source UN.ORG 

The Montreal Protocol – keeping us, our food and vaccines cool

The Montreal Protocol started life as a global agreement to protect the ozone layer, a job it has done well, making it one of the most successful environmental agreements to date. A united global effort to phase out ozone-depleting substances means that today, the hole in the ozone layer is healing, in turn protecting human health, economies and ecosystems. But, as this year’s World Ozone Day seeks to highlight, the Montreal Protocol does so much more – such as slowing climate change and helping to boost energy efficiency in the cooling sector, which contributes to food security Source Wikipedia







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