September 16th is the United Nations International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer. The latest report released by the United Nations states that with the efforts of various countries, the ozone layer that protects the earth has stopped depleting and is no longer thinning, which also helps slow down the greenhouse effect.
The United Nations' World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) jointly released the "2010 Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion" report, making this statement.
The United Nations pointed out that the above report was compiled and reviewed by more than 300 scientists and is the latest information on the status of the ozone layer in four years. The report states that the signatories to the Montreal Protocol that signed the 1987 Montreal Protocol to protect the ozone layer have fulfilled their commitments and gradually stopped the production and use of harmful ozone-depleting chemicals, thereby improving the situation of ozone layer depletion.
The report points out that in the past decade, global ozone has stopped depleting but has not increased again. Except for the polar regions, the ozone layer in other regions is expected to return to pre-1980 levels by the middle of this century, but the recovery time of the ozone layer over Antarctica much later.
The report states that many ozone-depleting substances are also potent greenhouse gases, and the effective implementation of the Montreal Protocol will also help mitigate climate change. In 2010, the reduction of ozone-depleting substances in the implementation of the Montreal Protocol, calculated in terms of carbon dioxide equivalents, was approximately 10 gigatonnes per year, which was less than the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol to control carbon dioxide emissions (2000). 8-2012) target reduction is five times higher.
In addition to helping to mitigate climate change, protecting the ozone layer is also beneficial to human health. Without the Montreal Protocol, by 2050, the concentration of ozone-depleting substances in the atmosphere may be ten times higher than it is now, which will increase more than 20 million cases of skin cancer and 130 million cases of cataracts, and have serious consequences for humans. It causes widespread harm to the immune system, wildlife and agricultural production.
In 1995, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution declaring September 16th of each year as the "International Day for the Protection of the Ozone Layer" to commemorate the signing of the "Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer" in September 1987. The Protocol stipulates that gradually Reduce, stop the production and use of ozone-depleting substances. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pointed out that due to the cooperation of the parties to the Montreal Protocol, the production and consumption of harmful chemicals that deplete the ozone layer have been reduced by more than 98%.
– Source: United Daily News
