Saving the Ozone Layer: Every Action Counts

4
Entry
The international response
and exit times in the video: 08:00–12:39
What has the international community done to combat ozone depletion?
A strong international consensus that the ozone layer needs to be protected
has developed over the past decade. The first step towards turning
consensus into global action was taken in March 1985, ahead of
firm scientific proof that man-made chemicals were damaging the
ozone layer. This was the adoption of the Vienna Convention for the
Protection of the Ozone Layer. Parties to the Convention agreed to take
‘appropriate measures’ to safeguard the ozone layer, and anticipated
the negotiation of protocols for specific measures.
The need for a protocol arose almost immediately, when the first evidence
of the Antarctic ozone hole was published in June 1985.
Global negotiations for a protocol were put into top gear, and resulted
in adoption in September 1987 of the Montreal Protocol on
Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. The Montreal Protocol came
into force in January 1989 and is the legal basis for the worldwide
effort to safeguard the ozone
layer through controls on production,
consumption and use of
ozone-depleting substances.
By December 1995, 150 countries
had ratified the Montreal
Protocol, so becoming Parties to
it and legally bound by its
requirements. About a third are
developed and two-thirds are
developing countries. The original
Montreal Protocol defined
measures that parties had to
take to limit production and
consumption of eight ozone-
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
1960
Atmospheric chlorine loading
(parts per billion)
original Montreal Protocol
revised London
revised Copenhagen
London
1990
Copenhagen
1992
critical chlorine level
Montreal
1987
2000 2040 2080
Environment Canada
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Saving the Ozone Layer: Every Action Counts