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UN:
UN OFFICIAL URGES INTENSIFIED ACTION AGAINST OZONE-DEPLETING SUBSTANCES:
13/09/2007 (MaximsNews.com, U.N.) |
UNITED NATIONS - / www.MaximsNews.com@
U.N./
- 13 September 2007 –As
representatives from almost 200 Governments prepare to gather next week in
Montreal, Canada on the 20th anniversary of the United Nations-backed treaty to
protect the world’s ozone layer, a senior UN official today called for
intensified action to eliminate the use of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs)
which damage it.
In
September 1987, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer
was agreed upon, and up to 191 States who are party to the treaty will attend a
five-day conference kicking off on 17 September.
“The
Montreal Protocol is without doubt one of the most successful multilateral
treaties ever and I look forward to celebrating, in mid-September, two decades
of achievement in the Canadian city where it was born,” said Achim Steiner,
Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
Participants
will discuss a recently-released UNEP report which details the benefits of
accelerating the phase-out of HCFCs, chemicals used to replace
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which are more damaging to ozone.
Under
the Montreal Protocol, HCFCs – which are widely used in refrigeration systems
and air conditioners – are scheduled to be eliminated in developing countries
in 2030 and in developing ones in 2040.
However,
the new study points to the advantages of pushing the dates forward by a decade.
Global greenhouse emissions could be slashed by more than 3.5 per cent, and the
report notes that speeding up the transition to HCFC alternatives could
stimulate technological advances as well as return ozone levels to health
pre-1980 levels several years earlier.
The
Montreal Protocol’s “success story is far from over with new and
wide-ranging chapters still to be written,” Mr. Steiner said. “Indeed if
governments adopt accelerated action on HCFCs, we can look forward to not only a
faster recovery of the ozone layer, but a further important contribution to the
climate change challenge.”
Events
celebrating the 20th anniversary of the treaty will include special seminars and
award ceremonies t recognize the achievements in raising awareness about ozone
and the Montreal Protocol.
The
celebration comes in advance of a high-level meeting on climate change to be
convened in New York by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 24 September.
It is
hoped these meetings will set the stage for the upcoming major December summit
in Bali, Indonesia, which seeks to determine future action on mitigation,
adaptation, the global carbon market and financing responses to climate change
for the period after the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol – the current global
framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions – in 2012.
Labels: United
Nations, U.N.,
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Dr. Nafis Sadik, Shashi Tharoor, Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Noeleen Heyzer, Kerry
Kennedy, Ian Williams, Stephen Schlesinger, Sen.
Timothy E. Wirth, Marc Morial, Amb. Jayantha
Dhanapala (Sri Lanka), Amb. Pierre Schori
(Sweden), Amb. William H. Luers, Susan Roosevelt
Weld, Rory Kennedy, Mehri
Madarshahi, J. Michael Adams, Gloria Feldt,
Jeffrey Laurenti, Rodney D. Smith, Ashley
Bommer, Rory
O'Connor, Genevieve Stamper, Max Stamper and
others.
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