Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The Long and the Short of It
The ozone story is probably the best good-news story in this topic. Here are some points to
remember:
·
It demonstrated that when faced with a global environmental problem, governments
are able to work together to find and implement a concrete solution: the Montreal
Protocol.
·
The protocol legally binds parties to ban identified ozone-depleting substances ac-
cording to agreed time schedules.
·
Perhaps most importantly, the protocol contains mechanisms to allow it to keep
track of and to assess new scientific information on previously recognized and
newly recognized depleting substances and to add new substances to those subject
to elimination or control.
·
The Montreal Protocol has worked well. Levels of ozone-depleting substances have
been decreasing after reaching a peak in the 1990s and ozone levels are no longer
decreasing. It is expected that stratospheric levels of ozone at mid-latitudes in the
Northern Hemisphere will return to 1980 levels before mid-century. Recovery will
take somewhat longer in Southern Hemisphere mid-latitudes. Recovery is expected
to be slower in the Arctic and especially in the Antarctic, with significant spring
ozone depletion continuing into the second half of the present century.
·
The success of the Montreal Protocol in controlling ozone depletion has meant that
increases in UV-B radiation have been relatively low away from regions impacted
by the Antarctic ozone hole.
·
Without the Montreal Protocol, levels of UV-B radiation would have reached levels
in mid-latitudes probably capable of causing serious consequences for the environ-
ment and for human health.
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