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60 Years to Restore the Ozone Layer Over Antarctica |
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By Stephen Leahy*
The
ozone layer is recovering almost everywhere, but over Antarctica
the process will take until 2065. "We cannot take the ozone layer
for granted," says the director of UNEP, the global environmental
authority.
TORONTO, Sep 18 (Tierramérica) - Another giant
ozone hole has opened up over the Antarctic, while evidence mounts
that 20 years of international efforts have finally helped the atmosphere
to start to heal itself.
The "hole" over the South Pole -- actually an annual thinning of
the ozone layer which protects Earth from the sun's ultraviolet
radiation -- measured about 24 million square kilometers, nearly
the size of North America, according to the Sep. 8 estimate by the
renowned British Antarctic Survey, a scientific organizations that
has been studying the region for 60 years.
The ozone hole will continue to grow and likely be one of the larger
and "deeper" ones, perhaps 28 million square kilometers, predicts
Andrew Klekociuk of the Australian government's Antarctic Division.
The largest ever recorded was 30.3 million sq km in 2000, according
to NASA, the U.S. space agency.
However, using satellite and ground-based atmospheric ozone measurements,
scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the U.S. found
that the ozone layer is finally beginning to recover above the mid-latitudes
in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres.
"We know from the study we've just published that the Montreal Protocol
(1987) -- the first major global agreement related to atmospheric
change -- is working," said Derek Cunnold, a professor of earth
and atmospheric sciences at the institute, announced in a Sep. 9
statement.
The Montreal Protocol, signed by 184 nations, was designed to return
the ozone layer to normal by phasing out use of CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons)
and nearly 100 other chemicals that break down the three-oxygen
ozone molecules in the Earth's atmosphere.
The ozone layer covers the entire planet at an altitude of between
15 and 30 kilometers, and protects all living organisms from the
sun's harmful ultraviolet rays.
In mid-August, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the
United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) released a summary from
250 atmospheric scientists that agreed that the ozone layer is recovering,
but at a much slower pace than previously believed.
The layer is predicted to be back to pre-1980 levels by 2049 over
most of the world, five years later than the previous estimate made
in 2002. In the Antarctic region, recovery will be slower, likely
not before 2065, says the report.
"The delayed recovery is a warning that we cannot take the ozone
layer for granted and must maintain and accelerate our efforts to
phase out harmful chemicals," said Achim Steiner, UNEP executive
director, in a statement issued in Geneva and Nairobi.
The continued expansion of the ozone hole over the South Pole remains
a cause for concern, as does the ineffectiveness of monitoring ozone-depleting
substances.
"There is no reason to celebrate. The Antarctic hole is as big as
ever and the Earth is being exposed to unprecedented levels of ultraviolet
radiation," says Alexander von Bismarck, of the non-governmental
Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), with offices in Washington
and London.
"We still don't know the full impacts of this exposure," von Bismarck
told Tierramérica, adding that he has "very serious concerns about
the roadblocks ahead" for a continued recovery, including the smuggling
of ozone-depleting chemical products.
The EIA has conducted undercover investigations into the illegal
importation of millions of pounds of CFCs, mainly from China into
the United States and other countries.
China has promised to investigate after EIA provided videotape evidence
this year of Chinese chemical company officials explaining how they
mislabel and misdeclare products for import into countries where
they are banned, von Bismark said.
"Its clearly very difficult to control production of CFCs in China,"
he added.
According to the terms of the Montreal Protocol, developing countries
are to phase out CFCs by 2010.
In addition to contraband ozone-depleting chemicals, also of concern
is the Protocol's "critical use exemption", which allows such chemicals
as the pesticide methyl bromide.
In 2005, the United States lobbied furiously for -- and obtained
-- the exemption for use of nearly 10 million kg (23 million pounds)
of methyl bromide -- far more than the rest of the world combined.
This year, the United States is permitted to use and manufacture
eight million kg.
"U.S. methyl bromide use will have a greater impact on the ozone
layer than all the CFCs produced in the rest of the world," said
von Bismark.
The Montreal Protocol is considered one of the most successful international
environmental treaties, in part because the world acted to phase
out CFCs, and the chemicals HCFC (hydrochlorofluorocarbon) and HFC
(hydrofluorocarbon) were quickly found as substitutes for the former
uses of CFCs.
But even though these chemicals deplete less ozone, they are extremely
potent greenhouse gases -- 1000 to 10,000 times worse than carbon
dioxide --, contributing to global climate change.
HCFCs, better known as the R-22 refrigerant, is used in virtually
all home, automobile and commercial air-conditioning systems. The
production levels of this chemical has skyrocketed worldwide, and
particularly in China, said von Bismark.
"As it stands, the global warming impact of world HCFCs and HFCs
emissions will rival the total greenhouse gas emissions of the entire
European Union within ten years," predicted the expert.
An EIA report estimates that by 2015 the HCFCs and HFCs will add
the equivalent of 3 billion tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere
-- two to three more times than all the reductions of greenhouse
gases under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
HCFCs are not slated to be phased out until 2040.
* Stephen Leahy is a Tierramérica contributor. |
