Various events would be organized to mark World Ozone Preservation Day on Monday by the regional office of UP Pollution Control Board.
Regional officer Mohd Sikandar said that a symposium would be organised at Saras Hall of Vikas Bhawan on ‘preservation of ozone layer’. It would be attended by students, teachers and other prominent persons.
Besides, experts would inform the gathering about the threat of depleting ozone layer. Local entrepreneurs would also put on display their work related to protection of ozone layer. They would also highlight the importance and significance of the ozone layer that protects the environment and living beings and plants from the harmful effects of ultra-violet rays of the Sun. The ozone layer is also useful in information technology.
He said that several harmful chemicals used as refrigerants and in preparation of synthetic foam, spray factories and agricultural purpose have been identified and their production and use would be stopped gradually.
Throwing light over the importance of World Ozone Preservation Day, Sikandar said that since 1995, September 16 is observed as the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer. The date was designated by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution 49/114, to commemorate the signing of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.
This offers an opportunity to focus attention and action at the global, regional and national levels on the protection of the ozone layer. All member states are invited to devote this special day to the promotion of concrete activities in accordance with the objectives and goals of the Montreal Protocol and its Amendment.
The Ozone Layer describes the protective layer of naturally occurring gas, comprised of three atoms of Oxygen found about 10 to 50 km above the earth’s surface that protects human beings from the harmful ultraviolet radiation or UV-B rays of the Sun. Scientist in the 1970s discovered that the layer was thinning as a result of the release of CFCs. This led to development of the Ozone Hole. In 1985, nations around the world convened at Vienna in an attempt to develop a framework for co-operative activities to protect the Ozone Layer. This signed agreement became known as the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer.
He said that the UNEP is monitoring compliance of the international treaties aimed at eliminating the production and use of ozone-depleting substances, including chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), used as industrial refrigerants and in aerosols, and the pesticide methyl bromide.
Specifically, developing countries need to focus on eliminating the use of methyl bromide as an agricultural pesticide and they must halt illegal trade in CFCs. Besides, more than 130,000 new cases of melanoma are reported around the world and some 66,000 people die from skin cancer every year, he added.
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