Montreal Protocol
The Montreal Protocol signed in the 1987 is one of the most successful international treaties addressing the problems created by chlorofluorocarbons to the stratospheric ozone layer of the earth. The ozone layer is the layer in the atmosphere that absorbs the harmful radiations from the sun and protects the living creatures on earth. However in the past fifty years environmental pollution and the excess emission of gases called Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) have resulted in the depletion of this ozone layer.

Ozone depletion
Ozone is nothing but atmospheric oxygen present in the layer called stratosphere of the atmosphere. Ozone plays a vital role in environment. It acts as a shield to protect us from the hazardous ultra violet rays emitted by the sun. However due to extreme pollution the ozone is now found to be destroying slowly thereby creating a hole in the atmosphere called ozone hole. This process is called ozone depletion and if a hole is created in ozone then obviously the ultra violet rays will penetrate through the hole and will create harms to the organisms living on the earth.


Ozone depletion is considered to be a global environmental issue. Research and studies resulted in the findings that this ozone depletion is caused by the chlorine atoms that are generated by chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons [ShabeCoff P, 1988]. These chlorofluorocarbons originating in the earth are gases that are very stable and do not destroy easily. The chlorine atoms from chlorofluorocarbons react with the ultra violet radiations of the sun generating atoms that destroy the oxygen molecules of the ozone layer faster than at the rate of their production. In due course of time they escape from the troposphere and settle in the stratosphere.


Ozone depletion also called the ozone hole is nothing but the destruction of ozone by the molecules of atomic chlorine released as a result of reaction of chlorofluorocarbon with ultra violet radiation. . It can be understood that preventing emission of CFCs will protect Ozone. The importance of protecting ozone layer which came under study by researchers in 1970’s was emphasized throughout the globe in 1987 through a protocol called Montreal Protocol on Substances that deplete the ozone layer. The ultimate objective of the Montreal Protocol is to control the emission of chlorofluorocarbon. In 1988, The International Ozone Trends Panel generated the world’s first assessment document to portray the effects of significant ozone loss. This report is called the Ozone Trends Panel Report [Rowland S, 2007].


The role of Montreal protocol
The Montreal Protocol and Ozone Trends Panel Report however brought a drastic change in the market structure of CFC. The government started levying excess taxes to the companies that generated Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) such as CFCs. On the other hand gave incentives to the companies that made research on finding an alternative of CFC and methods of eliminating CFC. A system was created to trade ODS internationally and distributing CFC production rights internationally as a result of Montreal Protocol [Yosemite, Website].


The Montreal Protocol has thus paved way to new international and political regimes in terms of eliminating Ozone Depleting Substances. It made the government understand the scientific importance of protecting the stratosphere. It gave a new light and confidence to the global producers of CFC that an alternative to CFC could definitely be found in the near future. Last but not the least the multilateral fund for the implementation of Montreal Protocol contributed by the developed countries, created a reserve for the developing countries to make use of in finding an alternative to chlorofluorocarbon.


-Young, Liezl 2012


Sources:
Rahul, R. (2011). Montreal Protocol in eliminating ODS. Retrieved from http://energy.probeinternational.org/climate-change/the-deniers-and-promoters/dupont-case-study-3d-corporate-strategy http://yosemite.epa.gov/ee/epa/incsave.nsf/2dc aad1f2bc15e8852567840015b4f6/511d430d23ed4d8585256636004f926c!

The Montreal Protocol was created in the late 1980s to prevent the rapid decline of atmospheric concentration of ozone; that protects life in Earth from the sun's harmful radiation. 

Ozone levels in a layer of the atmosphere called the stratosphere had fallen by about 4 percent per year since the 1970s. The stratosphere blocks a form of the sun's radiation known as UV - B rays that can increase the risk of skin diseases, and can harm living organisms

Scientists soon determined that human activities were causing the depletion of the ozone layer. Chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs): used in aerosol sprays and refrigeration units were the main reason for the depletion and once it reaches the stratosphere it can cause the destruction of ozone molecules.

Alternatives and Solutions

CFCs can often be replaced by the less damaging hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) but these are not entirely ozone-friendly.

Another group of chemicals called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are safer for the ozone layer as they contain no chlorine, but both HCFCs and HFCs are also powerful greenhouse gases which contribute to climate change.

-Tuazon, Stephen 2012

Sources: http://earthjournalism.net/toolkit/?p=122

Living in an innovating world where technology is already considered as an essential need to every people, makes it difficult to limit the usage of harmful chemicals that puts our environment as well as humanity on Earth in risk. In 2001, it was found in NASA that there are some irregularities in ozone concentrations in Antarctica. The same unexpected abnormality was also found in Halley Bay near in South Pole, having low ozone concentrations as well. There are countless unusual happenings already like this all over the country, such as experiencing climate change in various countries, discovery of diseases and other things that puts life on Earth in danger. The main antagonists in this phenomenon are the ozone-depleting substances. These substances are to be blamed for the thinning of our stratospheric ozone layer, which absorbs all the UV-B rays coming from the sun. Unfortunately, because of the continuous production of these harmful chemicals, we are now experiencing such negative effects brought by the UV-B rays.


Through an international agreement called Montreal Protocol, the utilization of every harmful compounds that depletes the stratospheric ozone layer such as CFCs, helons, methyl chloroform, and carbon tetrachloride, became restrained worldwide. Some major chemical producers were against it but a part of the objectives of the Montreal Protocol is to search and construct ozone-friendly alternatives that will substitute these harmful greenhouses gases with the same quality it provides to it. Montreal Protocol was a big success to those organizations who advocates in saving and preserving the environment. Evidently, there are good effects and changes discovered such as the noticeably recovery of the stratospheric ozone layer. The substitutes to the ozone-depleting substances have given positive effects as well to the different technical sectors.


Ratified by several countries, Montreal became a successful and an effective solution in the depletion of the ozone layer. There is a high tendency that the health and wellness of everyone as well as the environment will be protected. Continuous production and utilization of the harmful substances are expected to be phased out in the later years thus, people are anticipating to more beneficial developments and changes in our environment. The continuous cooperation of every people will affirmatively help in constructing a developed and preserved environment for the benefit of the future.


-Mercado, Rangelo 2012

The origins of the Montreal Protocol trace back to a theory, published in 1974 by University of California researchers Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina, that chlorine atoms released by the breakdown of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in the upper atmosphere could precipitate a chemical chain reaction which would seriously damage the stratospheric ozone layer that protects all life from dangerous ultraviolet radiation (UV-B) emitted by the sun. The theory unleashed a firestorm of controversy, as CFCs, halons, and related chemicals were extremely useful substances—nontoxic, nonflammable, noncorrosive—that were finding continually new applications in thousands of products and processes. From construction, pharmaceuticals, and food processing, to telecommunications, aerospace, and computers, these chemicals seemed virtually synonymous with modern standards of living.


Several nations, including Canada, Denmark, Sweden, and the United States, voluntarily eliminated CFCs in aerosol spray cans in the late 1970s. Although many governments and the major chemical producers and CFC-using industries resisted strong actions, the United Nations Environment Programme organized efforts in 1982 to negotiate an international agreement. The discovery by a British research team in 1983 of an unexpected annual seasonal collapse in ozone concentrations over Antarctica (the “ozone hole”) sparked public interest, but scientists cautioned against basing the CFC negotiations on this phenomenon because there were other plausible causes for this occurrence. Rather, the scientific concern rested on theoretical computer models that predicted more gradual ozone depletion over the mid-latitudes – of which, however, there was no evidence. Indeed, at the time of the negotiations, measurements actually showed declines in UV-B radiation reaching Earth’s surface (a phenomenon that was later understood to be caused by high levels of pollution in the lower atmosphere that filtered out the radiation.)


Vienna Convention
Against this background, three years of difficult negotiations resulted in the 1985 Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, a treaty that essentially called merely for cooperation in research and did not even mention CFCs in its text. The U.S.National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) now spearheaded the most comprehensive international scientific assessment of the stratosphere ever undertaken.


However, when negotiations began in late 1986 on a further treaty to limit CFCs, the case remained theoretical and opposition continued strong in several key producer countries, notably within the European Community (especially France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom), the Soviet Union, and Japan. The United States launched a vigorous and multifaceted diplomatic campaign for strong controls, and found important allies in Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, Germany, Mexico, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden, and Switzerland. In the end, due largely to unpublicized U.S. bilateral scientific cooperation with Japan and the Soviet Union, these major producers also joined the growing movement for a strong treaty.


Montreal Protocol
In September 1987, the Montreal Protocol was signed, providing for gradual phasedown of CFC production and consumption by industrialized countries to 50 percent of their 1986 levels by 1998-99, with a ten-year grace period for developing nations. Just six months later, scientists confirmed that the Antarctic phenomenon was in fact caused by CFCs, and momentum grew for a total phase-out of ozone-depleting chemicals. The Protocol was amended and substantially strengthened at Conferences of the Parties in London (1990), Copenhagen (1992), and Vienna (1995), and continued to be modified in subsequent years, in a dynamic process informed by periodic scientific, technological, and economic assessments. The number of controlled substances was increased from the original eight to over eighty, and by 1995 most had been eliminated by the industrialized countries and were also on the way to phase out by developing nations.


The Montreal Protocol has been characterized by the heads of the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization as “one of the great international achievements of the century.” Given the extraordinary nature of the danger to life on the planet and the extent of international cooperation that was mobilized, few observers would consider this statement as hyperbole. It was the first major global environmental treaty to implement the precautionary approach, mandating strong actions even before there was concrete evidence of damage. It was also the first to design mechanisms for financial assistance and technology transfer to enable developing countries to accept difficult commitments. The Protocol stimulated a virtual technological revolution in global industry, leading to development of substitute products and processes more rapidly, and at much lower cost, than originally predicted. For their courageous and pioneering work, scientists Molina and Rowland, together with Paul Crutzen of the Netherlands, received the 1995 Nobel Prize.


-Jose, Monalisa 2012

SOURCE: http://www.eoearth.org/article/Montreal_Protocol_on_Substances_that_Deplete_the_Ozone_Layer

Three out of four Americans believe that the Earth has been gradually warming due primarily or at least partly as the result of human activity and want the government to institute regulations to stop it, according to a new survey by researchers at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. The survey was conducted by Woods Institute Senior Fellow Jon Krosnick, a professor of communication and of political science at Stanford, with funding from the National Science Foundation. The results are based on telephone interviews conducted from June 1-7, 2010, with 1,000 randomly selected American adults.

There are several protocols that the government planned to be implemented but only few ones were approved. One of the most successive protocols and said to be lasted for a long term plan is “Montreal Protocol”. This treaty was opened on September 16, 1987 and planned to last till the ozone layer atmospheric concentration be stable. Chemists Frank Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina studied the impacts of CFCs in the Earth's atmosphere and they found out that CFC molecules were stable enough to remain in the atmosphere until they got up into the middle of the stratosphere where they would finally (after an average of 50–100 years for two common CFCs) be broken down by ultraviolet radiation releasing a chlorine atom. There studies results became basis on how we protect the ozone layer by simply taking precautionary measures to control equitably total global emissions of substances that deplete it, with the ultimate objective of their elimination on the basis of developments in scientific knowledge. 

Depletion of Ozone layer

The ozone layer can be depleted by free radical catalysts, including nitric oxide (NO), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydroxyl (OH), atomic chlorine (Cl), and atomic bromine (Br). While there are natural sources for all of these species, the concentrations of chlorine and bromine have increased markedly in recent years due to the release of large quantities of manmade organohalogen compounds, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), bromofluorocarbons. These highly stable compounds are capable of surviving the rise to the stratosphere, where Cl and Br radicals are liberated by the action of ultraviolet light. Each radical is then free to initiate and catalyze a chain reaction capable of breaking down over 100,000 ozone molecules. The breakdown of ozone in the stratosphere results in the ozone molecules being unable to absorb ultraviolet radiation. Consequently, unabsorbed and dangerous ultraviolet-B radiation is able to reach the Earth’s surface. Ozone levels over the northern hemisphere have been dropping by 4% per decade. Over approximately 5% of the Earth's surface, around the north and south poles, much larger seasonal declines have been seen, and are described as ozone holes. In 2009, nitrous oxide (N2O) was the largest ozone-depleting substance emitted through human activities.

Regulations

The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances believed to be responsible for ozone depletion.

• The treaty was opened for signature on September 16, 1987, and entered into force on January 1, 1989, followed by a first meeting in Helsinki, May 1989. Since then, it has undergone seven revisions, in 1990 (London), 1991 (Nairobi), 1992 (Copenhagen), 1993 (Bangkok), 1995 (Vienna), 1997 (Montreal), and 1999 (Beijing).
• It is believed that if the international agreement is adhered to, the ozone layer is expected to recover by 2050.
• Due to its widespread adoption and implementation it has been hailed as an example of exceptional international co-operation, with Kofi Annan quoted as saying that "perhaps the single most successful international agreement to date has been the Montreal Protocol". It has been ratified by 196 states.

Terms and Purposes

The treaty is structured around several groups of halogenated hydrocarbons that have been shown to play a role in ozone depletion. All of these ozone depleting substances contain either chlorine or bromine (substances containing only fluorine do not harm the ozone layer).

The treaty provides a timetable on which the production of those substances must be phased out and eventually eliminated such as

i. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) Phase-out Management Plan

Various provisions were made which limits the use of CFCs.

ii. Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) Phase-out Management Plan (HPMP)

Various provisions were made which limits the use of HCFCs.

The HCFCs are transitional CFCs replacements, used as refrigerants, solvents, blowing agents for plastic foam manufacture, and fire extinguishers. In term of Ozone Depleting Potential (ODP), in comparison to CFCs that have ODP 0.6 – 1.0, these HCFCs have less ODP, i.e. 0.01 – 0.5. Whereas in term of Global Warming Potential (GWP), in comparison to CFCs that have GWP 4,680 – 10,720, HCFCs have less GWP, i.e. 76 – 2,270.

There are a few exceptions for "essential uses", where no acceptable substitutes have been found (for example, in the metered dose inhalers commonly used to treat asthma and other respiratory problems) or Halon fire suppression systems used in submarines and aircraft (but not in general industry).


- Young, Liezl 2012

Source: 2006. Ozone layer concern. Retrieved from http://ozonelayerconcern.blogspot.com/2006/12/ozone-layer-is-complex-gossamer-layer.html

Montreal Protocol

The Montreal Protocol has been characterized by the heads of the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization as “one of the great international achievements of the century.” Over the past 20 years, EPA is proud to have been part of a broad coalition that developed and implemented flexible, innovative, and effective approaches to ensure stratospheric ozone layer protection.

The high-altitude, or stratospheric ozone layer of the air acts like a shield in the atmosphere that protects life on Earth from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation. During the 1980s, scientists observed that the stratospheric ozone layer was getting thinner.

There are 2 International Treaties that are signed for the protection of the Ozone Layer

Vienna Convention

The Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer organized the first international Conference on ozone layer depletion called the Vienna Conference. The conference was held in Vienna, in 1985 when a hole in the stratospheric ozone layer was observed. It was marked by increased UV-B infilteration over Antartica.

The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer

Adopted on September 16, 1987 and amended four times, this treaty is the basis on which Title VI of the Clean Air Act was established.

-Jose, Monalisa 2012


SOURCE: NASA’s Ozone Hole Watch Web Site, Sept. 24, 2006. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/ozone/intpol/