Interlinkages between ODS, global warming agents to be studied

New Delhi, Nov 7: The 18th meeting of Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS), which concluded here last week, has decided to step up efforts to stop the thinning process of the protective gas layer over the earth and arrest global warming.

The parties decided that assessment experts should study the interlinkages between ozone depletion and climate change, which has great significance for developing countries, because they are at present asked to substitute ODS with substances that contribute to global warming.

For example, India is making efforts to phase out Chlorofluoro Carbons (CFCs) replacing it with Hydrofluoro Carbons(HFCs), but the release of the substitute chemical into the atmosphere contributes to global warming. It's like a situation of falling from the frying pan into the fire.

The need to investigate further the linkages between ODS and global warming causing substitute, realised at the recently concluded conclave of parties, assumes special significance in view of the fact that the meeting of Kyoto Protocol on climate change is going to be held in Nairobi this week.

So far, the Technical and Economic Assessment Panel(TEAP) set up by the Montreal Protocol and and the Inter-Governmental Panel set up under the Kyoto Protocol have been working independently, but now, for the first time, they will be working in coordination to tackle the twin problems of Ozone depletion and global warming.

The Developed countries have almost discontinued the use of transitional HFCs in their refrigerators and other appliance and devices and were now using only hydrocarbons which were much more environment-friendly.

However, developing countries were spending their funds on using HFCs, which was only a transition technology, a policy considered unwise by experts. Head of the Paris-based Ozone Action Branch of the United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP) Rajendra M Shende, who has contributed in the writing of the IPCC report on climate change, says it is important for developing countries to adopt ozone and climate friendly technologies, as it would be unwise for them to repeatedly adopt transition technologies.

Welcoming the decision taken at the New Delhi Montreal Protocol meeting, he said there was an urgent need of introspection.

''We should find a final substitute for CFC and avoid use of HFCs,'' he added.

Mr Shende has called for research into the energy efficiency of hydrocarbons, so that more and more industries are prompted to use the new technology.

The Montreal Protocol is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the protection of a number of substances believed to be responsible for ozone depletion.

The treaty came into force on January 1, 1999. Since then, it has undergone five revisions, last being done in 1999 at Beijing.

The treaty is structured around several groups of Halogenated hydrocarbons that have been shown to play a role in ozone depletion.

India became party to the Vienna Convention in 1991 and the Montreal Protocol in 1992.

India produces CFC-11, CFC-12, CFC-113 Halon-1211, Halon-1301, Carbon Tetra Chloride (CTC) Methyl Chloroform and Methyl bromide.

The ODSs are used in refrigeration and air conditioning, fire fighting, electronics, foams and aerosol industries. India prepared its programme for phase out of ODSs in 1993 and since then it has taken a series of fiscal and regulatory measures.

As many as 189 nations have become party to the Montreal Protocol.

The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an amendment to the international treaty on climate change, assigning mandatory targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to signatory nations.

Countries that ratify this protocol commit to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases, or engage in emissions trading if they maintain or increase emissions of these gases.

The protocol now covers more than 160 countries globally, with notable exceptions of US and Australia, and over 55 per cent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

UNI