Rwanda pledges to fight ozone layer depletion

Rwanda has called on the international community to promote clean technology in order to reduce the threat to the ozone layer. The call was made by Dr Rose Mukankomeje, the director-general of Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA), while addressing environmentalists who had gathered in Dubai, UAE, this week. The environmentalists were discussing the Montreal Protocol and ongoing efforts to protect the ozone layer, a belt of naturally occurring ozone gas above the earth’s surface, shielding people from the harmful ultraviolet B radiation emitted by the sun. The five-day Dubai meeting, which ended on Thursday, emphasised the promotion of ozone and climate friendly chemicals particularly refrigerants. The 1989 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 that are responsible for ozone depletion. Mukankomeje, in a statement, said Rwanda recommitted to fighting ozone depletion and climate change. Rwanda recently announced that it would reduce the importation of ozone depleting gases by 30 per cent this year. “The phase out of hydro chlorofluorocarbons is still ongoing in most developing countries including Rwanda, there is need for the (Montreal) Protocol to support and promote cleaner technology such that a synergetic approach is used to solve both ozone and climate change related environmental problems”. “All Parties to the Montreal Protocol have achievements made so far. However, we still have a big task ahead of us; the impact of climate change is being felt and experienced in most parts of the globe more than ever before. It’s even more felt in developing countries where the degree of resilience is comparatively low,” Mukankomeje said. She underscored the need for the Montreal Protocol to play its complementary role by avoiding alternatives that have high global warming potentials and promote ozone and climate friendly chemicals, particularly refrigerants. “The recovery of the ozone layer alone is not a major achievement in the face of adverse impacts of climate change and other environmental challenges,” Mukankomeje added. The meeting pledged to continue supporting the work of the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel, advisory body of the protocol and the Scientific Assessment Panel in finding lasting solutions to the problems of ozone layer depletion and global warming.

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Rwanda pledges to fight ozone layer depletion