PRESERVATION OF OZONE LAYER: IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBAL EFFORTS

“32 Years and Healing,” is the slogan of the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer-2019. In 1994, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 16 September the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, commemorating the date of the signing, in 1987, of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer to emphasize the importance of consolidating efforts and material resources to preserve the ozone layer and prevent global climate change.

Since the signing of the Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (1987), five amendments have been adopted. Turkmenistan joined four of them: London (1990), Copenhagen (1992), Montreal (1997) and Beijing (1999). In 2016, a new Kigali Amendment was adopted to limit the use of a new generation of ODS substitutes, hydrofluorocarbons, which turned out to be greenhouse gases. The implementation of the Montreal Protocol has resulted in phasing out all over the world of 99 percent of ozone-depleting substances used in various types of refrigeration equipment and climate control systems.

Specialists of the Ozone Center at the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Angela Gazieva and Myahri Saparova underlined that our country had taken comprehensive steps to phase out the use of ozone-depleting substances (ODS). The country strictly follows the requirements of the Montreal Protocol: the planned substances and mixtures according to Annexes A, B and E of the Montreal Protocol are completely phased out: methyl bromide, carbon tetrachloride, chlorofluorocarbon, and the use of R-22 freon is strictly regulated. In 2010, Turkmenistan developed the 2012–2020 State Programme on phasing out the use of hydrochlorofluorocarbons.