Unified global effort to repair Earth’s ozone layer infuses new life into climate change fight

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A NOAA ozonesonde — an instrument used to monitor the Antarctic ozone hole — ascends over the South Pole in this time-lapse photo. The hole on track to mend itself. (Courtesy of Yuya Makino/IceCube)
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This time-lapse photo shows the path of an ozonesonde as it rises into the atmosphere in the South Pole. (Courtesy of Robert Schwarz/South Pole, 2017)
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Satellite observations determined the ozone hole reached its annual maximum area of 26.4 million sq. km. on Oct. 5, 2022.(NOAA image)
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A NOAA ozonesonde — an instrument used to monitor the Antarctic ozone hole — ascends over the South Pole in this time-lapse photo. (Courtesy of Yuya Makino/IceCube)
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Updated 29 January 2023

Unified global effort to repair Earth’s ozone layer infuses new life into climate change fight

  • Scientists say the hole in the planet’s shield, first detected in the 1980s, will return to normal by around 2066 
  • Same cooperation seen under the 1987 Montreal Protocol needed to slow global warming, say experts

LONDON: You cannot see it with the naked eye but high over your head, just above the altitude at which the highest-flying passenger jets cruise, there is a fragile layer of naturally occurring gas that shields all life on Earth from the deadly effects of the ultraviolet radiation emitted by the sun.

This is the ozone shield, a belt of gas — specifically ozone, or O3, which is made of three oxygen atoms — formed by the natural interaction of solar ultraviolet radiation with O2, the oxygen we breathe.

Without it, we’d all be cooked. In the words of the UN Environment Program’s Ozone Secretariat, “long-term exposure to high levels of UV-B threatens human health and damages most animals, plants and microbes, so the ozone layer protects all life on Earth.”

But now, after decades of battling to save it — and us — scientists have announced that the hole in the ozone layer, which was detected in the 1980s, is healing.

The announcement this month is a victory for one of the greatest international scientific collaborations the world has ever seen. And, as the world struggles to tackle climate change, it is a timely and hugely encouraging demonstration of what the international community can achieve when it really puts its mind to something.

As the nations of the world prepare to gather at the UN Climate Change Conference, COP28, in the UAE, where in November they will be expected to account for the progress they have made toward the climate-change goals set by the 2015 Paris Agreement, the brilliant success of the ozone-saving 1987 Montreal Protocol can only be an inspiration.




A scientist launches a research balloon at Australia’s Giles Weather Station. (Shutterstock)

The ozone layer, and its role in absorbing the sun’s ultraviolet radiation, was first identified by two French physicists, Charles Fabry and Henri Buisson, in 1913, but it was not until 1974 that an article in the journal Nature warned that we were in danger of destroying it.

Chemists F. Sherwood Rowland, of the University of California Irvine, and Mario Molina, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, discovered that human-created gases, such as the chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, used in appliances and products such as fridges and aerosols, were destroying ozone.

In 1995, Rowland and Molina, together with Dutch scientist Paul Crutzen, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone.”

But, the Nobel citation continued, “the real shock came” in 1985, when scientists with the British Antarctic Survey, which had been monitoring the Antarctic ozone layer since 1957, detected “a drastic depletion of the ozone layer over the Antarctic.”

The size of the hole identified over the survey’s Halley and Faraday Antarctic research stations seemed to vary, which at first was a puzzle.

It is now understood, the BAS explains, “that during the polar winter, clouds form in the Antarctic ozone layer and chemical reactions in the clouds activate ozone-destroying substances.

“When sunlight returns in the spring, these substances — mostly chlorine and bromine from compounds such as CFCs and halons — take part in efficient catalytic reactions that destroy ozone at around 1 percent per day.”

The discovery “changed the world.” NASA satellites were used to confirm that “not only was the hole over British research stations, but it covered the entire Antarctic continent.”

This was the so-called “ozone hole” and, as Crutzen noted in his 1995 Nobel lecture, “it was a close call.”

He said: “Had Joe Farman and his colleagues from the British Antarctic Survey not persevered in making their measurements in the harsh Antarctic environment … the discovery of the ozone hole may have been substantially delayed and there may have been far less urgency to reach international agreement on the phasing out of CFC production.”

It was the work of the survey that led to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, an agreement, adopted in 1987, that regulated the production and consumption of nearly 100 man-made chemicals identified as “ozone depleting substances.”

“There had been suggestions in the 1960s and 1970s that you could put gases into the atmosphere which would destroy ozone,” atmospheric scientist Professor John Pyle, former head of chemistry at the University of Cambridge and one of the four international co-chairs on the Scientific Assessment Panel for the Montreal Protocol, told Arab News.

“At the time there was also concern about the oxides of nitrogen from high-flying supersonic aircraft, such as Concorde, which could destroy ozone.




This time-lapse photo shows the path of an ozonesonde as it rises into the atmosphere in the South Pole. (Courtesy of Robert Schwarz/South Pole, 2017)

“But after Rowland and Molina published their paper, suggesting that CFC gases could get high enough up into the atmosphere to destroy ozone, there was about a decade during which this was just a theoretical idea before, thanks to the British Antarctic Survey, the ozone hole was discovered.”

The global reaction, choreographed by the UN and the World Meteorological Organization, was almost startlingly rapid.

The British Antarctic Survey paper was published in 1985, and by 1987 the Montreal Protocol had been agreed. In the words of the UN Environment Program: “The protocol is considered to be one of the most successful environmental agreements of all time.

“What the parties to the protocol have managed to accomplish since 1987 is unprecedented, and it continues to provide an inspiring example of what international cooperation at its best can achieve.”

Without doubt, millions of people have lived longer, healthier lives thanks to the Montreal Protocol. In 2019, the US Environmental Protection Agency estimated that in the US alone the protocol had prevented 280 million cases of skin cancer, 1.6 million deaths, and 45 million cases of cataracts.




Combo image released by NASA's Earth Observatory on Dec. 1, 2009, showing the size and shape of the ozone hole each year in 1979 (L) and in 2009. (AFP file)

The battle is not over, however. It will take another four decades for the ozone layer to fully recover, according to the latest four-yearly report from the UN-backed Scientific Assessment Panel to the Montreal Protocol on Ozone Depleting Substances, which was published this month.

But according the “Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2022” report: “The phase out of nearly 99 percent of banned ozone-depleting substances has succeeded in safeguarding the ozone layer, leading to notable recovery of the ozone layer in the upper stratosphere and decreased human exposure to harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun.”

If current policies remain in place, it adds, “the ozone layer is expected to recover to 1980 values” — that is, before the appearance of the ozone hole — “by around 2066 over the Antarctic, by 2045 over the Arctic, and by 2040 for the rest of the world.”




Ozone timelines from the UNEP's Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion report of 2022.

This is “fantastic news,” Meg Seki, executive secretary of the UN Environment Program’s Ozone Secretariat, told Arab News. And it has had an additional benefit in the fight against global warming.

In 2016, an additional agreement, known as the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, resulted in the scaling down of production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, the compounds that were introduced to replace banned CFCs but which were found to be powerful climate change gases. It is estimated that by 2100, the Kigali Amendment will have helped to prevent up to 0.5 degrees Celsius of global warming.

“The impact the Montreal Protocol has had on climate-change mitigation cannot be overstressed,” said Seki. “Over the past 35 years, the protocol has become a true champion for the environment.”




Delegates converse during the 28th meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in Kigali, Rwanda, on Oct. 13, 2016. (AFP file)

It is also a shining example of what could be achieved in the battle against climate change.

Sept. 16 each year is the UN’s International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer. As Antonio Guterres, the UN’s secretary-general, said as he marked the occasion in 2021: “The Montreal Protocol … has done its job well over the past three decades. The ozone layer is on the road to recovery.”

He added: “The cooperation we have seen under the Montreal Protocol is exactly what is needed now to take on climate change, an equally existential threat to our societies.”

 


Romania further extends influencer Andrew Tate detention

Updated 53 sec ago

Romania further extends influencer Andrew Tate detention

BUCHAREST: A Romanian court on Wednesday extended the detention of controversial influencer Andrew Tate while he’s being investigated along with his brother for alleged human trafficking and rape.
Tate, 36, and his brother Tristan, 34, were arrested in late December, and their detention has been extended every month since then by Romanian judges.
Under Romania’s legal system, pre-trial detention can be extended to a maximum of 180 days, pending possible indictment.
The Bucharest Tribunal ruled to extend their detention by a further 30 days, a decision which can be appealed.
The latest extension left the brothers “speechless,” their media team said.
“The substantial material damages they have suffered are nothing compared to the moral ones. Their image has been irreparably harmed,” it said.
The brothers continue to deny all charges brought against them.
Tate, a British-American former kickboxer who has millions of online followers, along with his younger brother and two Romanian women, are under investigation for allegedly “forming an organized criminal group, human trafficking and rape.”
As part of the probe, Romanian police raided several properties connected to the Tate brothers and seized many of their assets, including a collection of luxury cars.
A court document from January said that one woman was “recruited” from the UK after she fell in love with Andrew Tate, who then brought her to Romania “with the goal of sexual exploitation.”
In 2016, Tate appeared on the “Big Brother” reality television show in Britain but was removed after a video emerged showing him attacking a woman.
He then turned to social media platforms to promote his divisive views before being banned for misogynistic remarks and hate speech.
Tate was allowed back on Twitter after the South African billionaire Elon Musk bought the company.

Pakistani parliament’s ruling sought over ex-PM Khan’s party

Updated 7 min 26 sec ago

Pakistani parliament’s ruling sought over ex-PM Khan’s party

  • The ruling was asked for in a joint session of parliament convened over the instability caused by the crisis over Khan
  • The clashes erupted after Khan's supporters prevented police and paramilitary forces from arresting him

LAHORE, Pakistan: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Wednesday sought a parliament ruling to empower authorities to tackle former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party’s alleged involvement in violence.
The ruling was asked for in a joint session of parliament convened over the instability caused by the crisis over Khan.
Sanaullah told the house nearly 68 security personnel were injured in clashes and 16 arrested Khan aides will be tried on terrorism charges.
The clashes erupted after Khan’s supporters prevented police and paramilitary forces from arresting him in a case in which he is accused of unlawfully selling state gifts during his tenure as premier from 2018-2022. He denies any wrongdoing.
The minister requested the house give “guidance” to the government about the violence stoked by Khan’s supporters, who he said included “miscreants, armed groups, and terrorists.”
“It is required that the security forces should be given authority and other measures to deal with this issue,” he said, adding that Khan’s agenda is “chaos and anarchy.”
The government has alleged that Khan’s supporters had militants among them and ministers have called for proscribing Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
Khan has rejected the allegation, saying that the government wanted his party out of politics.
The former premier has demanded snap elections since he was ousted in a parliamentary vote of confidence in April last year.
Khan’s successor Shehbaz Sharif has said that a general election will be held as scheduled later this year.


Nobel Peace committee ‘deplores’ actions against Russia’s Memorial

Updated 14 min 53 sec ago

Nobel Peace committee ‘deplores’ actions against Russia’s Memorial

  • "The Norwegian Nobel Committee deplores the arrest of and legal actions taken against Jan Rachinsky and other leading members of Memorial," Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the committee, said
  • The rights group said Tuesday that Russian authorities had opened a criminal case against Oleg Orlov for "discrediting" the army

OSLO: The Nobel Committee in charge of the Peace Prize on Wednesday condemned the legal actions and what it called “unfounded” charges against members of the prize-winning Russian human rights organization Memorial.
“The Norwegian Nobel Committee deplores the arrest of and legal actions taken against Jan Rachinsky and other leading members of Memorial,” Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the committee, said in a statement.
“The charges made against them are unfounded and must be dropped,” she said.
The rights group said Tuesday that Russian authorities had opened a criminal case against Oleg Orlov, the co-chair of Memorial, for “discrediting” the army.
The announcement came after security officials raided the homes of several Memorial employees including Orlov, 69, and Rachinsky, its 64-year-old co-founder, earlier in the day.
Memorial established itself as a pillar of civil society by preserving the memory of victims of communist repression and campaigning against rights violations in Russia under President Vladimir Putin.
The raids took place after investigators accused Memorial staff of allegedly including World War Two-era Nazi collaborators on their list of victims of political terror, the organization said.
Memorial was disbanded by Russian authorities in late 2021, just months before Putin sent troops to Ukraine.
“(I have) constant pain and shame for the horror that our army is creating in a neighboring sovereign state,” Orlov told AFP last year.
Memorial received the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize along with the jailed Belorusian activist Ales Bialiatski and Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties.
Rachinsky said last year that the prize came as a surprise and would give all Russian rights defenders “new strength and inspiration.”
After the start of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine, Russian authorities expanded a crackdown on dissent, jailing or pushing into exile nearly all prominent Kremlin critics.
Public criticism of Moscow’s assault on Ukraine is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.


Slovakia offered $1bn in US arms in trade-off for Ukraine aid

Updated 22 March 2023

Slovakia offered $1bn in US arms in trade-off for Ukraine aid

  • "If we don't take them, they will go to another country," Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad said on Facebook
  • Slovakia announced on Friday that it would donate the MiG warplanes to Ukraine

BRATISLAVA: Slovakia on Wednesday said it had received a US offer of $1 billion in helicopters and missiles at a discounted rate in compensation for promising to send MiG-29 warplanes to Ukraine.
“We were the first to receive this extremely advantageous offer. If we don’t take them, they will go to another country,” Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad said on Facebook.
“The value of this material is slightly over $1 billion... Slovakia would pay around $340 million over a period of three to four years,” he added.
The offer includes 12 new Bell AH-1Z Viper helicopters with accessories, pilot and technician training, along with more than 500 AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, he said.
He noted that the offer was notably in compensation for the fighter jets that Bratislava had recently promised Ukraine.
“So let’s summarise: for 13 old MiGs and a part of the KUB air defense system, we have an offer” from the United States, he said.
Slovakia announced on Friday that it would donate the MiG warplanes to Ukraine, the second NATO member — following Poland — to pledge the aircraft.
The batch will include 10 operational MiG-29 fighter jets and an additional three to be used as spare parts. The KUB air defense system is also Soviet-era weaponry.
Slovakia plans to replace the jets with American F-16s, and the changeover should take place no later than January 2024.
Nad said Wednesday that the US deal was also intended to make up for the delay in delivering the F-16s.
“Thanks to our responsible defense policy, relations with the US and also our clear support of Ukraine, we were the first to receive this offer,” Nad said.
“It should also be seen in the context of indirect compensation for the delayed F-16 fighters, where we have long demanded some form of compensation.”


UK opens inquiry into unlawful killing claims in Afghanistan

Updated 22 March 2023

UK opens inquiry into unlawful killing claims in Afghanistan

  • Britain's government ordered the inquiry after lawyers brought legal challenges on behalf of the families of eight Afghans
  • Senior judge Charles Haddon-Cave said: "This is critical, both for the reputation of the armed forces and the country"

LONDON: A senior judge launched an independent inquiry Wednesday to investigate whether UK military police covered up or did not properly probe allegations of unlawful killings by British armed forces in Afghanistan from 2010 to 2013.
Britain’s government ordered the inquiry after lawyers brought legal challenges on behalf of the families of eight Afghans who were allegedly killed by British special forces during nighttime raids in 2011 and 2012.
Senior judge Charles Haddon-Cave said his team would “get to the bottom” of whether investigations carried out by the Royal Military Police were adequate.
“It is clearly important that anyone who has broken the law is referred to the relevant authorities for investigation. Equally, those who have done nothing wrong should rightly have the cloud of suspicion lifted from them,” Haddon-Cave said Wednesday. “This is critical, both for the reputation of the armed forces and the country.”
The inquiry into two separate incidents will also review whether the deaths “formed part of a wider pattern of extra-judicial killings by British armed forces in Afghanistan at the time.”
Thousands of British troops were deployed to Afghanistan as part of a two-decade-long NATO-led campaign in the country following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. Many British soldiers engaged in heavy fighting with insurgents in southern Helmand province.
Britain ended all combat operations in Afghanistan in 2014, although a small number of troops stayed to train Afghan security forces until 2021, when the international coalition withdrew from the country.
Haddon-Cave said many hearings would have to be held behind closed doors for national security reasons.
Leigh Day, the law firm representing the families, said Ministry of Defense documents showed officers had widespread knowledge about unlawful killings by UK special forces in Afghanistan but did not report the information to military police.

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