NGOs slam UN ozone meet

BEIJING, DEC 4: Non-governmental organisations Saturday slammed a just concluded UN-sponsored meeting on eliminating Ozone Depleting Chemi...

BEIJING, DEC 4: Non-governmental organisations Saturday slammed a just concluded UN-sponsored meeting on eliminating Ozone Depleting Chemicals ODCs, blaming developed nations for a lack of funding and international diplomats for caving into corporate interests.

quot;Industry took care of themselves, diplomats took care of their jobs, China took care of the meeting arrangements, and no one took care of the Earth,quot; Larry Bohlen, director of health and environment programs at Friends of the Earth, told AFP. New approaches were urgently needed to address growing ozone holes in the earth8217;s atmosphere as new ODCs are produced and as new scientific evidence reveals global warming will delay the repair of the ozone layer by up to 20 years, Bohlen said. quot;The nations at this meeting were stuck in a rut. They either lacked the will or the power to respond to compelling new scientific evidence to act aggressively. We8217;ve seen industrial interests erode the will to respond,quot; he said.

The UN gathering was the fifth meeting of the Vienna Convention and the subsequent 1987 Montreal Protocol on the elimination of chemicals that destroy stratospheric ozone. The pact forms one of the first ever international treaties aimed at protecting the global environment and is committed to repairing the ozone layer by 2050. quot;The shocking news of a new ozone hole over Northern Europe, almost as severe as the Antarctic ozone hole, should have moved nations to eliminate ozone destroying chemicals,quot; said Jessica Vallette Revere, of Friends of the Earth. quot;Instead they acted to paralyse a once-successful international agreement.quot;

Meanwhile, donor nations reduced their funding to developing nations despite many poor countries volunteering to phase out the worst ODCs faster than was called for in the Montreal Protocol. The meeting approved 440 million dollars for 2000-2002, while the amount in the previous three years was 466 million dollars. The funds will aid developing countries to eliminate the use of ODCs from now until 2010, a crucial phase of the protocol.

Previously, developing nations had been asked to cap their production to 1997 levels. The ozone layer shields people from exposure to cancer-causing ultraviolet radiation. Despite decades of efforts to stop production of ozone depleting chemicals, the Antarctic ozone hole is now larger than ever and in 1999 covered an area twice the size of mainland China.