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Reminders as we mark World Ozone Day

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ON September 16, Zimbabweans will join the world in celebrating the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer amid calls to intensify efforts to save the ozone through sustaining and maintaining the phase-out of methyl bromide and methyl chloroform in developing countries.
On the day, the world will be commemorating World Ozone Day.
This year’s theme for the commemorations is, ‘Montreal Protocol: Caring for all life under the Sun.’
The day is mainly intended to spread awareness of the depletion of the Ozone Layer and search for solutions to preserve it.
Following massive industrialisation by Western countries which led to high emissions of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which are detrimental to the ozone layer, nations saw the need to protect the earth from massive heat resulting from depletion of the ozone layer.
On September 16 1987, the Montreal Protocol was signed in Montreal, Canada.
However, the commemorations of the day began in 1994 after it was set aside by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly to reflect and take action against the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer.
In addition, the November 2015 Dubai Meeting acted against the use of HFCs, which were used as alternatives to CFCs for refrigeration and air conditioning.
CFCs were both detrimental to the climate and ozone layer, while hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) were good for the climate, but harmful to the ozone layer.
In 2015 the world’s focus was to reduce the use of global warming HFCs under the Montreal Protocol.
It has been two years since implementation of the phase-out of methyl bromide and methyl chloroform and efforts continue to be made to ensure the use of alternative methods and chemicals.
Environment, Water and Climate Ministry Ozone project manager, George Chaumba said the country had managed to implement the phase-out.
“Most countries, including Zimbabwe, have phased out the use of these substances and they are only used in critical instances such as droughts for those storing maize but this is only after a country is granted permission to use them,” he said.
“Research is on-going on alternative methods.
“Traditionally methyl bromide was used in the tobacco, flower and grain production industries.”
The major challenge in the phasing-out process is non-availability of alternative technologies at a reasonable cost.
Currently, refrigeration technicians cannot get hydrocarbon refrigerants and servicing tools at affordable prices locally or within the region.
Ozone is a special form of oxygen with the chemical formula O3.
The oxygen we breathe, which is so vital to life on earth is O2.
Ozone constitutes a very small part of our atmosphere, but its presence is vital to human well-being.
Most ozone resides high up in the atmosphere, between 10-40km above earth’s surface.
This region is called the stratosphere and it contains about 90 percent of all the ozone in the atmosphere.
The stratosphere is the second layer from the earth’s surface from the troposphere.
It ends 51km after the earth’s surface and ozone is abundant here.
The ozone layer plays a larger role in absorbing harmful radiation from the zone.
If there was no ozone in the stratosphere, the world would be fried with the rays of the sun. The ozone layer, a fragile shield of gas, protects the Earth from the harmful portion of the rays of the sun, thus helping preserve life on the planet.
The phase-out of controlled uses of ozone-depleting substances and the related reductions have not only helped protect the ozone layer, but have also contributed significantly to global efforts to address climate change.
The move has also protected human health and ecosystems by limiting the harmful ultraviolet radiation from reaching the earth
In Zimbabwe, signs of global warming caused by the depletion of the ozone layer are noticeable, with changes in rainfall patterns.
The rain season used to stretch from early October to the end of March.
In the Eastern Highlands, it used to rain all year round.
The leeward side of the Eastern Highlands, that is the Sabi Valley, Honde Valley and Gonarezhou are slowly turning into desert areas.
There are also high levels of temperature dynamisms, where there are very high temperatures in the mornings and very low temperatures in the evenings; characteristic desert temperatures.
As a developing nation, Zimbabwe is faced with other socio-economic responsibilities in addition to its environmental protection obligations.
This calls for strict allocation of scarce resources within the country.
These global environmental problems are closely intertwined so much that solving one without due consideration of the others would result in catastrophic results for the entire planet.
Since Africa does not produce the HFCs, there is need for assistance to phase out consumption and the developed countries must take the lead.

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