Ban calls for cooperation to address environmental challenges

New York, Sep 16 (IANS/WAM) UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged parties to the Montreal Protocol to “explore synergies” that could help address environmental challenges.

“I encourage parties to the Montreal Protocol to continue to build on this model and to explore synergies that could help to address other environmental challenges, especially climate change,” he said in his message on the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer.

“Let us use the governance tools contained in the existing ozone and climate treaties to reduce environmental threats to sustainable development and human well-being,” he said.

When the Montreal Protocol was signed in 1987, governments did not originally envision the phase-out of any ozone-depleting substance. Yet, as a result of strong national and global compliance, parties to the Montreal Protocol have cut production and consumption of these harmful chemicals by more than 98 percent, the UN chief noted.

Furthermore, because ozone-depleting chemicals are also greenhouse gases, the Protocol is instrumental in the fight against climate change. It has already averted greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to more than 135 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, and will continue to play an important role, he added.

–IANS/WAM