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Tuesday, September 17, 2013
International Day for Preservation of Ozone Layer observed* SEPA launches one-day awareness campaign on the role of ozone layer
ISLAMABAD: The International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer was observed on Monday with the theme “A Healthy Atmosphere, the Future We Want”.
The United Nations’ Environment Programme dedicated the day in 1994 to sensitise the world community on the significance of this issue. Since then, it is being observed every year on September 16 and various awareness activities are organised by governments, NGOs and other organisations to mark the day.
The Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) has launched a one-day awareness campaign through cable networks to make people aware of the role of the ozone layer.
The ozone layer is vital to humans, animals and plants on the planet. In the 1980s, it was discovered that the layer was vulnerable to damage by emissions of particular industrial chemicals into the atmosphere, of which the most important was the family of chlorofluorocarbons.
The day commemorates the date of signing of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer in 1987.
The ozone layer is a layer in earth’s atmosphere that absorbs most of the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The ozone layer absorbs 97-99% of the sun’s medium frequency UV light, which otherwise would damage life forms on earth.
Direct UV rays from the sun often cause skin cancer apart from damaging the natural environment.
Ozone depletion describes two distinct but related phenomena observed since the late 1970s: a steady decline of about 4% per decade in the total volume of ozone in earth’s stratosphere, and a much larger springtime decrease in stratospheric ozone over earth’s polar regions. The latter phenomenon is referred to as the ozone hole.
On December 19, 1994, the UN General Assembly proclaimed September 16 as the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer.
The day was first celebrated on September 16, 1995. On this day primary and secondary school educators throughout the world organise classroom activities that focus on topics related to the ozone layer, climate change and ozone depletion. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk