Quezon City (16 September) -- Environment Secretary Jose L. Atienza Jr. today led the country's celebration of September 16 as International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, which coincides with the 22nd Anniversary of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

The Protocol is hailed as a landmark agreement that has successfully reduced the global production, consumption, and emissions of ozone-depleting substances (ODS).

A statement from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) says: "The Montreal Protocol is known for being the most successful multilateral environmental agreement (MEA) to date because it is the most widely ratified in the world, which is also why this year's theme is'Universal Participation: Ozone Protection Unifies the World.' Presently, 195 countries are member-states, and this wide participation from societies around the world has made the Protocol achieve significant accomplishments over the past 22 years."

"One of its most important accomplishments is its contribution to the world fight against climate change. ODS are also greenhouse gases that contribute to the radiative forcing of climate change. The Parties to the Protocol has phased out the consumption of over 95% of all of the chemicals controlled by the Protocol, with consumption reduced by 99% in industrialized countries," the statement added.

Following is the rest of the statement:

Historical emissions of ODS and scenarios of potential emissions show that the ODS contribution to radiative forcing most likely would have been much larger if the ODS link to stratospheric ozone depletion had not been recognized in 1974 and followed by a series of regulations.

Because of ODS phaseout, the world has avoided the equivalent of 135 billion gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent between the 1990 and 2010, equivalent to about 13% of accumulated emissions of carbon dioxide from human activities and delaying climate change by 7 to 12 years.

Hence, the Montreal Protocol is also recognized as the most successful international agreement for preventing global warming due to such large reduction of greenhouse gas, even more successful than the Kyoto Treaty. In fact, the climate protection already achieved by the Montreal Protocol alone is five to six times bigger than the reduction target of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.

Many countries, both developed and developing, have met their phase-out targets well ahead of schedule. In the Philippines, the substances chlorofluorocarbons or CFC (excluding CFC-12), halons, methyl bromide, methyl chloroform and carbon tetrachloride were all phased out even before their Protocol phase-out deadline.

Health benefits are also identified as effects of the Montreal Protocol. Damage to the ozone layer allows the entry of dangerous ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation from the sun which causes skin cancer, eye cataracts and weak immune systems. Because of the Protocol, societies all over the world have avoided millions of cases of fatal skin cancer and cataracts. The United States estimates that by the year 2165 more than 6.3 million skin cancer deaths will have been avoided in America alone and that efforts to protect the ozone layer will have saved the country an estimated $4.2 trillion in health care costs over the period 1990-2165.