Decades before ozone hole repaired
The ozone layer is repairing itself, but a new report concludes that the process could take decades.
The Institute of Physics study warns that the ozone hole over the polar regions is as “deep and persistent as ever observed” and it will be decades before it returns to pre-1970s levels.
Ozone in the stratosphere protects humans from harmful ultra-violet radiation and the holes have been linked to a rise in incidences of skin and eye disease.
According to the research, ‘bad ozone’, which is found near the ground, is rising and will cause “significant impact” on humans in the form of respiratory and heart disease as early as 2030.
Dr Peter Hodgson, the author of The Rise of Ozone Research , warned that despite legislation the ozone layer is still under threat and called on politicians to extend the Montreal Protocol which seeks to restrict ozone-depleting chemicals.
Dr Hodgson said: “The Montreal Protocol is doing a pretty good job but I think that an element of complacency has crept in. Although 180 countries have signed up, only a couple of dozen have actually ratified it and the amendments which came along a few years later. The pressure needs to be kept up on the other countries to ratify it and other substances need to be brought under the Montreal umbrella.”
He also warned that the process of climate change interacts with the depletion of ozone, saying: “The ozone ‘holes’ that appear annually at the polar regions are still large and long-lived; the possibility that climate change may bring conditions likely to cause even greater ozone loss is a contemporary danger.”
Tony Blair has promised that the environment will be the key focus of the UK’s G8 presidency and is currently touring other G8 leaders in an attempt to gain support for the UK’s plans.
