UAE Minister of environment issues statement on the occasion of International Day for preservation of ozone layer

The UAE is participating in celebrations for the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, which falls on 16th September each year, under the slogan: "Healthy Atmosphere: The Future We Want", which coincides with the 26th anniversary of the signing of the Montreal Protocol. On the occasion, Dr. Rashid Ahmed bin Fahad, Minister of Environment and Water, issued a statement underlining the fact that the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer had succeeded in achieving an important accomplishment by reducing more than 98 per cent of depleting materials before the deadline, thanks to cooperation and environmental management at the international and regional level and cooperation between governments and the private sector, as well as academia and civil society at the national level. Dr. Rashid said that in the framework of this programme, the ministry has worked to address the illicit trafficking of materials that deplete the Ozone Layer in cooperation with the competent environmental authorities and customs authorities in the country, as well as the United Nations Environment Programme's Regional Office for West Asia (ROWA). He pointed out that the UAE worked hard in recent years to implement all the commitments arranged by the Convention and Protocol, with the ministry intensifying its contacts with concerned authorities in the public and private sectors to regulate the use of these compounds in accordance with the provisions of the Convention and the Protocol, and had developed an ambitious programme which led to the success of plans to gradually get rid of depleting material by the time of a total ban in 2010. He noted that the ministry has also worked to encourage the private sector to take part in the recovery and recycling of refrigerant used in the UAE, according to specific conditions and controls, to ensure compatibility of operations and activities carried out by those companies within the Montreal Protocol guidelines.