Policy Implications from the Montreal Protocol :: Environment Kyoto Essays Papers

polity Implications from the Montreal communications protocolExecutive SummaryIn the mid 1980s, the international residential area decided to address the vent ofozone depletion. In 1987, the Montreal Protocol was signed, setting forth abatementschedules for major ozone depleting substances. Due to several unique factorssurrounding the issue of ozone depletion, the Montreal Protocol was, and continues to be,a great success. That being said, there are a number of problems that parties to theagreement have faced over the years, and it is important to grow from these and apply thelessons to future international environmental agreements. For one, trade leakage was amajor problem for developed nations under the Montreal Protocol. Moreover, otherissues, including illegal trade, engineering science transfer problems, data collection problems,and conflicts with subsequent environmental agreements have scarred the MontrealProtocol, and need to be considered when crafting new abatement po licies, such as theKyoto Protocol.Montreal ProtocolUp until the late 1920s, the most common artificial refrigerants were toxic and mercurial gases such as ammonia and methyl chloride. It is for this reason that whenchemist doubting Thomas Midgley Jr. developed what appeared to be a safe and inert alternate(a) inthe form of the family of chemicals known as chlorofluorocarbons in 1930, they weresoon astray adopted as coolants for both refrigeration and industrial solvents1. It wasntuntil a few decades later, in 1974, that two scientists by the names of F. SherwoodRowland and Mario Molina proposed that CFC emissions would orchestrate to the destruction of the stratospheric ozone layer2. At that time Drs. Rowland and Molina suggested thatwhile inert in the get off atmosphere, when CFC molecules impinge on the stratosphere and areexposed to ultraviolet radiation they vent-hole chlorine atoms that will bond with theatmospheric ozone to form chlorine monoxide. ten dollar bill years l ater, in the mid 1980s, Antarctic researchers discovered a Brobdingnagian hole inthe ozone layer. This finding seemed to be corroboration of Rowland and Molinas skipper findings2. With a depleted ozone layer, higher levels of UV radiation will reachthe earths surface and cause a range of problems3. These problems posterior include reducedplant growth, which would have extensive implications for the agricultural sectors about(predicate)the world higher mortality of phytoplankton, which could affect marine ecosystems andultimately look for stocks worldwide and higher rates of kowtow cancer and melanoma amonghumans. A United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) study showed that asustained 1 percent decrease in stratospheric ozone will result in about a 2 percentincrease in the incidence of non-melanoma skin cancer, which can be fatal. With thesuccessful phase-out of CFCs, however, EPA expects 295 million fewer cases of this