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Edited Legal Collections Data |
Book Title: Research Handbook on International Environmental Law
Editor(s): Fitzmaurice, Malgosia; Ong, M. David; Merkouris, Panos
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN (hard cover): 9781847201249
Section: Chapter 22
Section Title: Filling The Holes: The Montreal Protocol’s Non-Compliance Mechanism
Author(s): Lesniewska, Feja
Number of pages: 20
Extract:
22 Filling the holes: the Montreal Protocol's
non-compliance mechanism*
Feja Lesniewska
Introduction
With the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol occurring in September 2007, the ozone
legal regime continues to be celebrated as one of the most `successful' multilateral environ-
mental agreements of our time. But the scientific presentations at the 2007 19th Meeting of
the Parties (MOP) in Montreal revealed that stratospheric ozone levels remain low, the
Antarctic ozone hole is still at its worst, and skin cancer cases are still expected to multiply
several times in the next decade. As one delegate noted, this state of affairs was a stark
reminder that `once the balance of nature is tipped no degree of international cooperation can
quickly fix it' (IISD, 2007: 12).
There is no doubt that the international ozone legal regime averted irreparable damage to
the stratospheric ozone layer, which screens out harmful ultraviolet solar radiation (UV), and
set the foundations in placed for its recovery.1 Anthropogenic production of ozone-depleting
substances (ODS) has declined by over 95 per cent since the Vienna Convention (1985) and
the Montreal Protocol (1987) entered into force (The Economist, 2007). The recovery of the
stratospheric ozone layer is expected to occur between 2050 and 2065 according to scientific
experts (P.WMO/UNEP, 2006, cited in AGU, 2005).2 A recent scientific report further high-
lighted the significant contribution that the implementation of the ozone legal regime has
made towards the reduction of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, thereby mitigating
...
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URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ELECD/2010/610.html