LONDON: Declaring that their future is at stake, major developing countries called Monday for changes in an international accord to protect he ozone layer before they sign it.
In strongly worded requests before delegates from 124 nations attending an ozone conference, China and India challenged industrialized countries to establish a fund to enable them to switch to more expensive but environmentally desirable chemicals that do not erode the ozone layer.
Until that time comes, they indicated, it would be difficult to sign the Montreal Protocol, an international accord that calls for a 50 percent reduction in the production and use of chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, by the turn of the century.
CFCs are extensively used in refrigeration, air-conditioning and industrial processes considered essential by developing countries in raising their standard of living. But scientists say that they are also destroying the Earth’s ozone layer which protects plant and animal life from ultraviolet radiation from the sun.
The positions taken by China and India are considered crucial to reducing the threat of CFCs. While the two countries now account for about 10 percent of the world’s production and use of CFCs, the potential for growth as China and India industrialize to meet the expectations of burgeoning populations is considered immense.
The Soviet delegation surprised the conference by declaring that there was insufficient scientific evidence to justify speeding up the phase out of CFCs.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 10, 1989
