China will continue to help protect the ozone layer by developing
and producing substitutes for ozone-depleting substances used in
manufacturing, an environmental official said yesterday.
Liu Yi, director-general of the State Environmental Protection
Administration's Foreign Economic Co-operation Office, said China
will stop the production of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the end
of 2010 by dismantling production lines in 37 CFC-producing
enterprises across the country.
China will comprehensively implement the Montreal Protocol on
Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, which aims to phase out
the use of ozone-depleting substances such as CFCs and halon, he
told an international conference in Beijing on the phasing-out of
CFCs in China.
The production of ozone-depleting substances was banned in
developed countries in 1996. Since then, China has eliminated the
largest amount of ozone-depleting substances among developing
countries.
Another administration official in charge of pollution control said
China - the largest producer and consumer of CFCs - has joined the
Montreal Protocol Multilateral Fund and carried out a national plan
for the phasing-out of ozone-depleting substances. More than 40
policies and regulations have been implemented in China to control
the production, consumption, import and export of such substances,
said the official on condition of not being identified.
The official said overall elimination plans have been carried out
in connection with CFCs, tobacco, air-conditioners and detergent
production in China.
The Montreal Protocol Multilateral Fund, United Nations (UN)
Environment Programme, UN Industrial Development Organization and
World Bank have provided about US$700 million to help China phase
out and find substitutes for ozone-depleting substances.
Such substances have been widely used for refrigerators, aerosol
propellants and expansion agents in tobacco production since the
1930s.
Halon, another ozone-depleting substance, is used mainly as a
fire-extinguishing agent. These substances can stay in the
atmosphere for decades.
The depletion of the ozone layer will negatively affect people's
health and harm agricultural production.
The production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances in the
past several decades have caused substantial damage to the ozone
layer.
Two holes in the ozone layer have been discovered over the
Antarctic and the Arctic.
The international community agreed on the Vienna Convention in 1985
and the Montreal Protocol in 1987 to try to control the
problem.
The UN decided in 1995 to mark September 16 as International Ozone
Day.
(China Daily April 22, 2003)