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Foreword

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When the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer was adopted in 1985, it became an important legal basis for taking international action to protect the Earth’s stratospheric ozone layer. Twenty years later, in 2005, the world marked the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Vienna Convention. This was a time to reflect on the efforts that the Parties to the Convention had made to realise the objectives of the treaty.

Among the objectives set out in the Convention is for Parties to promote cooperation by means of systematic observations, research and information exchange on the effects of human activities on the ozone layer and to adopt legislative or administrative measures against activities likely to have adverse effects on the ozone layer. This objective has largely been achieved – according to the latest scientific assessment of ozone depletion, the ozone layer over the mid-latitudes (30-60 degrees north and south) should recover by 2049. The assessment further suggests that the ozone layer over the Antarctic should recover by 2065 – 15 years later than once expected because of the special conditions caused by super-cold, super-fast winds within the Antarctic. Despite this delay, the Parties to the Vienna Convention are clearly succeeding in tackling a major global environmental problem, and they can be justly proud of their endeavours.

The publication of this seventh edition of the Handbook for the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (1985) incorporates the full text of the treaty and an updated list of all decisions adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the Vienna Convention up to 2005. The index to decisions will help the users of this Handbook to locate the decisions, as they are listed under the Articles of the Convention to which they refer as well by the meeting at which they were adopted.

In previous editions, the Handbook was published in a single volume along with the Handbook for the Montreal Protocol. However, with the continuous increase in the volume of information that has to be regularly updated and added to the Handbook every three years, it has been decided to publish two separate volumes, each addressing the information relevant to the treaty in question.

I commend this Handbook to all prospective users and hope that it will continue to be relevant as a source of information on the decisions of the Parties and related material on the science of the recovery of the ozone layer.

Achim Steiner
Executive Director
United Nations Environment Programme

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Sections

The Vienna Convention

Decisions

Rules of Procedure

General Index