Resources

Welcome to the eleventh edition of the Handbook for the Vienna Convention. This edition has been updated to include all relevant information from 1985 to date. 

The Handbook is structured as follows: section 1 sets out the full text of the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (1985). Section 2 comprises the full text of all of the decisions of the Conferences of the Parties, up to and including its eleventh meeting in November 2017. 

The Protocol, along with the Vienna Convention, achieved universal participation on 16 September 2009 – the first treaties of any kind in the history of the United Nations system to achieve that aspiration.

This edition has been updated to include all relevant information from 1989 to date.

Ozone depleting substances (ODSs) controlled by the Montreal Protocol are potent greenhouse gases (GHGs), as are their substitutes, the hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Here we provide for the first time a comprehensive estimate of U.S. emissions of ODSs and HFCs based on precise measurements in discrete air samples from across North America and in the remote atmosphere. 

It is well established that anthropogenic chlorine-containing chemicals contribute to ozone layer depletion. The successful implementation of the Montreal Protocol has led to reductions in the atmospheric concentration of many ozone-depleting gases, such as chlorofluorocarbons. As a consequence, stratospheric chlorine levels are declining and ozone is projected to return to levels observed pre-1980 later this century. 

We present observations defining (i) the frequency and depth of convective penetration of water into the stratosphere over the United States in summer using the Next-Generation Radar system; (ii) the altitude-dependent distribution of inorganic chlorine established in the same coordinate system as the radar observations; (iii) the high resolution temperature structure in the stratosphere over the United States in summer that resolves spatial and structural variability, including the impact of gravity waves; and (iv) the resulting amplification in the catalytic loss rates of ozone for the dominant halogen, hydrogen, and nitrogen catalytic cycles.

Background material for the workshop on safety standards relevant to the safe use of low global-warming-potential (GWP) alternatives to be held in Bangkok on 10th July 2017. Briefing note 3 provides an overall picture of safety related standards that apply during the lifetime of RACHP equipment. It provides indicative examples of RACHP equipment as well as the stakeholders who may be responsible for applying them.

Background material for the workshop on safety standards relevant to the safe use of low global-warming-potential (GWP) alternatives to be held in Bangkok on 10th July 2017. Brie ng note 1 covers the safety standards that are relevant to refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat pump (RACHP) equipment.

Background material for the workshop on safety standards relevant to the safe use of low-GWP alternatives to be held in Bangkok on 10th July 2017. Brie ng note 2 describes the process for writing new international standards or updating existing safety standards for the refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat pump (RACHP) equipment. It includes a summary of the current activities related to the updating of various RACHP safety standards.

This primer is intended to provide participants, especially new delegates, attending the meetings of the Conference of the Parties to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (the Vienna Convention), the Meetings of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (the Montreal Protocol) and meetings of the Open-ended Working Group of the Montreal Protocol, with the necessary information to understand the procedures of those bodies and to enable them to effectively participate in those meetings.