The Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer

When did we realize ozone depletion was an issue, and how did we fix it? By 1985, the globe had already seen advancements in the scientific understanding of ozone depletion and its impacts on human health and the environment. It was then that the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer was created in response. This agreement is a framework convention that lays out principles agreed upon by many parties. It does not, however, require countries to take control actions to protect the ozone layer. This would come later in the form of the Montreal Protocol.

The Vienna Convention was the first convention of any kind to be signed by every country involved, taking effect in 1988 and reaching universal ratification in 2009. This speaks to the enormity of ozone depletion at the time and the willingness of countries around the world to work together to solve it. The Convention aimed to promote cooperation among nations by exchanging information on the effects of human activities on the ozone layer. In doing so, the creators of the Convention hoped policymakers would adopt measures to combat those activities responsible for ozone depletion.

Today, the Vienna Convention is still making progress.The countries involved meet once every three years to make decisions on important issues including on Research and Systematic observations as well as financial and administrative matters.

Decision VC VIII/2: Recommendations adopted by the Ozone Research Managers at their seventh meeting

Recalling that, pursuant to the objective defined in decision I/6 of the Conference of the Parties to the Vienna Convention, the Ozone Research Managers review ongoing national and international research and monitoring programmes with a view to ensuring the proper coordination of those programmes and identifying gaps that need to be addressed,

Recognizing that the Ozone Research Managers at their seventh meeting emphasized the discussion of satellite research and monitoring owing to concerns among scientists that there could be serious gaps in satellite monitoring and associated data when current generation satellites and associated instruments reach the end of their useful lives in the next few years,

Also recognizing that the Ozone Research Managers have noted that international funding and cooperation are essential for the implementation of the their recommendations, that their previous recommendations have not received sufficient attention owing to a lack of such funding and cooperation and that problems associated with the maintenance of existing instruments and networks for ozone monitoring and the development of new capabilities have been exacerbated as a result,

Emphasizing the need for continued monitoring of the effectiveness of the implementation of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and its adjustments and amendments, including the adjustment providing for the accelerated phase-out of hydrochloroflurocarbons, the impact of the increasing abundance in the atmosphere of many substitute chemicals, including hydrofluorocarbons, and the expected recovery of the ozone layer in a context of climate change,

  1. To take note with appreciation of the report of the seventh meeting of the Ozone Research Managers;
  2. To endorse the recommendations adopted by the Ozone Research Managers at their seventh meeting, as set out in the report of that meeting;
  3. To urge space agencies and Governments to ensure the continuation of satellite research and observations, particularly to allow for measurements that contribute to the long‑term time series for both total and profile ozone and profiles of ozone-related and climate‑related species and parameters, and to carry out any necessary gap‑filler missions in order to avoid gaps in areas of atmospheric observation that are critical to understanding and monitoring changes in atmospheric ozone and surface ultraviolet radiation and their interrelationship with climate variability and change;
  4. To request all Parties to make a renewed effort to implement the actions recommended by the Ozone Research Managers, particularly those adopted at their seventh meeting, with a view to:
    1. Addressing uncertainties and new questions, including actual quantification of the extent to which chemical and dynamical processes are responsible for ozone production, loss, transport and distribution as well as changes in surface ultraviolet radiation resulting from changes in ozone and other atmospheric parameters and their impact on human and biological systems;
    2. Maintaining and expanding surface observation networks where gaps in geographical coverage result in data deficiencies in order to ensure the continuity and improvement of ground‑based in situ observations of ozone depleting substances, their substitutes and greenhouse gases as well as the networks that provide altitude profile information for ozone‑related and climate‑related species;
    3. Ensuring that data acquired through observation are of the highest possible quality and include the metadata necessary to make them valuable to users today and in the future and, to that end, that efforts are made to enhance data archiving, including through the development of appropriate data quality assurance and submission procedures and timely access by users;
    4. Strengthening the capacity of developing countries and countries with economies in transition to enable them to maintain existing instruments and networks, acquire new observational capabilities and increase their participation in scientific research and assessments;