Deal signed to help protect ozone layer

TDT | Manama

A key agreement was signed yesterday to provide technical and financial support to non-industrialized countries in protecting the ozone layer and reducing depleting substances. Supreme Council for Environment (SCE) CEO Dr.Mohammed Mubarak Bin Dainah and United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) West Asia regional director and representative Sami Dimassi signed Institutional Support Agreement Phase 10.

It aims to help non-industrialized countries in accordance with The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer requirements. The agreement came within the UNEP framework to provide technical and financial support to enable the non-industrialized countries to fulfill their obligations, including submitting annual reports on quantities, imported and used refrigerants and ozone-depleting chemicals, and implementing an advanced licensed system aimed to tighten control over the import of substances that deplete the ozone layer.

The UNEP director described the Montreal Protocol as one of the most successful environmental treaties in history with 198 international parties, and succeeded in phasing out more than 99% of ozone-depleting substances.

He also affirmed the efforts made to strengthen the existing partnership between the UNEP and Bahrain, to ensure the sustainability of the system, implement the protocol, and provide environmentally friendly alternatives in all sectors. For his part, Dr. Bin Dainah stressed Bahrain’s keenness to strengthen co-operation with the UNEP throughout the past three decades in various environmental fields, including the file of protecting the ozone layer and reducing depleting substances.