Why in News:

• Rogue emissions of a gas that harms the ozone layer are coming from eastern China, primarily from two heavily industrialised provinces, an international team of researchers said

Details:

• The new research will add to international pressure on the Chinese government to curtail the illegal use of CFC-11.
• Factories in Shandong, one of the provinces specified in the study, were still making or using the gas to manufacture foam insulation.
• CFC-11 is one of a class of compounds called chlorofluorocarbons that destroy atmospheric ozone. They are also potent greenhouse gases that contribute to atmospheric warming.
• Chlorofluorocarbons were outlawed for almost all uses by the Montreal Protocol, an international pact negotiated decades ago to preserve the layer of ozone that blocks ultraviolet radiation from the sun.
• Excessive amounts of some types of UV radiation can cause skin cancer and eye damage in people and are harmful to crops and other vegetation.

What is Montreal Protocol?

• It seeks to cut the production and consumption of ozone depleting substances (ODS) in
• order to protect the earth’s fragile ozone layer.
• It also aims at phase out HCFCs by 2030. It came into force in 1989 and has been ratified by 197 parties making it universally ratified protocol in UN history.
• It is also highly successful international arrangement, as it has phased-out more than 95% of the ODS so far as per its main mandate in less than 30 years of its existence.