The ozone layer could recover in four decades, according to environmental report

A hole in the ozone layer alarmed the world in 1990, but reports from the UN, the European Union and the United States say it could recover in four decades.

The ozone layer is a natural defense of the Earth, which protects it from solar and ultraviolet rays, which damage the DNA of living beings and can cause cancer. The hole, which is more pronounced in the Antarctic region, weakened the protection and filtering of lightning.

According to the report, one of the reasons for the recovery of the ozone layer is a historic environmental agreement that almost 200 countries signed in 1987 to eliminate the emission of chlorofluorocarbon aerosols and of which the results are being manifested.

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The dispersion of these industrial particles in the atmosphere was endangering that thin layer, essential for the preservation of terrestrial life, located between 11 and 40 kilometers above the planet’s surface.

Eliminating these ozone-damaging substances in the stratosphere will reduce the increase in global warming by up to one degree Celsius between now and mid-century, compared to the previous situation, in which their use increased by 3% each year.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) explains in the report that the ozone layer would recover its normal levels of extension and depth in 2066, although in the Arctic it would recover earlier, in 2045.

However, the report warns that the world is on the wrong track to tackle the problem on other fronts of climate change, such as CO2 or methane emissions from fossil fuels.

Also missing is the role of “Very Short-lived Substances” (VSLS), which are not covered by the Montreal Treaty, and climate change.

Therefore, scientists must be strategic in preserving the ozone layer while creating other environmental proposals, to avoid jeopardizing its recovery.

(YO)