Energy and Environment

New Delhi: 18th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol – India and the Montreal Protocol

The 18th Meeting of the Parties (MOP-18) to the Montreal Protocol will convene from 30 October to 3 November 2006 in New Delhi, India. The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, a multilateral environmental agreement adopted in 1987, has to date been an impressive example of an international initiative that is successfully contributing to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

On the agenda are a number of important issues, including review of nominations from Parties for essential use exemptions related to metered dose inhalers (MDIs) used to treat asthma, the environmentally sound destruction of ozone-depleting substances (ODS), and a variety of issues related to the agricultural fumigant and ozone-depleting substance, methyl bromide.

With the next major compliance milestone of the Montreal Protocol around the corner - the 100% CFC phase-out for Article 5 country Parties to the Protocol in 2010 - key challenges to be faced Parties in protecting the ozone layer over the next decade will also be on the agenda, as will consideration of a proposal by the Government of Canada for adjustment of the Montreal Protocol.

The Montreal Protocol is lauded as an excellent example of the achievements that can result from adoption of a partnership approach to sustainable environmental management. Involving public and private sector stakeholders – as diverse as SMEs, smallholder farmers and fire-fighting authorities – the Montreal Protocol, through it’s Multilateral Fund (MLF), has disbursed US $1.984 billion in support of over 5,200 projects and activities in 139 developing countries. The phase-out resulting from the implementation of these projects will have an impact of than 226,855 ozone-depleting potential (ODP) tonnes of consumption, and approximately 156,342 ODP tonnes of production of ODS.

INDIA FOCUS

Since India became a Party to the Montreal Protocol in 1992, UNDP and its Country Office have been closely collaborating with India;s Ozone Cell, a special directorate established within the Ministry of Environments Forests (MOEF), dedicated to managing and coordinating the implementation of the Montreal Protocol in India. To support the activities of the Ozone Cell and to strengthen its institutional capacity, India's Institutional Strengthening Project, implemented by UNDP, has been supporting the Ozone Cell since 1994.

UNDP has also supported India in the development of its Country Programme, which outlines the national strategy, priorities and actions that will allow it to reach compliance with the Montreal Protocol's control measures in a sustainable manner.

In response to challenges regarding remaining ODS phase-out requirements, UNDP provided India with assistance in formulating and implementing national substance and/or sector specific phase-out programmes for all major ODS consuming industrial sectors. These include programmes that, for example, will phase-out the remaining CFC consumption in India’s Refrigeration Servicing Sector, India’s Refrigeration Manufacturing Sector, and the remaining CTC consumption in India’s Metal Cleaning Sub Sector.

As of December 2005, UNDP has implemented over 150 individual and sectoral projects in India, with total funding in the order of US$ 44 million and an associated total ODS phase-out impact of 6,700 ODP tonnes.

Documents relative to MOP-18 can be found on the website of the Ozone Secretariat and more information on the organization of MOP-18 is provided by India’s Ozone Cell.