ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF OZONE DEPLETION

Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center
Environmental Effects of Ozone Depletion 1998 Assessment

The United Nations Environment Programme Assessment Panel on the Environmental Effects of Ozone Depletion produced this report. The assessment is given in seven papers: changes in ultraviolet radiation, effects on human and animal health, effects on aquatic ecosystems, effects on biogeochemical cycles, effects on air quality, and effects on materials.

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UNITED NATIONS
ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMME

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Environmental effects
of ozone depletion:
1998 Assessment

November 1998

Persuant to Article 6 of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer under the Auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Copies of the report are available from

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
P. O. Box 30552
Nairobi
Kenya

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Published 1998 by the Secretariat for The Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
P. O. Box 30552
Nairobi
Kenya

UNEP, Environmental Effects of Ozone Depletion: 1998
Assessment, United Nations Environment Programme, 205pp, 1998.
ISBN 92-807-1724-3

Environmental effects of
ozone depletion:
1998 assessment

Introduction

The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer requires periodic assessments of available scientific, environmental, technical and economic information. The assessments shall be made at least every four years. Assessments were made in 1989, 1991, 1994, and the present one, in 1998. The 1998 assessment focuses on new information since 1994, but it includes some background of prior information, so that it can be read without having the earlier reports at hand.

In 1994, the ozone layer was predicted to become thinner until about 1998, and to recover gradually thereafter. Taking into account new information, the Atmospheric Science Panel now expects that the most vulnerable period for ozone depletion will be extended into the coming two decades. Scientific studies are continuing on the most important effects, and on what can be done to prevent or mitigate these.

The present assessment deals with the results of such investigations. These repeatedly give reasons for concern for potential effects, but relatively little progress has been made in quantifying these effects. The more the investigators look into the problems, the more the complexity becomes apparent. Nevertheless, the knowledge is accumulating.

In comparison with the earlier assessments on effects of ozone depletion, the present report has a new section, Frequently Asked Questions.

J.C. van der Leun

X. Tang

M. Tevini

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