With the dawn of 2010, the world has completely phased out the making of several chemicals that harm the ozone layer that protects life on earth from ultraviolet radiation from the Sun.

These include chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons, among others.  The Montreal Protocol, adopted in September 1987, set time-bound, measurable targets for managing nearly 100 such chemicals.

These chemicals are closely tied to economic activity, public health and safety. Therefore, developing countries and economies in transition were given more time to reduce consumption -- with the same goal of eventually phasing them out. The industrialised countries have already stopped producing these chemicals.

The CFC phase out target for developing countries was 31 December 2009.

“From 2010 on, subsequent generations will know about CFCs and Halons only from the pages of history books, since no new production is allowed from 1 January 2010,” said Rajendra Shende, Head of OzonAction, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

He added: “This date is a defining moment in the history of multilateral environmental agreements and a beacon of hope that success on seemingly insurmountable and challenging global environmental problems is achievable. This hope is echoed all over the world by the ministers, key officials, industries, academia and civil society.”

To mark this occasion, UNEP launched a new interactive website that looks back at the concerted global effort that led this accomplishment.

For nearly a decade, TVE Asia Pacific (TVEAP) has been working closely with UNEP offices in Paris and Bangkok in the public communication of messages related to saving the ozone layer. In 2002, TVEAP helped produce a global communications strategy to support the Montreal Protocol for phasing out chemicals that damage the ozone layer. This was followed by the preparation of an Asia Pacific regional communications action plan in 2004.

In 2006, TVEAP produced an Asian film that captured some of the key remaining challenges in phasing out ozone damaging chemicals. Its core message: as most of the ozone damaging chemicals was produced and consumed in the Asia Pacific, sustained action in this region was crucial for meeting the globally agreed phase-out targets.

Titled Return of the Ozone Layer: Are We There Yet?, the film was produced for UNEP, and featured ground-level efforts in Cambodia, China, India and Thailand. It looked at eight key challenges the Asia Pacific region faces on the road to 2010.

The film’s ending summed up the remaining challenges as follows:

“The world is at a tipping point in eliminating ozone-depleting chemicals.

“The Montreal Protocol has been recognised as an international environmental agreement that is succeeding."

“But there is much to be done before we can rest assured of an ozone safe world. Timely phase-out action by millions of Asians is part of this unfinished business.”

Photographs TVEAP Image Archive