Montreal Protocol members meet in Bangkok July 1-15

BANGKOK, July 2 (TNA) - Almost 200 member countries of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer are now gathering in Bangkok for a meeting during July 1-15 to discuss more approaches to be resorted to the reduced use of substances that deplete the Ozone layer in the atmosphere in order to ease the problem of climate change or global warming. The meeting, the 41st of its kind, is hosted by the Thai government, through the Department of industrial works, under the Ministry of Industry, at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in the capital. The department's director general, Thongchai Chawalitpichaet, stated that the agenda of the ongoing 15-day global forum include additional approaches on cutting and eliminating the use of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and Hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFCs) by member countries, as indicated in the revised Montreal Protocol agreed earlier in Kigali, Rwanda's capital. According to the senior Thai official, the revised Montreal Protocol said that member countries have agreed on using alternative substances, instead of CFCs and HCFCs, in order to help relieve the problem of global warming and climate change. Besides, the member countries have agreed on the establishment of a multilateral fund (2021-2023) to be resorted to assist developing nations, including Thailand, to phase out the use of CFCs and HCFCs in their due courses, which will be by 2040 for Thailand. The senior official acknowledged that since its conclusion in 1987, the Montreal Protocol has led to the reduced use of substances which deplete the Ozone layer by up to 99 per cent globally so far, enabling the Ozone layer in the atmosphere to be restoring to its normalcy, expected by 2100. HCFCs are a large group of compounds whose structure is very close to that of CFCs, but they include one or more hydrogen atoms. (TNA)