Ozone loss is accelerating globally. In 1995 and now again in 1996, we have experienced record ozone depletions over both the Southern and Northern hemispheres.

Recently released data from the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) indicate that the 1996 Antarctic ozone hole peaked at a record 10 million square miles - an area greater than the total surface area of North America. According to Dr. Rumen Bojkov, special advisor to the World Meteorological Organization, ozone levels over the Antarctic are now at the lowest level possible; all of the ozone subject to depletion by existing chemicals has been destroyed.

New agreements at the 7th Meeting of the Parties in Vienna (1995) on HCFC and methyl bromide controls achieved little of substance in terms of protecting the ozone layer through the reduction of chlorine and bromine loading during the crucial short term period of the next 20 years.

This is unfortunate, for as the UNEP Executive Director has noted at the 11th meeting of the OEWG that "For Article 2 parties reductions in the use of methyl bromide and further controls on HCFCs are the two remaining options for additional action which are both technically and economically feasible and would significantly lower stratospheric chlorine and bromine abundances" (UNEP/Ozl.Pro/WGI/l 1/8, para.6)

The following items warrant concern:

• ODS use in developing countries remains in the 200kt/year range, far above the levels that would allow for rapid reductions in chlorine loading. This consumption has increased an alarming 45% during the past decade.

• The Multilateral Fund continues to fund projects utilizing ozone destroying HCFC technologies, contrary to the decision of the Parties calling on members to limit the use of HCFCs to applications where environmentally safer alternatives do not exist. The most recent example is a five million dollar allocation, approved at the 19th. Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Multilateral Fund (October, 1996) to the Multibras Corporation of Brazil, for the elimination of CFCs 11&12 through conversion to HCFC 141-b and HFC HFC-134a in domestic refrigeration. Multibras is the largest domestic refrigerator manufacturer in Brazil, and possibly in all of Latin America, and is 41% owned by the US based Whirlpool corporation.

• Inadequate funding for the Multilateral Fund, withholding of committed funds to the Fund on the part of Article 2 countries, and delays in disbursements and implementation by Implementing Agencies mean that the peak in chlorine loading could be delayed several years.

• Non-compliance is a problem in some regions (e.g. Russian Federation) and the releases of ODS are significant in terms of the recovery of stratospheric chlorine levels.

• The ambiguous status of Countries with Economies In Transition (CEIT) within the Montreal Protocol needs clarification in order to assist those countries to phase out ODSs.

• Rising CO2 levels and other atmospheric changes are likely to enhance the ozone depletion effect of stratospheric chlorine and bromine levels. The Parties must no longer turn a blind eye to the global warming contributions of ODS replacement technologies, such as HFC-134a.

• Severe technological problems associated with HFC-134a, especially in the area of servicing of domestic refrigerators in Article 5 countries, may well convince companies to remain with, or even switch-back to CFCs. This would have negative ramifications for the ozone layer, as well as for further technology transfers between Article 2 and Article 5 countries.

• Failure to place strict controls on HCFC and MeBr use risks delaying or slowing the decline in stratospheric chlorine loading once the peak occurs.

• Illegal trade and consumption of CFCs further endangers the ozone layer.

These problems mean that further measures need to be taken to speed up the eventual recovery of the ozone layer. These include:

• Securing the earlier phase out of Methyl Bromide from developed countries and a radically accelerated phase out in developing countries.

• Significant tightening and acceleration of controls on HCFCs in both Article 2 and Article 5 countries.

• Accelerating the phase-out of ozone depleting substances, particularly CFCs, in developing countries to very close to the turn of the century.

• Preventing the dumping of obsolete ODS technologies by companies in Article 2 countries in Article 5 countries.

• Avoiding opening up of loopholes and exemptions to the Montreal Protocol in all categories of ODSs.

• Adequately funding the Multilateral Fund to ensure that ODS phase-out projects in Article 5 countries are not delayed due to lack of funds, and to maintain flexibility for changing to zero-ODP and zero-global warming technologies for projects utilizing transitional substances which have been previously approved but not yet implemented.

• Directing the Executive Committee of the Multilateral Fund to show preferential consideration in funding to ODS replacement technologies that contribute neither to ozone depletion nor global warming.