Delegates from more than 120 countries, representing about 90 percent of the earth's population, agreed Friday on measures aimed at preserving the planet's protective ozone layer.
In its final report, the Fifth Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer agreed to re-examine the use of certain interim substitutes for ozone-depleting chemicals.Participants also agreed to add municipal solid waste incinerators for foams containing ozone-depleting substances to a list of approved destruction technologies.
To make the measures effective, delegates said the Multilateral Fund, which provides assistance to developing countries to phase out ozone-depleting substances, would be replenished at a level of $510 million for the next three years.
While praising some of the meeting's accomplishments, the environmental group Greenpeace said the measures adopted did not match the urgency of the dangers posed by ozone-depleting chemicals.
"In the context of the parties' earlier commitment to prefer permanent solutions when they became available, we expected more," Greenpeace spokesman Michael Affleck said. "Actions speak louder than words: rhetoric does not preserve the ozone layer."