The International Day for Protection of the Ozone Layer which is commemorated on the sixteenth of September each year, was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly on December Nineteen, 1994, with a view to creating awareness on the depletion of the Ozone Layer and search for solutions to preserve it.
The global event which was first observed on the 16th September, 1995 also marked the date when the Montreal Protocol on Substances that depleted the Ozone Layer was signed in 1987.
Our correspondent who sampled people’s opinion on the essence of the day reports that the Ozone layer, also known as ozonosphere, is a region of the upper atmosphere, between roughly fifteen and thirty-five kilometer, nine and twenty-two miles, above earth’s surface, containing relatively high concentrations of ozone molecules ,zero- three, which absorbs most of the biologically harmful ultraviolet radiation reaching the earth from the sun.
Stratospheric ozone is considered as “good” ozone, while excess ozone at Earth’s surface that is formed from pollutants is considered “bad” ozone because of its harmfulness to human, plants, and animals.
Commenting on the day , the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Environment, Dr. Emma Okafor said that when the ozone layer is depleted, the ultraviolet radiation from the sun heats directly to the earth which could cause skin cancer and other diseases to human, and suggested that government policies should be focused on measures that can ensure that activities that generate the green house gasses are curtailed.
In an interview, the Director Environment and Ecology Anambra State Ministry of Environment, Mr. Anthony Odiegwu, cautioned the public against indiscriminate burning of wastes, interlocking of compounds, deforestation without replacement, releasing of carbon deposits into the air by mechanics and faulty automobile users, among others which he noted heavily contribute to the ozone layer depletion.
Also speaking, the Deputy Director Environment and Ecology Ministry of Environment, Mrs. Ngozi Anyaragbu and the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Political Matters, Dr. Vero Okechukwu who attributed the continuous depletion of the ozone layer to people’s obliviousness and erroneous practices in the environment, called for proper enlightenment of the populace on the causes and dangers of ozone layer depletion, and advised the people to avoid too much exposure to the sun as the ozone layer has already been affected.
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