Ozone Depletion: International Protective Strategies and Implications

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review, Dec 1989

By C. Patrick Turley, Published on 04/01/89

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Ozone Depletion: International Protective Strategies and Implications

ROCK L. REV. University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review C. Patrick Turley 0 1 Recommended Citation 0 C. Patrick Turley, Ozone Depletion: International Protective Strategies and Implications, 12 U. A 1 This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by Bowen Law Repository: Scholarship & Archives. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review by an authorized editor of Bowen Law Repository: Scholarship & Archives. For more information , please contact , USA - OZONE DEPLETION: INTERNATIONAL PROTECTIVE STRATEGIES AND IMPLICATIONS I. INTRODUCTION Mankind may look back on the past century as one of immense technological advancement. But advancement exacts a stiff toll on the Earth's resources. As technology grows and population expands, the environmental reality requires exercising controlled stewardship over those resources. While some environmental issues are best addressed at the local or regional level, an awareness of our "global commons" is fast taking shape as the world community confronts issues such as acid rain, international hazardous waste transport, global warming, and ozone depletion, all of which can be addressed at the international level as well. In the twenty-first century and beyond, humankind must pay homage to this international environmental reality. The intense heat and drought of the summer of 1988 acted like a catalyst, igniting global interest in the Earth's health and welfare and prompting predictions that the long-anticipated global warming and ozone depletion had finally arrived. As if to emphasize the critical nature of global environmental concerns, the "Endangered Earth" took "Planet of the Year" honors from Time magazine.1 Although uncertainties remain, the scientific evidence linking ozone depletion to human activities is strengthening. Rather than waiting for all the uncertainties to be disproved, industry, governments, and non-governmental organizations have acted on the carefully marshalled scientific evidence to develop three key documents addressing ozone depletion. These are the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer,2 the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer,3 and the Nitrogen Oxides Protocol,4 all of which will be discussed in this Comment. To appreciate the complex nature of the issues presented by ozone depletion, it is necessary to understand the atmospheric processes involved in ozone formation and destruction. Part II of this Comment reviews those processes, discusses the substances that deplete the ozone layer, and examines the effects of ozone depletion and 1. TIME, Jan. 2, 1989. 2. See infra notes 181-96 and accompanying text. 3. See infra notes 198-274 and accompanying text. 4. See infra notes 276-82 and accompanying text. its implications for global warming. Part III briefly summarizes international environmental law and then examines the major international strategies for addressing ozone depletion. The Comment concludes by discussing how ozone remedies can be used as a model for addressing other global environmental problems. II. THE SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND Ozone is found in the atmosphere from the terrestrial surface to an altitude of at least 100 kilometers.5 The concentration of ozone in the atmosphere is small, only a few parts per million by volume.6 Approximately ninety percent of ozone is found in the stratosphere,7 an area of the atmosphere ten to sixty kilometers above the surface of the earth." In the stratosphere, where atmospheric pressure is small, the ozone layer is spread over an area about 10 kilometers thick.9 Under pressure and temperature conditions present at the terrestrial surface, the ozone layer would compress to a mere 0.3 centimeters in thickness.'° The troposphere, which extends from the terrestrial surface to the stratosphere," contains less ozone per volume than the stratosphere. But interactions between ozone and other tropospheric gases play an important role in stratospheric ozone dynamics, the consequence of which is that processes occurring in one atmospheric region have a direct influence on the other.' 2 Ozone, denoted chemically as 03, is formed by the combination of atomic (02) and molecular (02) oxygen. I 3 A balance of processes 5. WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION, 1 ATMOSPHERIC OZONE 1985: ASSESSMENT OF OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROCESS CONTROLLING ITS PRESENT DISTRIBU TION AND CHANGE 27 (1985) [hereinafter ATMOSPHERIC OZONE]. 6. Id. 7. Id. at 1. 8. Watson, Atmospheric Ozone, in 1 UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME/ U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, Effects of Changes in Stratospheric Ozone and Global Climate 69, 70 (1986) [hereinafter UNEP/EPA]. The atmosphere is commonly divided into different regions according to temperature and distance above the terrestrial surface. In ascending order the divisions are the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere. 9. Farman, What Hopefor the Ozone Lay (...truncated)


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C. Patrick Turley. Ozone Depletion: International Protective Strategies and Implications, University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review, 1989, Volume 12, Issue 2,