RP three years ahead of ODS phaseout goals

The Philippines is three years ahead in meeting its targets in phasing out ozone-depleting substances (ODS), Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Heherson Alvarez said yesterday.

The consumption of chloroflourocarbons (CFCs) 11 and 12, Alvarez said, has gone down to only 1,151 metric tons as of October this year.

And with this rate, the consumption for the entire year is expected to reach only about 1,300 MT, far below the target of 1,509 MT for 2005 and even less than the quota of 1,360 MT for 2006.

Alvarez is confident that the Philippines will fulfill its commitment to a zero ODS consumption by 2010, and may soon receive a $10.58-million grant from the Multilateral Fund (MLF) for the implementation of the Montreal Protocol because of its success in surpassing its phaseout targets.

The MLF is a financial body created in 1990 to help developing countries comply with the targets of the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement forged in 1987 to save the ozone layer from further depletion with the use of CFCs.

The grant is intended to sustain the efforts of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and ensure the complete and thorough phaseout of ODS in the country by 2010, Alvarez said.

"The due diligence with which the DENR has surpassed its targets bolsters the Philippine government’s request to the MLF, through the Philippine National Chlorofluorocarbon Phaseout Plan (MCPP), for the grant to fund the eight-year phaseout plan," he said.

The Philippines posted a high level of ODS consumption in 2000, raising concerns among local and international agencies that it might fail to meet the targets of the Montreal Protocol.

However, Alvarez reversed the situation by stopping the issuance of licenses to new ODS importers.

Last month, the DENR and the Bureau of Customs seized some 29,000 kilos of CFCs, valued at P2.6 million, from a warehouse of EAC Chemicals Phils. Inc. in Parañaque City.

CFCs, such as freon and halon, are used in the cooling systems of airconditioners and refrigerators.

Scientists said CFCs damage the ozone layer in the stratosphere, allowing ultraviolet rays to enter the Earth’s atmosphere.

Ultraviolet rays cause skin cancer and cataract, disrupt the food chain by killing photoplanktons that serve as the basic food of fish and a source of protein of higher forms of animal life, and affect the human immune system.