Use of Key Chemical in
Treatment of Commodity Crop Exports Spotlighted at International Ozone Layer
Conference
November 29, 2004 — By UN Environment Programme
Governments Also Agree on Level of Methyl Bromide Exemptions For Developed
World Farmers
PRAGUE, 27 November 2004 - An international conference on protecting the ozone
layer has ended with Governments agreeing to a global survey of the amounts of a
key chemical being used in so-called quarantine and pre-shipment.
The quantities of methyl bromide, a pesticide and ozone-damaging chemical, used
by farmers for fumigating soils is well known. But the precise levels used to
treat shipments of big commodity crops such as rice and maize and consignments
in wooden pallets are unknown.
Experts estimate that in 2002 the quantities were around 11,000 tonnes growing
to 18,000 tonnes in 2004.
But it is thought that the levels are an underestimate because not all countries
are supplying full and accurate figures on the precise levels being used.
The survey is aimed at resolving these uncertainties and may be a first step
towards controlling the levels of methyl bromide used in quarantine and pre-
shipment.
It will be carried out by scientific and technical experts to the Montreal
Protocol, the 17 year-old international agreement set up under the auspices of
the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to protect the ozone layer from
chemical attack.
The survey was among several key decisions made at the sixteenth meeting of the
Parties to the Montreal Protocol which ended in the early hours of 27 November
2004, in the historic European city of Prague, Czech Republic.
Requests for so called "critical use exemptions" for farmers for
methyl bromide were also considered based on recommendations by the Protocol's
scientific and technical experts.
Under an agreement made in the middle of the 1990s, the chemical is scheduled
for a full phase out in developed world agriculture next year. In 1991
consumption of methyl bromide was around 63,800 tonnes.
But some farmers, including some in Australia, Europe and the United States,
claim that the current alternatives to methyl bromide in some places and for
certain crops, such as strawberries and tomatoes, are not sufficiently
effective.
They have thus requested exemptions from the deadline for 2005 and 2006.
Today, the Parties to the Protocol agreed to exemptions for developed world
farmers totalling just over 2,600 tonnes for 2005 in addition to just over
12,150 tonnes agreed to at a special meeting in March this year.
Based on recommendations by the scientific and technical panels to the Protocol,
it was agreed to grant developed world farmers a total of just over 11,700
tonnes-worth of exemptions in 2006.
A further 3,000 tonnes-worth of exemptions were also "provisionally"
approved for 2006 which will be reviewed by the scientific and technical experts
over the coming months.
The experts will report back to Governments as to whether these 3,000 tonnes
should be formally granted or whether reliable, ozone-friendly, alternatives
exist. This will be debated at a special one-day Extraordinary Meeting of the
Parties scheduled for late June or early July next year.
Governments agreed that the levels of exemptions granted should take into
account existing stockpiles of unused or recycled methyl bromide.
Klaus Toepfer, the Executive Director of UNEP, which hosts the Ozone Secretariat
at its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, said today: "I am delighted that
Governments could agree on such a range of sometimes difficult issues. I am also
delighted that their decisions were based on sound science."
"The Montreal Protocol is without doubt one of the most successful, global,
environment treaties and has been strengthened by the political commitment show
here in Prague. Indeed, I was pleased to note that throughout our discussions
all Governments stated clearly that they had every intention to phase out methyl
bromide and that these critical use exemptions are temporary measures", he
added.
The meeting also made other key decisions including one to grant essential use
exemptions for CFCs used in metered dose inhalers. Under the agreements, the
United States has been granted 1,900 tonnes of CFCs and Europe several hundred
tonnes for use in inhalers containing the chemical salbutamol.
For more information, contact:
Nick Nuttallt
Head of Media
UN Environment Programme
Tel: +254-20-62-3084
E-mail: cpiinfo@unep.org
www.unep.org/ozone/