Sri Lanka celebrates International Ozone Day 2012

Sri Lanka is one of the countries that implement Montreal Protocol successfully. The country has achieved the Protocol objectives well in advance and completed a successful journey of phasing out ozone depleting substances through various regulations and activities.

Year 2012 is a remarkable year for all parties to the Montreal protocol including Sri Lanka since Montreal Protocol celebrates its 25th anniversary.

Sri Lanka commemorated this historical year under the theme  “Protecting our atmosphere for generations to come” yesterday at a special ceremony  at Jana Kala Kendraya (Folk Art Centre) in Battaramulla. The UN Environment Program (UNEP)  honoured Sri Lanka for its long standing commitment to preserving the ozone layer.  A global plaque was presented to the Speaker of Sri Lanka Parliament and Sri Lanka’s Minister of Environment by Marco Gonzalez, Executive Secretary of UNEP’s Ozone Secretariat.

At this ceremony  wheel chairs were donated to the Eye hospital, Colombo  and the Cancer Hospital, Maharagama with printed message“ Protect the ozone layer to avoid eye cataracts” and “ Protect the ozone layer to avoid skin cancers” respectively.

In May 2011the launch of first ‘Ozone Friendly Pure Ceylon Tea’ logo highlighted a remarkable success story of a developing country complying with a global environmental treaty while also enhancing a major export industry.

The logo is already displayed by many Ceylon Tea manufacturers and distributors. It marks another value addition to the island’s best known export product, an industry worth US Dollars 1.5 billion a year.

The logo reminds Ceylon Tea drinkers worldwide that their favourite ‘cuppa’ has been produced without harming the Ozone Layer. That means our tea is growing without any Methyl Bromide on tea plantations. Instead, ozone-friendly substitutes are now used as fumigants to protect tea bushes from pest attacks, particularly the nematodes (roundworms).

The Montreal Protocol requires all Methyl Bromide use to end by 1 January 2015 (except in emergency situations and quarantine purposes). Sri Lanka got there ahead of schedule.

“All tea grown in Sri Lanka is now 100% ozone-friendly. This is a distinction of which no other tea-producing nation can boast,” says the Tea Board website.