Climate of irrationality

The multilateral treaty to protect the ozone layer has been a successful environmental agreement. But an impasse over restricting the use of extremely potent greenhouse gases is set to mar the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Montreal Protocol on September 16.

The cold rush

Desolate, cold, inhospitable, relegated to the backyards of exploration and knowledge. Antarctica did not emerge from this unfortunate fate till less than 100 years ago, before which, whalers and seafarers were its only visitors. Cartographers barely acknowledged its presence (or chose to ignore it altogether). And the first explorations, which began in early 20th century, remained restricted to the enormous continent's fringes.

Fig leaf for the business world

India is obliged under the Montreal Protocol to gradually stop the use of ozone-depleting substances (ODS) such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which cause unimaginable damage by burning a hole in the Earth's stratospheric ozone layer. The industrialised countries have already phased out some of these substances. The first deadline for India and other developing nations comes on January 1, 2010, when these countries are expected to entirely stop using CFCs.

Widening the gap

ten years after the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was signed, it is being hailed as a success story of cooperation between policy makers, scientists, industry and non-government organisations.

Anxiety helps hasten ozone safety deadlines

DISAPPOINTMENT among green NGOs and irritation among developing countries over the foot-dragging attitude of some developed countries characterised the week-long meeting in Copenhagen of the parties to the so-called Montreal Protocol. But alarming data presented on the state of the ozone layer, which protects life on earth from the sun's ultra-violet (UV) radiation, inexorably nudged delegates into speeding up the timetable for the phasing out of a number of ozone-depleting substances.

Saving the Ozone

Try punching the air in front of you. Does it leave a hole? Surely not. But the ozone layer that exists in the stratosphere, the layer of the atmosphere just above us, does have a hole.

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evolution Wolves from dogs

Can amphibians tackle climate change?

Amphibians are known for their resilience. They have bounced out of mass extinctions, survived vegetation changes, and outlived the dinosaur by evolving distinctive behaviours and morphologies and adapting their lifecycles. But a study from the us reveals these very attributes have placed the future of nature's sentinels in peril (BioScience, Vol 57, No 5, May 2007).