legal GEP

montreal protocol - context

what is it:

• an internaitonal instrument set up in 1987 in order to respons to the sevear thinning of the earths protective ozone layer in the stratosphere a significant envrionmental issue discovered in 1983

caused by

• the repeated use of man made chemicals used in refrigeratiors and aerosol sprays

• this allowed harmful radiation to access the earths surface causing ecological damage and increased risk of cancer

what did the MP do:

• worked to completely phase out the use of 96 ozone depleating substances that were used in thousands of applications

  • by 2009 was the first ever treaty with universal rattification and had phased out 98% of the destructive chemcals

montreal protocol - effectiveness - ozone

‘earths ozone layer on course to be healed within decares, UN report finds’ the guardian 2023

• reveals the ozone layer is on track to recover by 2040 in most areas of the world

• the banning of CFC harmful chemicals has a profound impact towards global warming, as they are greenhouse gasses and their uncontrolled use would have raised global temp by 1c by 2050

• “the most successful environmental treaty in history and offers encouragement that countries of the world can come together and decide an outcome and act on it”, david fahey - national oceanic and anmospheric administration

montreal protocol - effective - japan

china was found to be illegally using CFC chemicals despite rattifying the protocol in 2009.

• was found to be illegaly producting CFC 11 to make foams that insulate buildings, releasing 11,000 - 17,000 tonnes of cfc into the atmposphere per year

• described as ‘nothing short of an envrionmental crime’ by the head of the UN envorment program abc 2019

• Interntaional community placed significant pressure on china, with parties of the protolcol holding emergency meetings and investigating the emissions

• this lead to china launching a national enforment cappaign, ionspecting 1,100 companies involved in foam manufacturing, destroying and imposing fines

• since then global CFC emissions have dripped by 20,000 tons annually putting the ozone layer back on the track for recovery - axios 2021

UNESCO - context

UNESCO is a UN specialised agency founded in 1945 that pomotes the conservation of natural envronemnts and encourages cooperation and scientific research.

• designates envrionmentally significant sites as world heritage sites, placing pressure on countries to preserve and portect them and globally condemns countries who dont

• consists of 194 member states and has 266 sites in 170 counties over the world

UNESCO - positives

significant motivator for countries to better protect their world heritage sites - AUS work to better protect the GBR

• GBR is the worlds most extenisve coral reef, covering 348000 square kilometers and contains over 1500 species of fish, 400 species of coral, 4000 species of molusk, 240 species of bird

• has been a UNESCO world heritage site since 1981, however austrlias insufficient proteciton of it has lead to coral bleaching and biodiversity loss

• this is hilighed through a UNESCO report in 2023 on the damage ot the GBR —> holding aus accountable

UNESCO - aus response

AUS quick response and subsequent work towards better rpotecting the GBR

• commiting to creaitng no fishing zones in a third of the GBR by 2024 and ban gill net fishing by 2027

• pledge to significnaly reduce polutant discharge from farmers and industrialists

• guardian 2025 article - aus has invested over 1.2 billion towards better protecting the GBR and doubled funding for reef science

  • tanya pliberseck ‘we will continue to work with UNESCO to ensure the protection of the GBR and all the world heritage properties that are being effected b cllimate change’