India, Sept. 16 -- There is a reason the Montreal Protocol is considered a rarity. Not only did the 1987 multilateral agreement get universal ratification, measures implemented under it have massively aided recovery of the ozone layer. The latest 2022 UN-backed Scientific Assessment Panel to the Montreal Protocol on Ozone Depleting Substances confirms the phase out of nearly 99 per cent of banned ozone-depleting substances (ODS). However, new research shows that the layer's recovery to 1980 levels-before the appearance of the ozone hole-could still be delayed by nearly a decade.

Found in the stratosphere, between 15 km and 30 km above Earth's surface, the layer of naturally occurring molecule of three oxygen atoms protects the planet by ...