SIMON MUNTEMBA
GOVERNMENT has ratified the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer.
The Kigali Amendment is aimed at tackling climate change by promoting the phase-down of Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which have been found to have high global warming potential and therefore have high climate impact.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the phase-down in the global consumption of HFCs could save as much as 0.5 degree Celsius of global warming by 2045 while continuing to protect the ozone layer.
Minister of Water Development, Sanitation and Environmental Protection, Raphael Nakachinda said Zambia has become the 115th country to ratify the Kigali amendment to the Montreal protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer.
According to a statement the United Nations Environment Ozone Secretariat Acting Executive Secretary, Megumi Seki Nakamura has congratulated Zambia for having ratified the Kigali amendment describing it as “significant achievement”.
“I am therefore elated to announce to the nation that we have become the 115th party to ratify the Kigali Amendment,” Mr Nakachinda said.
The Minister thanked the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) for facilitating the entire ratification process and all stakeholders who made submissions to the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Lands and Natural Resources, leading to approval of its report on the proposal to ratify the Kigali Amendment.
He stated that in fulfilment of Zambia’s commitment to the Vienna Convention on the Protection of the Ozone layer and Montreal Protocol on the Phase-out of Ozone-Depleting Substances (ODS), on 29th January, 2021, Parliament approval the ratification of the Kigali Amendment.
As a party to the Convention and the Protocol, he said, Zambia is obliged under Article 2 of the Convention to adopt appropriate legislative or administrative measures to control, limit, prevent or reduce human activities that modify or are likely to modify the ozone layer or cause global warming. Mr Nakacinda said Government remains committed to an integrated approach in the implementation of the Kigali Amendment to contribute to both national and global efforts aimed at combating climate change, thereby supporting a diversified and resilient economy, through reduced climate change impacts on human health and the environment.
Some of the expected benefits of ratification include facilitation of the development of appropriate legislative and administrative measures in combatting global warming and therefore complying with the requirements of the Convention.
The ratification will also lead to elimination of the risk of Zambia becoming a dumping ground for obsolete HFC containing equipment and technologies; and access to financial and technical support including the transfer of technologies
