Tehran, September 10, 2007 – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Department of Environment (DoE) on Monday commemorated two key milestones on the road to recovery for the world's ozone layer: the Montreal Protocol and the Vienna Convention.

“In Iran, consumption of major chemicals that deplete the ozone layer has fallen from a baseline of 5,000 tones in the early 1990’s to slightly over 2,000 tones at the end of 2005”, said UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative Mr. Knut Ostby at the ceremony that coincided with the 20th Anniversary of the signing of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. He said the achievement was a result of “national efforts led by the Department of Environment and assisted by UN agencies” including UNDP and UNIDO.

Deputy Head of the Department of Environment Mr. Hassan Assilian, appreciated the substantive contribution of international organizations, particularly UNDP and UNDIO, in the significant reduction of ozone depleting substances by industries and reaffirmed the country’s resolve in meeting the targets set by the two conventions.

Since 1994, when Iran submitted its first national plan of action under the Protocol with UNDP’s help, hundreds of enterprises and service shops in refrigeration, foam production, mobile air conditioning and so on have received technological assistance and technical training to convert to new technologies that involve no or less harm to the ozone layer. In this connection, Iran had secured over $50 millions as financial assistance from the Multilateral Fund of the Montreal Protocol.
Mr. Ostby lauded the country’s achievements in fulfilling the reporting requirements of the Protocol, among other things, but counted a number of challenges ahead to achieve the national targets, including the urgent need to establish an effective monitoring system that ensured the sustainability of the technology conversion at the enterprise level.