A new study released this week outlines how the ozone layer that shields life from cancer-causing solar rays is showing its first sign of recovery after years of dangerous depletion.
Researchers said it was mainly down to global action, a 1987 ban on man-made gases that damage the high-altitude screen. The agreement would help prevent millions of cases of skin cancer and other issues.
The ozone hole, which appears over Antarctica, has stopped growing bigger every year, according to the study.
It will be about a decade before it starts shrinking, said the report co-produced by the World Meteorological Organization and the U.N. Environment Programme.
"International action on the ozone layer is a major environmental success story. This should encourage us to display the same level of urgency and unity to tackle the even greater challenge of tackling climate change," said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud, according to Reuters.
Previous studies suggested that the ozone layer actually stopped getting worse.
An agreement would also help avert damage to agriculture, human eyes, immune systems, and wildlife, the agency said.
"Now for the first time in this report we say that we see indications of a small increase in total ozone. That means recovery of the ozone layer in terms of total ozone has just started," said WMO senior scientific officer Geir Braathen, according to Reuters.
The 1987 Montreal Protocol banned or phased out ozone depleting chemicals like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which was once used in refrigerators and spray cans.
It could prevent 2 million cases of skin cancer annually by 2030, according to UNEP.
"The development you saw during the 1990s that the ozone hole got bigger from year to year, that development has stopped, so it has leveled off," said Braathen. "We think in about 2025 or thereabouts we'll be able to say with certainty that the ozone hole is getting smaller."
Progress could be sped up by 11 years if current stocks of ozone-depleting substances, many of which stored up in old fridges and fire-extinguishers, were destroyed.
The largest ozone hole on record was about 30 million square km in 2006. The hole now covers about 20 million square km, according to Reuters.
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