KARACHI, Sept 16: The World Wide Fund for Nature in collaboration with the City District Government Karachi on Thursday held a training workshop for teachers and students to increase their contribution in preservation and upgrading of nature. The programme marked the World Ozone Day, which falls on September 16.

Pakistan observes the day to mark the anniversary of its signing of the Montreal Protocol. It was signed by many developed and developing countries in 1987. The WWF-Pakistan's Education and Communication Officer, Shameer Ali Prasla, and city government's Environment Officer, Nuzhat Siddiqui, coordinated the event, which was participated by students and teachers besides city government officials.

Mr Prasla gave a presentation on the status of ozone layer and the causes of its depletion, saying that the main contributors were chloroforo carbon (CFC), bromofloro carbon (BFC) and methyl bromide.

He elaborated that refrigerators, air-conditioners etc produced CFC; fire extinguishers, sprays etc produced BFC; and agricultural pesticide sprays produced methyl bromide.

The WWF official said that under the protocol, signatory countries were bound to impose complete ban on the products producing ozone depleting substances (ODS) by 2005.

He said these ODS gave birth to skin cancer, eye diseases, and were harmful to plants. These also weakened the immune system of human beings, harmed fish and aquatic life, and reduced agricultural productivity.

He quoted recent NASA satellite images suggesting that the depleted area of ozone was three times larger than the United States, and 38 times larger than Pakistan. The Deputy Director, Sindh Environment Protection Agency, Shahid Ali Lutfi, spoke of the chemical formation of ozone and its functions, saying the ozone acted as a shield against the harmful effects of the sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiations.

He said although the level of ozone depleting substances in the stratosphere now seemed to be at or near its peak, and that the total amount of ODS was continuing to decline slowly, the ozone layer would remain a challenge until full compliance with the Montreal Protocol was ensured.

Pakistan established an ozone cell with its Ministry of Environment in 1996 to ensure implementation of the protocol. It had assisted in providing grants of over of $12 million to 50 local industries to phase out the use of ODS.

More than 10 projects had already been completed to phase out the consumption of ODS in Pakistan, which include CFCs, solvents, halons and carbons tetrachloride.

The city government's Coordinator Education, Naseem Siddiqui, described the workshop as an important step and admired Nuzhat Siddiqui's efforts to effectively project the cause of preservation of nature and its up-grading for the last 10 years.

On a point by Nuzhat Siddiqui, that there was no budget allocation from the city govt for holding awareness programmes on environmental issues, Mr Naseem promised to extend due financial and moral support.

Executive Director, Secondary Schools Qamar Mehdi announced that such environment awareness programme would be held every year on September 16. - APP