The UNEP Montreal Protocol: Industrialized and Developing Countries Sharing the Responsibility for Protecting the Stratospheric Ozone Layer
![handle is hein.journals/nyuilp20 and id is 743 raw text is: THE UNEP MONTREAL PROTOCOL:
INDUSTRIALIZED AND DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES SHARING THE
RESPONSIBILITY FOR PROTECTING
THE STRATOSPHERIC OZONE LAYER
JAMES T.B. TRIPP*
Looking ahead to the twenty-first century, it is possible
to envision a materially prosperous world in which the ex-
treme economic disparities in wealth now existing among na-
dons and the individuals within those nations will be sub-
stantially lessened. At the same time, we recognize the im-
portance of protecting and sustaining our physical
environment. These mutually dependent goals are neces-
sary conditions for human well-being. As the global environ-
ment is currently subjected to a great deal of stress, sus-
taining modest economic growth in the industrialized coun-
tries and rapid growth in the less developed countries of the
world while protecting the physical environment presents a
formidable challenge. It requires the worldwide develop-
ment and adoption of technologies that produce wealth but
that are also minimally polluting and resource-efficient.
I. THE PROBLEM OF OZONE DEPLETION
One common global pollution problem that the world
currently faces is the depletion of the stratospheric ozone
layer.' Since the ozone layer shields the earth's surface from
* General Counsel of the Environmental Defense Fund, New York, a
national, non-profit environmental advocacy organization. Mr. Tripp rep-
resented EDF as a non-government observer at the United Nations Envi-
ronment Programme (UNEP) negotiations which led to the September
1987 Montreal Protocol described in this article.
1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency & United Nations Environ-
mental Programme, International Conference on Health and Environmen-
tal Effects of Ozone Modification and Climate Change, 1-2 Effects of
Changes in Stratospheric Ozone and Global Climate (1986) [hereinafter
1986 EPA 1 and 2, respectively]; Comments of Michael Oppenheimer, Se-
nior Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund, on Proposed Rule for Protec-
tion of Stratospheric Ozone (Jan. 7, 1988); see generally, WoRLD MrETRo-
733
Imaged with the Permission of N.Y.U. Journal of International Law and Politics](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/nyuilp20&div=33&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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