India to host meeting on ozone layer protection
The combined 7th Meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Vienna Convention for Protection of the Ozone Layer and the 17th Meeting of Parties (MOP) to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was held recently in Dakar, Senegal. Mr. Namo Narain Meena, the Minister of State for Environment and Forests, led the Indian delegation at the high-level segment of this meeting. Some of the important decisions taken at this meeting include replenishment of the Multilateral Fund for the year 2006-08, membership of the executive committee for the year 2006 and venue of the 18th MOP. MOP approved a budget of US$470 million for the period 2006-08. It also endorsed the selection of India as a member of the executive committee for the year 2006, along with China, Sri Lanka and the Philippines as co-opted members. India’s proposal to host the 18th MOP to the Montreal Protocol in India in 2006 was also agreed to.


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Workshop on depleting ozone
A two-day workshop on “Substances Depleting the Ozone Layer for Environment Agencies” was organized by the State Council for Science, Technology and Environment and Ozone Cell of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests during November 2005. According to Dr. Shrikant Baldi, Chairman-cum-Secretary, Science and Technology, the need for maintaining proper balance between development and environment protection is imperative as environment pollution was an issue of global concern. “There is an urgent need for conducting research to develop alternative technology that is environment-friendly and economical,” he said. Dr. Baldi expressed that training programmes were being organized to create awareness about implementation of the Montreal Protocol. He urged industrialists to tap funding and technology transfer support from the Multilateral Fund for switching over to non-ODS technologies.


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TexCom, GTZ offer training on CTC alternatives
The German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), along with Tirupur-based Textiles Committee, organized a training programme in Chennai during December 2005 in an effort to identify environment-friendly alternatives to substitute carbon tetrachloride (CTC) usage in the textile industry. Applications of CTC include removing stains from garments, cleaning or degreasing of steel, metal parts and machinery, and manufacture of chlorinated rubber, pesticides and pharmaceuticals. In India, the textile industry alone requires over 1,500 t/y of CTC for removing stains from garments. In addition, CTC is used substantially in servicing garment making machinery.


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