28.18 KIGALI AGREEMENT

♤ Twenty-Eighth Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer held in Kigali, Rwanda amended the 1987 Montreal Protocol to phase out Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).

♤ Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were discontinued under the Montreal Protocol when scientists realised they were destroying the ozone layer.

♤ HFCs were introduced in the 1990s as an alternative to replace chemicals that had been found to erode the ozone layer, but turned out to be catastrophic for global warming.

♤ HFCs - though they are greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide - are not dealt with under the Paris Agreement but under the Montreal Protocol.

♤ The elimination of HFCs could reduce global warming by 0.5 degrees by 2100, according to a 2015 study by the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development.

♤ However, swapping HFCs for alternatives such as ammonia, water or gases called hydrofluoroolefins could prove costly for developing countries with high summer temperatures, such as India.

♤ The Kigali Agreement for HFCs reduction will be binding on countries from 2019.

♤ Under legally binding Kigali Amendment, 197 countries have agreed to a timeline to reduce the use of HFCs by roughly 85% of their baselines by 2045.

♤ Group 1 - Developed countries must reduce their use of HFCs by 10 percent by 2019 from 2011-2013 levels, and then by 85 percent by 2036.

♤ A second group of developing countries, including China and African nations, are committed to launching the transition in 2024.

♤ A reduction of 10 percent compared with 2020-2022 levels should be achieved by 2029, to be extended to 80 percent by 2045.

♤ A third group of developing countries, which include India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and Arab Gulf states, must begin the process in 2028 and reduce emissions by 10 percent by 2032 from 2024-2026 levels, and then by 85 percent by 2047.

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The Rajasthan government is said to be setting up of a captive breeding centre for the Great Indian Bustard following a proposal made by the Wildlife Institute of India.