Industries in Bahrain and other developing countries are being challenged to find alternatives for a gas used mainly in air-conditioning and harmful to the ozone layer.

According to international treaty Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, developing countries are required to comply with new phase-out measures for Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs).

The new protocol requires Bahrain and other developing countries to freeze their current consumption levels of HCFCs by 2013 and then to comply with reductions of 10 per cent by 2015, 35 per cent by 2020, 67.5 per cent by 2025 and 97.5 per cent by 2030.

The remaining 2.5 per cent is restricted to the servicing of refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment existing between 2030 and 2040, but this is subject to review in 2025.

The Montreal Protocol also requires that developing countries eliminate CFCs by January 1, 2010.

The phasing-out of HCFCs posed a significant challenge to industries in Bahrain and developing countries in general, said United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) regional office for West Asia (ROWA) compliance assistance programme regional network co-ordinator Dr Abdulelah Al Wadaee.

“We are in front of big challenges to adapt air-conditioners to use ozone and climate
friendly gases, we must select the appropriate alternative gas and make sure that it isn’t harmful,” he told our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News.

UNEP regional director and representative for Asia and the Pacific Dr Young-Woo Park said HCFCs was an important coolant in Bahrain because it was widely used in air-conditioners.

“Bahrain has a very strong phase-out programme for CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), so I think they will do the same for HCFCs,” he said.

Dr Park said it was important for countries to create systems and mechanisms for the preparation of the HCFC Phase-out Management Plan (HPMP) and its implementation.

He pointed out that Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) had broadly been used to replace HCFCs as a coolant but they weren’t a good alternative for the environment.

In light of this, Argentina, the Federated States of Micronesia, Mauritius and Mexico were pushing for an amendment of the Montreal Protocol to phase out HFC consumption and production.

Dr Park said to achieve phase-out it was also important to have transnational co-operation mechanisms on regulation enforcements on the trade of Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS).

He was speaking at the Joint Meetings of South Asia and West Asia Ozone Depleting Substances Officers Networks for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol which opened at the Gulf Hotel yesterday.

The four-day event is organised by Unep and held under the patronage of Southern Governor and Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife president Shaikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

More than 100 participants from 26 countries in South and West Asia are attending the meetings to discuss the implementation of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

They are addressing issues such as the trade of ODS, residential air-conditioning industry, the role of media experts and alternatives for HCFCs.

Municipalities and Agriculture Minister Dr Juma Ahmed Al Ka’abi said Bahrain had been keen to tackle ozone pollution and had signed the Vienna Agreement and Montreal Protocol in 1989.

UNEP regional office for West Asia director and regional representative Dr Habib El Habr and other environment officials also spoke at the opening.-TradeArabia News Service