IN BANGKOK
IT WAS appropriate that the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT) was chosen as the venue for presenting Thai pop star Tata Young with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Montreal Protocol award.
The award, presented on Oct 4, is for raising public awareness on the importance of protecting the ozone layer. A useful brief on the issues is available at the EPA's website here : http://www.epa.gov/ozone/science/sc_fact.html
Tata was at the FCCT before, in mid 2009, showcasing her public service message which was aired in Thai movie theatres and on TV. In an album last year that went on to sell 10,000 CDs, Sony Music affixed a sticker saying 'Protect yourself, protect the ozone layer'. Tata repeated the message at her live shows.
The US's deputy chief of mission Judith Cefkin gave out the award. 'It is an honour for me to be recognised,' said Tata. 'I will continue to use the power of music to capture people's hearts and encourage them to take action to protect the ozone layer and to help prevent climate change.'
The role of music as messenger was evident that evening, which saw performances of songs with environmental messages, from the choir of the Ruamrudee International School, as well as two other bands.
The stratospheric ozone layer is a membrane filtering out ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Without it, much of life on earth including humanity, will simply die. Ozone depletion, triggered by chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), was first noticed in the late 1970s.
The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, is the only international environmental treaty to which every single country on the planet has signed up. It is also the most successful international environment treaty ever. And even after the successful phase-out of CFCs, it may be the key to dealing with the new and rising threat of other ozone depleting substances (ODS).
From 1991 until July 2010, the Montreal-based Multilateral Fund has approved projects worth US$2.52 billion (S$3.3 billion) to phase out ODS. It is a formula that works. But there remain threats because the substitutes for CFCs – and in turn, their substitutes – themselves either deplete ozone albeit at a slower rate, or are powerful greenhouse gases (GHGs) that drive global warming.
In fact, phase-outs under the Montreal Protocol, besides stabilising the loss of ozone, have delivered four times the benefits in reducing GHGs than emission reductions under the Kyoto Protocol.
The Kyoto Protocol deals with huge volumes. The Montreal Protocol deals with smaller volumes - but the gases pack more global warming punch.
The world's future will to a very large extent, be determined in Asia, where India and China because of their rapid economic growth, are pumping out GHGs at an increasing rate.
Reducing ODS is now part of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs). Mr Minar Pimple, an energetic advocate for the United Nations' (UN) Millennium Campaign, at the FCCT, reminded the audience that: 'Climate change is a problem created by a few who have the most, but it most affects the many who have nothing.'
Fresh out of a summit on MDGs which produced a document adopted at the UN General Assembly in New York last month, Mr Pimple said, 'The MDGs fundamentally talk about a life of dignity for every human being. We cannot look at issues in silos; the latest MDG document brings the issues together.'
It is important to translate arcane scientific facts and the acronym Soup into everyday language that ordinary folks can understand. Tata's messaging does some of that, because it reaches young people who will inherit our fragile biosphere and thus have most at stake.
Given the close link between global warming and ODS, it is essential to 'demystify the science', explained Atul Bagai, regional coordinator for the UN Environmental Programme’s OzonAction Programme.
'People need to understand that what happens 20 to 40km up in the sky, impacts our daily lives.'