Luanda - The International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, celebrated every September 16, is an opportunity for a joint and fixed reflection on the need of organising actions, as well as adopting behaviours that contribute to protection of old protector of human beings on earth.

The date was established by the United Nations General Assembly, through the resolution (49/114) of 1994, to celebrate the singing in 1987 of the Montreal Protocol on substances that damage the ozone layer.

Initially signed by 46 countries, the Montreal Protocol suffered changes along the years.

According to a statement from the National Ozone Unit, linked to the Environment Ministry, Angola ratified the Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol on 18 June 1998 and became a member since 17 May 2000, to defend the Ozone Layer.

In the country’s capital city of Luanda, the workshops on the date are happening at the Medium Polytechnic Institute, located in Cazenga district, and at a drinkable water treatment station (southeast of the city), where knowledge on ozone layer will be passed on.

Angola has been implementing the Montreal Protocol since December 2003 and has the duty of eliminating the consumption of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) by 2010.