Govt, UN take ozone protection campaign to schools

Nesia Mhaka Herald Correspondent
Government, in collaboration with the United Nations Environmental experts, has distributed almost 1 000 ozone protection information packages to schools to raise awareness on ozone layer protection which has become a threat to humanity.

The packages were availed by the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement and distributed to schools through the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.

The ministry’s deputy director for Climate Change Department, Mr Kudzai Ndidzano, said the involvement of teachers and school children helped the country in raising awareness on ozone protection and climate change management issues.

“The ministry has adopted a policy to increase awareness among school children on ozone and environmental protection which are a threat to humanity. Competitions in schools in collaboration with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has helped us to raise the level of awareness on ozone protection and climate change management issues among school pupils and their teachers,” he said.

Mr Ndidzano said the department had adopted a training programme for refrigeration technicians meant to equip them with knowledge and skills necessary to avert increased emission of ozone depleting substances. He said the aim was to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances believed to be responsible for ozone depletion.

“The ministry has already embarked on the enabling activities of the HFC phase down in the refrigeration and air conditioning sector.

“The Department of Climate Change has the trained refrigeration and air conditioning technicians to work safely. The department has conducted four training workshops this year across the country and more than 120 refrigeration air conditioning technicians were trained.

“This has enable our refrigeration and air conditioning technicians to be equipped with skills to work safely with ozone and climate friendly HC refrigerants which are flammable if safety measures are to be followed,” Mr Ndidzano has said.

HFCs are a group of industrial chemicals primarily used for cooling and refrigeration and were developed to replace stratospheric ozone-depleting substances that are currently being phased out under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.