The United Nations says that human efforts to save the ozone layer have succeeded, and it may recover in just a few decades.

According to the major assessment, the 1987 international agreement to stop using harmful chemicals that were harming the layer was successful.

The majority of the Sun’s ultraviolet rays are absorbed by the Earth’s ozone layer, a thin layer of atmosphere.

This radiation can reach the surface when depleted, potentially causing harm to humans and other living things.

Sunburn and DNA damage from ultraviolet rays can raise the risk of skin cancer in the long run.

In the 1970s, the ozone layer began to deplete.

The ozone layer was blamed for being destroyed by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which were commonly found in refrigerators, spray cans, foam insulation, and air conditioners.

In 1985, researchers discovered a large hole in the layer. The Montreal Protocol was signed just two years later, with 46 nations promising to phase out the harmful chemicals.

The agreement went on to become the first UN treaty to be ratified by everyone, and nearly ninety percent of the substances that were banned from the environment are now being phased out.

The Antarctic ozone hole continued to grow until the year 2000, at which point it started to slowly get bigger and deeper.

Now, the UN, US, and EU agencies collaborated on a report that says the Montreal Protocol is working as expected.

It states that the ozone layer will return to values in 1980, prior to the ozone hole, at various locations if current policies are upheld:

Ozone depletion is harmful because of solar radiation, but it is not a major cause of climate change. 2066 over the Antarctic, where ozone depletion was at its worst. 2045 over the Arctic.

However, because some of the harmful chemicals that were phased out are potent greenhouse gases, the report suggests that saving the ozone layer has helped reduce global warming.

The scientists discovered that, when compared to increasing their use by 3% per year, that phase-out will have prevented up to 1 degree Celsius of warming by the middle of the century.

Although the report has been hailed as positive news and evidence that international action can be taken quickly to prevent environmental crises, it warns that progress on the ozone layer cannot be guaranteed.

For instance, plans to reduce global warming by injecting millions of tons of sulphur dioxide into the upper atmosphere through a process known as stratospheric aerosol injection run the risk of significantly reversing the recovery of the ozone layer.

It shows what we are capable of doing when we come together to put our minds and efforts to achieve something. Global warming is possible to stop too, but we need to come together with the right political will.

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The declines in our wildlife is shocking and frightening. Without much more support, many of the animals we know and love will continue in their declines towards extinction.

When you help to restore a patch of degraded land through rewilding to forests, meadows, or wetlands, you have a massive impact on the biodiversity at a local level. You give animals a home and food that they otherwise would not have had, and it has a positive snowball effect for the food chain.

We are convinced that this is much better for the UK than growing lots of fast-growing coniferous trees, solely to remove carbon, that don’t actually help our animals to thrive.

This is why we stand for restoring nature in the UK through responsible rewilding. For us, it is the right thing to do. Let’s do what’s right for nature!

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