Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: More Action Demanded in the Year of the Ozone Layer

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CARACAS, Jan 13 2007 (IPS) - Governments and non-governmental and international organizations are way behind with preparations for the International Year of the Ozone Layer in 2007, Venezuelan environmentalist Erik Quiroga, promoter of this global initiative, told Tierramérica. “The publicity campaigns are not ready, neither is the awareness-building campaign especially for children, about the impact of the explosion in ultraviolet radiation, which is killing 60,000 people a year,” said Quiroga, who spearheaded the process leading up to the United Nations' dedicating this year to the ozone layer.

“The urgency of the campaigns increases with the expansion of the ozone hole, which reached a record 29.5 million square kilometres over Antarctica last October. As a result of ozone depletion, there are two to three million new cases of skin cancer a year, worldwide,” he said.