30 years of healing the ozone together |21 September 2015

Ozone: All there is between you and UV

Seychelles and other small islands states are particularly vulnerable to the effects of ozone depletion and other environmental issues such as climate change.

With refrigeration being perhaps one of the greatest inventions of modern man, it has also come at a price. Not only do they require a great deal of energy to stay cool, but they also rely on ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), or Freon Hydro chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs).

Public awareness about the dangers relating to the destruction of the ozone layer begins at an early age

In January 1993 Seychelles joined some 200 countries under the Montreal Protocol Umbrella, and in August 2002 the country accepted to ratify the last of the Montreal Protocol Binding instrument which are the Beijing & Montreal Amendment and opted for an accelerated phase out of Hydro chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) in 2020 as stipulated under the Montreal Adjustment in 2007

However, Seychelles being a tropical island and tourist destination, it can be greatly affected once HCFCs are banned in the country, since the tourism industry is a major pillar of our economy and the main stakeholder in the usage of refrigerant gas. 60% of the yearly consumption HCFCs goes to hotels followed by the fishing industry

But since an increasing number of people are walking away from the ozone depleting and global warming grid and seeking more sustainable lifestyles. They are keeping cool through other alternatives which are friendlier to our climate and ozone layer (for example coastal rehabilitation, reforestation, introducing solar energy, creating awareness among the population to name a few)

To support the transformation from ozone depleting substances to natural refrigerant which are both ozone friendly and climate change friendly and to avoid a loss in our economy, a combination of measures was required. This includes significant reform of policies, institutions, standards and regulations, in addition to training of skills and a culture of continued education and knowledge sharing, as well as building of capacities and the introduction of certification and quality assurance schemes.

Refrigerant technicians:

To prevent careless leakage of ozone depleting substances (ODS) gas into the atmosphere by untrained refrigerant technicians, the  National Ozone Unit is working in close collaboration with the Seychelles Institute of Technology (SIT) and Seychelles Licensing Authority (SLA) to ensure that any one practicing or wishing to work as a refrigerant technician should undergo proper training in good refrigerant practices and be issued a certificate before they can get a license from the SLA  to practice this trade.

Seychelles can attribute its success on its education awareness programmes on a one-to-one campaign, instead of general educational awareness, identifying who are our major stakeholders, identifying which types of educational awareness will suit each one of them. And in most cases it was found that educational training will be the most effective method.

The following photos show the different awareness campaigns and training of refrigerant technicians.

Contributed by the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change