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Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer held their 24th Meeting of Parties (MOP-24) in Geneva, shortly after the 25th anniversary of the September 1987 adoption of this groundbreaking instrument.
The Protocol represents a relatively unique example of international shared commitment to take specific action. This uniqueness is characterised overall in three key facts:
* that it has "universal membership" (every government on earth is a member);
* that the parties have adopted several amendments (some of which have been universally ratified, and all of which have been ratified by more than 92 percent of the Parties) since the Protocol's adoption as well as numerous "adjustments" to specific obligations (which enter into force automatically); and
* that it contains specific, non-expiring emissionreduction targets and hard commitments.
These qualities have proven elusive to most multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) that lack full member- ship, where amendments have often continued to languish and not enter into force for so many years that some have created new procedures for amendment adoption, often sacrificing some elements of national sovereignty in the name of amending the instrument. Similarly, as demonstrated by efforts to negotiate a sequel to the Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), relatively few parties negotiating or implementing other MEAs have been willing to adopt firm commitments on measurable targets. The Montreal Protocol also includes an active compliance process - the Implementation Committee - which was created by the Parties at MOP-4 (Copenhagen, 1991) well before these issues had been addressed in most other MEAs. Perhaps most unusual of all, the Montreal Protocol boasts a highly successful stand-alone Multilateral Fund, which is regularly replenished, administered by its Secretariat and dedicated solely to the Protocol and its implementation.
In general, Montreal Protocol MOPs have epitomised this uniqueness, demonstrating a level of respectful, informed scientific discussion and international compromise that has sometimes been lacking in other international forums. The meeting operates through a bifurcated process, with the "preparatory segment" being the portion of the meeting in which issues are deliberated and decisions prepared, while they are only adopted if agreed at the "high-level" segment. This process eliminates the uncertainty many...