Why is the ozone layer so precious to humans?

Yanis Darras 3:08 p.m., January 10, 2023

This is the start of good news that is looming in the current climate slump.

After several years of mobilization, the ozone layer is "on track" to recover within four decades, announces the UN.

The only condition: that the possible geo-engineering projects which should make it possible to reduce the effects of global warming, do not harm its reconstruction. 

Because since the end of the 1980s, and the Montreal Protocol, nearly 195 countries have greatly reduced the amount of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), a gas responsible for the hole in the ozone layer, in the air.

The latter was then widely emitted by refrigerators.

But why did states mobilize so quickly?

And what is the role of the ozone layer?

Europe 1 takes stock. 

An invisible filter

If the whole world was quickly mobilized when the hole in the ozone layer was discovered above Antarctica, it is because this gas, which results from the degradation of oxygen in contact with the rays of the Sun, is essential for life on Earth.

Located between 20 and 50 kilometers above sea level, the ozone layer acts as an invisible filter, protecting all living beings from the harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays of our star.

Without it, humans would be much more exposed to the sun's most dangerous rays, which can cause skin cancer or even eye problems in the long term.

This protective layer also helps balance our atmosphere. 

friend and foe

But after the hole in our protective filter, the human species has not finished hearing about ozone.

Because this gas, essential for our survival, can also be particularly harmful when it is in the troposphere, the layer of our atmosphere closest to us.

Ozone then changes from a protective gas to a greenhouse gas, but can also cause eye or respiratory problems in humans and animals.