The National Environment Agency (NEA) in partnership with the United Nations Development Program-Gambia (UNDP) last Thursday, presented tools, equipment and a cheque for D30, 000 to domestic refrigeration technicians at a ceremony held at NEA headquarters in Banjul.

Through this joint initiative, NEA and UNDP-Gambia provide means for refrigeration technicians to recover and store Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) - substances which deplete the ozone layer and are widely used in refrigerators, air-conditioners, fire extinguishers, and in dry cleaning; for a possible recycling in future.  Funded by the Multilateral Fund Secretariat, the initiative aims at providing grants to local factories that have equipment running on Ozone Depleting Substances to replace such equipment with ozone-friendly substances.

Speaking on behalf of the executive director, Alagie Conta, director of Technical Service Network at the NEA, said the work of the technicians is noble and challenging, as not a single person or a particular country can save the ozone layer from depletion. He urged the beneficiaries to work in partnership with the country’s environment body, in order to protect and preserve the ozone layer that protects life on Earth from the harmful rays of the sun.

For his part, Alagie Sarr, ODS officer at the NEA said this laudable initiative is aimed at complementing The Gambia government’s commitment in phasing out ozone depleting substances from the country by 2010, as required by the Montreal Protocol of which the country is a party. “As a signatory to the Montreal Protocol, the ozone unit of the NEA, in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), is fighting to make sure that by or before 2010 The Gambia is ozone-friendly,” he indicated.

He further stated that the importance of these tools and equipment cannot be over-emphasised, because it will help the technicians on the ground to recover and store CFCs, instead of emitting the gas into the atmosphere which as a result, will deplete the ozone layer.