Awareness Program
Celebration of International Ozone Day, 16th September, 2013
Venue: Kabul University Auditorium, Kabul, Afghanistan
Date: 16, Sep, 2013
Time: 9:30- 12:00
The International Ozone Day was celebrated in a vast gathering of government officials, Custom officials,
civil Society representatives and a noticeable number of university students specifically from Faculty of
Environmental Sciences of Kabul University. The ceremony started on 9:30AM with recitation of Holy
Quran by a university student and subsequently the National Anthem of Afghanistan was played.
The ceremony was attended by more than 260 registered participants.
The event was officially inaugurated by the Deputy Director General of National Environmental
Protection Agency (NEPA), Eng. Ghulam Mohammad Malikyar. In his speech, the Deputy Director
General of NEPA talked about the achievements of the National Ozone Unit of the National
Environmental Protection Agency in the last nine years and promised any kind of assistance with the
National Ozone Unit. He also emphasized on government’s commitment to phase out HCFC gases and
meet the Montreal Protocol targets. The Deputy Director General also talked about the importance of
celebrating this event in coordination with the Faculty of Environmental Sciences and urged the
students to play their role in protection of the ozone layer and conveying the message of the National
Ozone Unit of the National Environmental Protection Agency regarding the protection of the ozone layer
to the other fellow students and actively participate in the public awareness regarding ozone layer
protection.
After Deputy Director General of NEPA, Vice Chancellor of Kabul University Dr. Abdul Rauf Gohari, took
to the stage. He called upon the students to have participation in the implementation of the
commitments of Afghanistan to Montreal Protocol by effectively contributing in the public awareness
activities which starts from their family members.
Later on Dean Faculty of Environmental Sciences Dr. Noor Ahmad Akhundzadah addressed the
ceremony and thanked the National Environmental Protection Agency and National Ozone Unit by giving
the chance to the students of the faculty to have a part in the celebration of the International Ozone
Day.
In the next item agenda, National Ozone Unit Assistant Officer, Mr. Mohammad Jawid Saboori
addressed the gathering by a presentation about his office’s activities in the last nine years and plans to
meet 2015 target and beyond. The National Ozone assistant Officer said that he is optimistic that his
office will meet the 2015 and beyond targets since his office could achieve the 2013 target of freezing
the consumption quantity of ODS in Afghanistan. He briefly explained of what his office has done so far
to meet the targets. He also stressed on the need of well-maintained coordination among concerned
government and non-government agencies to further gain the goals of Ozone Unit in Afghanistan and
the objectives of Montreal protocol.
Three presentations covering ozone layer depletion and recovery from different aspects were presented
by professors of Environmental sciences faculty and advisor to the National Environmental Protection
Agency.
First presenter was Associate Professor and Head of Department of Disaster Management Lutfullah Safi.
His presentation was under the title of “effects of ozone layer depletion on earth and living organisms”.
Second presentation was by the head of Kabul University Research Center and Hydro metrology under
the theme of “Ozone and Atmosphere”.
The third presentation was by National Environmental Protection Agency Advisor Eng. Izatullah Sediqi
under the title of “The reasons behind Ozone depletion in South Pole”.
All the three presentations were technical and were appreciated by the university students and other
participants. The presentations gave a broad idea regarding ozone depletion and answered many of the
queries students had in their minds regarding ozone layer depletion like why the layer has been
depleted in South Pole more than any other parts in the world.
a)
Printing Awareness Materials
A number of printed materials as listed in Table 3 were produced/ re-printed and disseminated to HPMP
stakeholders during the reporting period. In addition, the NOU has started translating the “Twenty
questions and Twenty answers about the Ozone Layer”, the “HCFC alternatives in R&AC Sector” and the
“Good Practices in Servicing” into Pashto language: one of the two official languages in Afghanistan.
b)
National Ozone Unit Face book Account launch 8th July 2013
As a source of delivering awareness to the public regarding Protection of Ozone layer, ODS, activities of
National Ozone Unit and other relevant matters, the National Ozone Unit of NEPA launched an account
in the social media website of Face book under the URL https://www.facebook.com/nou.afghanistan .
Face book account will be utilized by NOU to reach to some of its target groups like the general public.
c)
A One Day Workshop on Raising Awareness on HCFC Phase-out and Energy Efficiency held in
Kabul on 8th December 2013
On 8 December 2013, the NOU held a workshop regarding HCFC phase-out and energy efficiency for
industry. Some 45 representatives from both the public and the private sectors participated in the
workshop, including Environmental Sustainable Department of NEPA, the Ministry of Water and Energy,
the Ministry of Health, MOCI, Afghanistan Custom Department, Afghanistan National Traders Union,
Afghanistan National Standard Agency, Union of RAC, Afghanistan Electricity Company, and Afghanistan
Investment Support Agency.