This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities. Agenda 21 recommends evaluation of the effects of ultraviolet radiation on plants and animals caused by the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer.
The harmful consequences of reduced ozone on organisms include: an estimated 2 to 4% increase in generic biological effects with a reduction of 1% in total ozone; an estimated a 4 to 6% increase in certain kinds of skin cancer with a 1% decrease in the ozone layer; impairing the effectiveness of the body's immune system; contributing to eye damage, skin infections; adversely affecting crop plants and forest species since UV-B has been shown to slow growth, interfere with germination, damage plant hormones and chlorophyll, reducing biomass; and threaten many aquatic organisms such as single-celled algae which are at the beginning of the aquatic food chain. One experiment show that all anchovy larvae are killed to a depth of 10 meters by 15 days' exposure to UV-B at an intensity 20% higher than normal.