The recovery should result in a reduction in levels of ultraviolet radiation around the globe, according to an international panel of scientists in Argentina.
Professor Alan O'Neill, director of the Center for Global Atmospheric Modelling at England's University of Reading, said that the news was a "triumph" for global cooperation.
"We have now got the science of the ozone layer buttoned down, and we can predict with reasonable certainty that it is on the road to recovery."
Information unveiled at the Argentina conference suggests that the global effort to reduce the use of chlorofluorocarbons – the main threat to the ozone layer – is succeeding, just three months after NASA revealed that the size of the ozone hole in the Southern Hemisphere had grown to 11 million square miles and had reached the tip of South America for the first time.
New data indicates that levels of chlorofluorocarbons in the lower atmosphere are starting to drop for the first time since scientists from the British Antarctic Survey discovered the ozone hole in 1985. The work of the British scientists convinced governments around the world to work together.
But scientists at the Argentina conference warn the dramatic recovery could be slowed by as much as 30 years by global warming or by severe volcanic eruptions, according to the Times report.
Recovery of the ozone hole will also depend on continued efforts to keep ozone emissions low. The hole could grow slightly over the next five years before recovery begins.
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