WASHINGTON (AP) - A new United Nations report says Earth's protective ozone layer is healing. So is the gaping ozone hole in Antarctica.

High in the atmosphere, ozone shields Earth from ultraviolet rays that cause skin cancer, crop damage and other problems.

Monday's report says the Northern Hemisphere's upper ozone layer should be repaired in the 2030s and the Southern Hemisphere's by mid-century. The ozone hole over the South Pole should disappear in the 2060s.

Experts credit a 1987 treaty that banned ozone-depleting chemicals along with new technology for this global environmental success story.