A U.N. panel of scientists said Wednesday that the protective atmospheric ozone layer is slowly rebuilding. This improvement is largely due to phase-outs of chemicals used in aerosol cans and refrigerants since the 1980s.

Scientists for the first time in 35 years were able to measure sustained and significant increases in the stratospheric layer. The ozone protects the Earth from harmful solar radiation that causes crop destruction, skin cancer and other issues. The U.N. panel said this development shows how powerful efforts can be when the world comes together.

"It's a victory for diplomacy and for science and for the fact that we were able to work together," chemist Mario Molina said. Molina, with F. Sherwood Rowland, wrote a book in 1974 warning of the dangers of ozone erosion. In 1995, they were awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work.

The ozone layer has been depleting since the 1970s because of man-made chlorofluorocarbons. CFCs release chlorine and bromine into the air which destroy ozone particles in high altitudes. Now those levels of CFC chemicals are decreasing.

"More than 98 percent of the ozone-depleting substances agreed over time have actually been phased out," Achim Steiner, executive director of the U.N. Environment Program, said. If efforts to stop using CFCs had not been globally felt, Steiner said "we would be seeing a very substantial global ozone depletion today."

The United Nation calculates an assessment of the ozone every four years. In the latest report, from 2000 to 2013, there has been a 4 percent increase in ozone levels across mid-northern latitudes, according to NASA scientist Paul A. Newman. Newman was co-chair of the assessment, conducted with 300 scientists.

Steiner added that the recovery efforts thus far are "one of the great success stories of international collective action in addressing a global environmental change phenomenon."