Ozone Diplomacy: New Directions in Safeguarding the Planet, Enlarged Edition

By Richard Elliot Benedick

Book Overview

Hailed in the Foreign Service Journal as "a landmark book that should command the attention of every serious student of American diplomacy, international environmental issues, or the art of negotiation," and cited in Nature for its "worthwhile insights on the harnessing of science and diplomacy," the first edition of Ozone Diplomacy offered an insider's view of the politics, economics, science, and diplomacy involved in creating the precedent-setting treaty to protect the Earth: the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer.

The first edition ended with a discussion of the revisions to the protocol in 1990 and offered lessons for global diplomacy regarding the then just-maturing climate change issue. Now Richard Benedick--a principal architect and the chief U.S. negotiator of the historic treaty--expands the ozone story, bringing us to the eve of the tenth anniversary of the Montreal Protocol. He describes subsequent negotiations to deal with unexpected major scientific discoveries and important amendments adding new chemicals and accelerating the phaseout schedules. Implementing the revised treaty has forced the protocol's signatories to confront complex economic and political problems, including North-South financial and technology transfer issues, black markets for banned CFCs, revisionism, and industry's willingness and ability to develop new technologies and innovative substitutes. In his final chapter Benedick offers a new analysis applying the lessons of the ozone experience to ongoing climate change negotiations.

Ozone Diplomacy has frequently been cited as the definitive book on the most successful environment treaty, and is essential reading for those concerned about the future of our planet.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674650034
• ISBN13: 9780674650039
• Release Date: March 1998
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 1.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Pretty Good Condition for an Excellent Price

Condition of the book was amazing considering the price I paid. Took a little longer than expected to ship, but still within the companies guarantee date. Very polite and pleasant follow up e-mail. All in all, I am very pleased and would definetly buy from the company again.

Stripping away the sheen

This book is one of a handful that have appeared in the years since the Montreal Protocol that have addressed the motivations behind those that acted to bring the protocol into being. It questions the simple thesis that it was simply an attempt to introduce environmental protection for one of the Earths damaged resources, suggesting instead that the primary motivation was more economically defined. the primary actors each had something to be gained in seeing a ban on CFC's in favour of their (generally more expensive) alternative. In this regard it presents a mass of evidence that might come as a surprise to those who believed that the treaty was a hopeful first step towards international agreements to benefit the Earth's environment, and it is a surprise that is unlikely to be a pleasant one. It does no-one any good to hide from the truth however, and the volume is thus a worthwhile read, as well as a useful pointer towards further reading around this area.