Ozone Diplomacy

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.

The first edition of this book offered an insider's view of the politics, economics, science, and diplomacy involved in creating the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. Now Benedick--a principal architect and chief U.S. negotiator of the treaty--brings us to the eve of the treaty's 10th anniversary.
Ambassador Richard Elliot Benedick has had extensive diplomatic and negotiating experience in the U.S. Foreign Service. As a result of his work on the historic Montreal Protocol, he received in 1988 the highest presidential career public service honor: the Presidential Distinguished Service Award. In September 1997 he received the United Nations Environment Programme's Ozone Award for his work in negotiating the protocol and subsequent efforts on behalf of the ozone layer.
Richard Benedick is not your average diplomat. A decade ago, industrialists tried to get him sacked as US negotiator to the Montreal Protocol meeting that banned the ozone-eating CFCs. He survived to tell that and many other stories in the new 'enlarged edition' of Ozone Diplomacy. Updated to last September, it is still the definitive story of the world's first and so far most successful global environmental treaty.--New Scientist
This superb book...makes clear that governments will often have to act while there is still much scientific uncertainty...An authoritative, well-written work.--Foreign Affairs