In the 1970s the world became aware of a huge danger: the destruction of the stratospheric ozone layer by CFCs escaping into the atmosphere, and the damage this could do to human health and the food chain. So great was the threat that by 1987 the UN had succeeded in coordinating an international treaty to phase out emissions; which, over the following 15 years has been implemented. It has been hailed as an outstanding success. It needed the participation of all the parties: governments, industry, scientists, campaigners, NGOs and the media, and is a model for future treaties. This volume provides the authoritative and comprehensive history of the whole process from the earliest warning signs to the present. It is an invaluable record for all those involved and a necessary reference for future negotiations to a wide range of scholars, students and professionals.

This handbook contains the full texts of the Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol, including amendments and decisions adopted by the Parties upto the end of the year 2002, as well as information on the rule of procedure for meetings, the evolution of the Montreal Protocol, and on sources of further information.

The first edition of Professor Yoshida’s monograph, The International Legal Régime for the Protection of the Stratosphere Ozone Layer, provided a renowned and comprehensive contemporary study of the international ozone régime. In the second revised edition, the author analyses important developments in the ozone treaty régime.

Providing an account of the ozone-depletion issues from the attempts to develop international action in the 1970s to the mature functioning of the international regime, this book examines the parallel developments of politics and negotiations, technological progress, and industry strategy that shaped the issue's development and its management.