The Kyoto protocol: International climate policy for the 21st century

Dr. Sebastian Oberthur is a Senior Fellow at Ecologic, centre for International and European Environmental Research in Berlin. His work focuses on issues of international environmental and climate policy with special emphasis on international environmental agreements and institutions. Dr. Hermann E. Ott was trained as a professional lawyer and political scientist in Munich, London and Berlin. As Acting Head of the Climate Policy Division of the Wuppertal Institute, he works extensively on the legal, political and economic aspects of climate change as well as on the other fields of environmental protection. The adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in December 1997 was a major achievement in the endeavour to tackle the problem of global climate change at the dawn of the 21st century. After many years of involvement in the negotiation process, the book's two internationally recognised authors offer the international community a first hand and inside perspective of the debate on the Kyoto Protocol. The book provides a comprehensive scholarly analysis, of the history and content of the Protocol itself as well as of the economic, political and legal implications for the Protocol's implementation. It also presents a perspective for the further development of the climate regime. These important features make this book an indispensable working tool and valuable guide for policy makers, negotiatorism academics and all those actively involved and interested in climate change issues in both developed and developing world.