What’s the status of the UN treaty to end plastic pollution? | Explained
The HinduThe Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee, under the United Nations Environment Programme, met in Nairobi on November 13-19 for its third round of negotiations to develop an international legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution worldwide. Under the UNEA Resolution 5/14, the INC is responsible for delivering a global plastics treaty by 2025 The INC-3 was a make-or-break opportunity as countries came together to negotiate the ‘zero draft’ text developed by the Committee’s Secretariat, with various options for core obligations and control measures. The zero draft as prepared by the Secretariat contained strong options for an international legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution. Some member states also submitted that “to even discuss … reducing plastic production was completely out of the scope of the mandate of UNEA Resolution 5/14 and that such a provision should be completely deleted from the draft” and that “UNEA Resolution 5/14 calls to end plastic pollution and not plastic production”. One delegate from the African group said in reply: “No State has the right to keep others hostage … Those who don’t want to move ahead with us are free to stay behind.” As such, INC-3 exposed the considerable influence of industry and revealed those member states that are opposed to a strong binding treaty to end plastic pollution.