OECS joins the UN to fight plastic pollution

The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) has joined calls from international negotiators for an ambitious, comprehensive and comprehensive UN treaty on plastics.

The call is for a treaty that addresses issues related to the entire life cycle of plastics. According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), this number is between 70 and 95 per cent of the litter in the Caribbean Sea comes from land-based sources, mainly plastic.

The BVI and all Caribbean countries are overly dependent on the sea, especially as land resources decline across the region.

At the fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee in Ottawa, Canada, Dr. Joyelle Trizia Clarke, Minister of Environment and Climate Action in St. Kitts and Nevis, told delegates: “Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are considered the moral conscience and global voice on climate. The urge to keep 1.5 alive, the pleas for the loss and damage fund led by Antigua, must be reflected here in this conversation about plastic.’

This highlights the urgency of tackling plastic pollution, especially for island nations. In addition, many waste and pollution problems cross borders, meaning that poor control and management in one country has negative consequences for neighboring countries, potentially derailing their efforts to transition to a blue economy.

This pollution not only destroys the marine ecosystem, but also affects the economic activities of people dependent on natural resources, becoming an obstacle on the path to the transition to sustainable blue economies.

In February 2022, at the resumed fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly, a historic resolution (5/14) was adopted to develop an international legally binding instrument against plastic pollution, including pollution in the marine environment, with the ambition to negotiations by the end of 2024, and a robust financial mechanism that promotes a just transition and provides specific support provisions for SIDS.