Talks on an intergovernmental treaty to end plastic pollution are progressing

Nations made progress on a treaty to end plastic pollution as their fourth round of talks concluded April 30 in Canada.

For the first time in the process, negotiators discussed the text of what should become a global treaty. Delegates and observers from the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution called it a welcome sign that talks at this fourth of five planned meetings shifted from ideas to treaty language.

Most controversial is the idea of ​​limiting the amount of plastic produced. That remains in the text despite strong objections from plastic-producing countries and companies and oil and gas exporters. Most plastic is made from fossil fuels and chemicals.

As the session ended in Ottawa, the committee agreed to continue working on the treaty before its final meeting later this year in South Korea.

Preparations for that session will focus on financing the treaty’s implementation, assessing the chemicals of concern in plastic products and looking at product design. The Rwandan representative said they were ignoring the elephant in the room by not tackling plastic production.

Stewart Harris, industry spokesperson at the International Council of Chemical Associations, said members want a treaty that focuses on plastic recycling and reuse, known as “circularity.”

They do not want a limit on plastic production and believe that chemicals should not be regulated through this agreement. Mr Harris said the association is pleased to see governments coming together and agreeing to complete additional work, especially in the areas of financing and design of plastic products.

Dozens of scientists from the Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty came to the meeting to provide negotiators with scientific evidence on plastic pollution, in part, they said, to dispel misinformation.

“I heard yesterday that there is no data on microplastics, which is demonstrably false: there have been 21,000 publications on micro- and nanoplastics,” said Bethanie Carney Almroth, professor of ecotoxicology at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg and co-leader of the coalition. “It’s like Whac-A-Mole.” She said scientists were harassed and intimidated by lobbyists and reported to the UN that a lobbyist shouted in her face during a meeting.

Despite their differences, the countries represented share a common vision to move forward in the treaty process, said Ecuador’s chief negotiator Walter Schuldt.

“Because ultimately we are talking about the survival of the future of life, not just human life, but all species of life on this planet,” he said in an interview.

He said he was proud to participate, to contribute his “grain of sand” to global action to tackle an environmental crisis.

The treaty talks began in Uruguay in December 2022 after Rwanda and Peru proposed the resolution in March 2022 that launched the process. Progress was slow during the talks in Paris in May 2023 and in Nairobi in November, as countries debated the rules for the process.

As thousands of negotiators and observers arrived in Ottawa, commission chairman Luis Vayas Valdivieso from Ecuador reminded them of their goal of achieving a future free of plastic pollution. He asked them to be ambitious.

Delegates discussed not only the scope of the treaty, but also chemicals of concern, problematic and avoidable plastics, product design and financing and implementation.

Delegates also streamlined the unwieldy collection of options that emerged from the last meeting.

“After two years of much discussion, we have taken a big step forward. Now we have a text to negotiate,” says Björn Beeler, international coordinator of the International Pollutants Elimination Network. “Unfortunately, much more political will is needed to tackle the escalating plastic production that is out of control.” Many traveled to Ottawa from communities affected by plastic production and pollution. Residents of Louisiana and Texas who live near petrochemical plants and refineries handed out postcards addressed to the U.S. State Department that read, “I wish you were here.” They traveled together as a group from the Break Free From Plastic movement and asked negotiators to visit their states. to experience air and water pollution first hand.

“This is still the best option we have to see change in our communities. They are so in the grip of corporations. I can’t go to the parish council,” said Jo Banner of St. John the Baptist Parish in Louisiana. “I feel like this is the only chance and hope I have to help my community recover from this, to heal.” Members of an Indigenous Peoples Caucus held a press conference on April 27 to say microplastics are contaminating their food supply and that the pollution forever threatens their communities and their guaranteed way of life. They felt like their voices were not being heard.

“We have bigger interests. These are our ancestral lands polluted with plastic,” Juressa Lee from New Zealand said after the event. “We are rights holders, not stakeholders. We should have more space to speak and make decisions than the people who are causing the problem.” In the Bay of Plenty, a seafood source on New Zealand’s north coast, sediment and shellfish are full of tiny plastic particles. They view nature’s “resources” as treasures, Ms Lee added.

“Indigenous ways can lead the way,” Ms Lee said. “What we are doing now is clearly not working.” Vi Waghiyi traveled from Alaska to represent the indigenous peoples of the Arctic. She reminds decision makers that this treaty must protect people from plastic pollution for generations to come.

She said, “We come here to be the conscience, to make sure they make the right decision for all people.”