NEW DELHI: The fourth round of United Nations talks in Ottawa, Canada for an international treaty to end plastic pollution ended with no progress on Tuesday, disappointing states and much of civil society.
With the decision to ignore discussion on the climate, biodiversity and central role of plastics production in fueling the pollution crisis, he said the Ottawa talks were tilted towards the interests of the fossil fuel and petrochemical industry.
Countries decided to move forward with inter-sessional work on financial mechanisms, plastic products, chemicals of concern and plastic products, product design, reusability and recycling – experts meeting between the official sessions of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) “We came to Ottawa to take the text forward and with the hope that members would agree on the inter-sessional work needed to make even greater progress beyond INC-5. "We leave Ottawa with both goals and a clear path forward to deliver an ambitious deal in Busan," said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).“However, the work is not finished yet. The plastic pollution crisis continues around the world and we have just a few months left before the agreed end-of-year deadline in 2022. I urge members to show continued commitment and resilience to achieve the maximum ambition,” she said.
Most civil society believes the draft text is not suitable for the fifth final negotiations to be held in Busan, South Korea, from November 25 to December 1. International NGO Environmental Investigation Agency said the talks would focus on the production of primary plastic polymers. The discussion ended with a very disappointing decision to exclude plastic – a major source of pollution.Member States agreed to include the participation of observers during this work. It was also decided to create a legal drafting group that would conduct a legal review of the text and provide recommendations to the plenary session.
However, the EIA said, the decision to exclude upstream measures from interagency work means that it will be more difficult to include extraction or production reduction measures within the scope of the draft plastics treaty. “This agreement reduces the ambition of this process.” Because it ignores the central role of plastic production in fueling the climate, biodiversity and pollution crises, it is not only a complete disappointment, but also a missed opportunity to comprehensively tackle the root causes." Said.
At the fourth session of the INC, countries adopted a "weak program of formal inter-sessional work" to advance the plastics treaty. A statement from the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) said that despite a handful of countries taking a stance to keep the ambitious proposals alive, most countries had accepted "the compromise being placed in the hands of petrostates and industry influencers". took.
A CIEL analysis released during INC-4 found that nearly 200 fossil fuel chemical industry lobbyists registered for the talks, including at least sixteen country delegations. Peru and Rwanda are committed to reducing the production of primary plastics from 2025 levels by 2040. Stands out as champion to introduce a proposal for inter-sessional work on primary plastic polymers with the goal of reducing 40 percent of global use of polymers, which was strongly supported by many delegations including Malawi, Philippines.A fiji.
In addition to the Rwanda and Peru proposal, several countries called for the Bridge to Busan on Plastic Polymers to unite parties in support of keeping alive the provision addressing primary plastic polymers in the treaty text and increasing momentum for the fifth and final round of negotiations. Launched the manifesto. Later this year in Busan, Republic of Korea.
It said the 'spoilers' were a small group of polymer and plastics producing countries, including Saudi Arabia, India, Kuwait and Qatar, who tried to re-open the scope of the draft treaty and create doubt. The full lifecycle of plastics means limiting the coverage of the proposed treaty to waste management matters only. According to experts at the Center for Science and Environment tracking the talks in Ottawa, India has rejected any limits on primary plastic polymers or virgin plastics. Protested, arguing that production cuts exceed the scope of UNEA resolution 5/14.
With the decision to ignore discussion on the climate, biodiversity and central role of plastics production in fueling the pollution crisis, he said the Ottawa talks were tilted towards the interests of the fossil fuel and petrochemical industry.
Countries decided to move forward with inter-sessional work on financial mechanisms, plastic products, chemicals of concern and plastic products, product design, reusability and recycling – experts meeting between the official sessions of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) “We came to Ottawa to take the text forward and with the hope that members would agree on the inter-sessional work needed to make even greater progress beyond INC-5. "We leave Ottawa with both goals and a clear path forward to deliver an ambitious deal in Busan," said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).“However, the work is not finished yet. The plastic pollution crisis continues around the world and we have just a few months left before the agreed end-of-year deadline in 2022. I urge members to show continued commitment and resilience to achieve the maximum ambition,” she said.
Most civil society believes the draft text is not suitable for the fifth final negotiations to be held in Busan, South Korea, from November 25 to December 1. International NGO Environmental Investigation Agency said the talks would focus on the production of primary plastic polymers. The discussion ended with a very disappointing decision to exclude plastic – a major source of pollution.Member States agreed to include the participation of observers during this work. It was also decided to create a legal drafting group that would conduct a legal review of the text and provide recommendations to the plenary session.
However, the EIA said, the decision to exclude upstream measures from interagency work means that it will be more difficult to include extraction or production reduction measures within the scope of the draft plastics treaty. “This agreement reduces the ambition of this process.” Because it ignores the central role of plastic production in fueling the climate, biodiversity and pollution crises, it is not only a complete disappointment, but also a missed opportunity to comprehensively tackle the root causes." Said.
At the fourth session of the INC, countries adopted a "weak program of formal inter-sessional work" to advance the plastics treaty. A statement from the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) said that despite a handful of countries taking a stance to keep the ambitious proposals alive, most countries had accepted "the compromise being placed in the hands of petrostates and industry influencers". took.
A CIEL analysis released during INC-4 found that nearly 200 fossil fuel chemical industry lobbyists registered for the talks, including at least sixteen country delegations. Peru and Rwanda are committed to reducing the production of primary plastics from 2025 levels by 2040. Stands out as champion to introduce a proposal for inter-sessional work on primary plastic polymers with the goal of reducing 40 percent of global use of polymers, which was strongly supported by many delegations including Malawi, Philippines.A fiji.
In addition to the Rwanda and Peru proposal, several countries called for the Bridge to Busan on Plastic Polymers to unite parties in support of keeping alive the provision addressing primary plastic polymers in the treaty text and increasing momentum for the fifth and final round of negotiations. Launched the manifesto. Later this year in Busan, Republic of Korea.
It said the 'spoilers' were a small group of polymer and plastics producing countries, including Saudi Arabia, India, Kuwait and Qatar, who tried to re-open the scope of the draft treaty and create doubt. The full lifecycle of plastics means limiting the coverage of the proposed treaty to waste management matters only. According to experts at the Center for Science and Environment tracking the talks in Ottawa, India has rejected any limits on primary plastic polymers or virgin plastics. Protested, arguing that production cuts exceed the scope of UNEA resolution 5/14.
