Events this August raise a critical question: Can the United Nations process to combat global plastic pollution ever reach agreement? Or is some other way forward necessary? The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC) set a goal in 2022 of a legally binding treaty by the end of 2024. But the INC missed its own deadline this month. Negotiators from 184 nations strived at the 10-day summit in Geneva, Switzerland, only to yet again fail to even come close to reaching consensus on a treaty draft. Some delegates and observers left in frustration after the 6th official INC summit (known as INC-5.2) and wondered if the process will ever work. Others cited incremental progress and looked forward with some hope to another negotiating session at a yet-to-be determined time and place. Not only do numerous treaty specifics still need to be worked out, but countries can’t even agree on the basics: Should the agreement be binding or voluntary? Should it encompass the full life cycle of plastic from creation to disposal, limit production and ban some toxic chemicals, or should it just focus almost exclusively on reuse and recycling? The High Ambition Coalition (HAC), now totaling more than 75 nations, seeks a legally binding, cradle-to-grave treaty that reduces production and consumption and provides an adequately financed enforcement mechanism. “The negotiations on the global plastics treaty are not just any technical debate. It’s about deciding whether we’re going to stop pollution at its source, regulating the entire life cycle of…This article was originally published on Mongabay

From Conservation news via this RSS feed