Diplomacy in Geneva
The plastic treaty is “on the edge of the abyss”
Negotiations on a treaty to reduce plastic pollution remain deadlocked. NGOs fear an agreement unable to resolve the crisis.
Plastic pollution in Lagos, Nigeria.
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HAS Genevarepresentatives of 184 countries have a lot of difficulty on Wednesday to agree on the measures necessary to reduce Plastic pollution Globally, and the negotiators supposed to make an international treaty text on Thursday are “on the verge of the abyss”, according to a delegate.
In the last phase of negotiation, dozens of ministers arrived in Geneva to try to unlock the process piloted by diplomats, but the negotiations which oppose large blocks of countries in a tense climate are “very difficult,” said Danish Minister of the Environment, Magnus Heunicke on Tuesday.
A new version of the Treaty text on which the delegates have been working on nine days, simplified by the president of the debates, is expected during the day, several sources told AFP, as well as a new plenary meeting to take stock.
NGOs are worried
The debate still opposes a group of oil countries which refuse any constraint on the level of Plastic productionderived from oil, and any ban on molecules deemed dangerous for the environment or health worldwide. Two measures strongly supported by another group of “ambitious” countries and NGOs.
David Azoulay, director of the environmental health program within the Swiss Ciel reflection group, expects the summary text, that the president of the debates must publish during the day, the “smallest common denominator”, “very low”, and that he is not up to a treaty supposed to settle the plastic crisis.
“The negotiators are on the edge of the cliff,” added Pamela Miller, co -president of the NGO IPEN (International Pollutants Elimination Network), which is one of the negotiation observers delegates.
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Eirik Lindebjerg, of the environmental organization WWFfears “compromise” and a “bad agreement” of the last minute, while WWF says it has identified “more than 150 countries in favor of a ban on certain dangerous plastics and products” and 136 wishing that the text can in the future be reinforced. Ditto for Graham Forbes, head of the Greenpeace delegation: “The ministers must reject a weak treaty,” he told AFP on Wednesday.
But Aleksandar Rankovic, of the reflection group The Common Initiativebelieves that “there is not enough room in these discussions for the necessary industrial transformations in producing countries”. “Some tackles the subject from an angle of industrial policy, international trade and market access, while on the other hand, we do not listen to them and we talk about regulations, environment and health, it cannot work,” he told AFP.
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