In Geneva, representatives of 184 countries have a lot of difficulties on Wednesday to agree on the measures necessary to reduce plastic pollution worldwide, and the negotiators supposed to make an international treaty on Thursday are “on the brink”, 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 between large blocks of countries in a tense climate are “very difficult,” said Danish Minister Magnus Heunicke.
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, and a plenary meeting to take stock was set at 7:00 p.m.
The debate still opposes a group of petroleum countries which refuse any constraint on the level of production of plastic, derived from oil, and any ban on molecules deemed dangerous for the environment or health on the global level. Two measures strongly supported by a group of more important “ambitious” countries, as well as NGOs.
They assert form of form at the start of the negotiation process adopted by the United Nations Assembly for the Environment in 2022 (without absent Saudi Arabia), and even question the scope of the treaty, believing that it must only relate to the management of waste treatment, but not on the downstream of the cycle of plastic production, nor on health subjects.
“It’s oil against our health”
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, is “the smallest common denominator”, “very weak”, and that he is not up to a treaty supposed to settle the plastic crisis.
“The negotiators are on the brink,” added Pamela Miller, co -president of the NGO IPEN (International Pollutants Elimination Network). According to her, “the plastic treaty is oil against our health. Governments in Geneva must say on which side they are ”.
Eirik Lindebjerg, of the WWF environmental organization, fears “compromise” and a last -minute “bad agreement”, while WWF says it has identified “more than 150 countries in favor of a ban on certain dangerous plastics and toxic products” and 136 wishing that the text can in the future be reinforced.
