Far from the cameras and the brass band of Third conference of the United Nations Ocean In progress in the French coastal city, they have expressed a shared determination to finalize this year a world treaty which could, for the first time, regulate plastics throughout their life cycle.
“There is a renewed commitment to conclude the treaty in August,” said Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, who attended the meeting and directs negotiations of the treaty UN News. “This is a problem too urgent to be left for the future. »»
Hosted by Inger Andersen, the head of the United Nations Environmental Program (Dive), the informal rally has marked a calm but significant diplomatic moment – a sign that after two years of deliberations, the political momentum could finally catch up with the scientific alarm.
With a round of remaining talks – scheduled from August 5 to 14 in Geneva – negotiators are now under pressure to issue the first legally binding treaty aimed at fighting plastic pollution through production, consumption and waste.
A crisis accelerating at sight
Plastic waste has infiltrated almost all Earth ecosystems, and more and more in the form of microplastics – the human body. Without urgent action, the quantity of plastic entering the ocean each year could reach 37 million tonnes by 2040, according to UN estimates.
“We are suffocating with plastic,” said Ms. Mathur-Filipp. “If we do not do something to fight plastic pollution, we will no longer have a single ecosystem, whether terrestrial or sailor. »»
The economic assessment is no less amazing. Between 2016 and 2040, the expected cost of plastic damage could reach 281 billions of dollars. “It costs the economy a lot,” said the Indian native. “In tourism, in cleaning the beach, for lack of fish for fishermen, coastal damage, damage to wetlands.”
Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee (INC) on plastic pollution.
The last section in Geneva
The processing process was launched in 2022, at the request of the United Nations Environment AssemblyThe highest decision -making organization in the world on environmental issues, took place every two years in Nairobi Kenya. Since then, the intergovernmental negotiation committee (INC) has met five times in less than two years – an unusually rapid calendar according to United Nations standards.
“We had five sessions very quickly from December 2022 to December 2024,” said Ms. Mathur-Filipp, who is an executive secretary of the inc. She hopes that the next session in August in Geneva will mark the conclusion of the treaty.
A key breakthrough came six months ago During the last series of talks in Busan, South Korea, where the delegates produced a 22 -page “text of the chair”, describing the basic structure of the treaty.
“It contains 32 or 33 articles, with names of articles, so that countries can now start to see what this treaty will look like,” she said. “They started talking with articles for negotiations … and that is why I hope there would be a conclusion.”
A treaty with teeth – and flexibility
Although the treaty project is still under negotiation, it includes measures that would target the entire life cycle of plastic – from upstream production to downstream waste. It reflects both the compulsory and voluntary provisions, in accordance with the United Nations original mandate.
The current project also includes the institutional architecture of a typical multilateral treaty: the ratification process, governance rules and proposed implementation organizations.
“He has a goal. He has a preamble, “said Ms. Mathur-Filipp. “It looks like a treaty. »»
If everything goes as planned, the final text will be submitted to a diplomatic conference – later this year or at the beginning of 2026 – where governments can officially adopt it and start the ratification process.
Unequal charges, global issues
Although plastic pollution is a global problem, some countries – in particular small developing states of the island – carry a disproportionate burden.
“It is a fact that small developing states of the island are not those that use plastic as much as what flows on their banks and, therefore, they become responsible for cleaning the beach, which is not their fact,” said Mathur-Filipp. “They are unfairly affected.”
It is estimated that 18 to 20% of world plastic waste ends in the ocean.
Mission of a diplomat
Before directing the Inc, Ms. Mathur-Filipp worked at the UN Biological Diversity Conventionwhere she helped shape the landmark Kunming-Montreal global biodiversityThe 2022 agreement to protect 30% of the planet’s land and oceanas by 2030. The challenge of managing rapid negotiations and with high issues is familiar land.
“I was not tired enough, so now I do this,” she said.
While the Mediterranean UNOC3 Host City plays its role in the creation of Elan, all eyes will turn, in the coming weeks, in Geneva. The result in August could determine if the world takes a decisive step towards reducing the plastic crisis – or allows it to deepen, without control.
Publicado anteriormente en Almouwatin.
