A Peruvian-Rwandan initiative, supported by 60 countries, was presented in Nairobi in favor of a resolution that paves the way to forge a global pact against plastic pollution, at the second session of the V UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5).
Except for surprise, everything indicates that the UNEA-5 plenary will officially adopt a resolution this Wednesday to create an intergovernmental committee with the mandate to negotiate the first legally binding global treaty, in order to combat plastic pollution on the planet.
It is an agreement that would contemplate goals, deadlines, commitments and cooperation mechanisms, among other requirements, and that could be adopted in about two years.
Peru has played a fundamental role in this resolution, since this text is based, to a large extent, on a proposal that the country and Rwanda put on the negotiating table at the meeting in the Kenyan capital.
The Peruvian-Rwandan initiative, supported by 60 countries, contemplated establishing an intergovernmental committee to negotiate an international legally binding instrument with a comprehensive approach that covers everything from production, consumption and design to the prevention, management and treatment of plastic waste.
A problem “emergent and very serious”
“Let us hope that (the resolution) will be formally adopted tomorrow. Everything indicates that this will be the case”, declared the Peruvian Deputy Minister of Environmental Management, Mariano Castro, at the UN complex in Nairobi, where the Assembly, the main environmental decision-making body in the world, is being held since Monday.
Castro stressed that “The approval of this draft resolution is very important because it marks the course of a global response to a common problem that is emerging and very serious”.
Likewise, the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia, Carlos Eduardo Correa, emphasized that his country supports “the creation of this intergovernmental committee to begin work”.
“I think this is a very important advance. The mere fact that all the countries can sit down to negotiate a management of plastics is already an important advance”, said Correa.
“Plastics today affect biodiversity, our ecosystems and, of course, climate change with the emissions generated today by the production and use of these plastics.”, asserted the Colombian minister.
Another Latin American country that today expressed its support for the resolution was Cuba, whose Vice Minister of Science, Technology and Environment, José Fidel Santana Núñez, stated that it means “a very important decision”.
“To take on the challenges that this instrument will generate, it will be essential to ensure access to technologies and new sources of financing.”, added the Cuban deputy minister at the UNEA-5 plenary.
The Uruguayan ambassador Néstor Rosa, permanent representative of Uruguay before the UN Environment Program (UNEP), based in Nairobi and sponsored by UNEA-5, also spoke before the plenary.
“In the case of plastics, the rapid establishment of an international negotiating committee that can agree on a binding international instrument is essential“Rose stressed.
Uruguay defends that this pact “incorporates the entire life cycle of the product and that, adopting a circular economy approach, ensures the prevention, control, minimization and elimination of plastic pollution”.
The Vice Minister of Water of Guatemala, Nery Martín Méndez y Méndez, also expressed his support, but in a more cautious tone.
“We are concerned about the issue of plastic pollution. It is an issue that cannot be resolved unilaterally. We have to pool efforts among all countries”, indicated the Guatemalan deputy minister.
“But let us remember that in our countries we have to solve other types of local problems first, that we need capacity building”, Mendez and Méndez added.
Daily tons of waste
Latin America has adopted numerous measures to prevent plastic pollution, such as the adoption of national plans and regulations that prohibit or restrict single-use plastics.
“In Latin America and the Caribbean, at least 27 of the 33 countries in the region have issued national and/or local legislation to ban or reduce single-use plastics”, specified the coordinator of Mitigation and the Private Sector of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), María Alejandra González.
However, according to WWF, this policy does not adequately address the problem of plastic pollution during the plastic life cycle, and recycling rates are low.
“Around 145,000 tons of solid waste per day are improperly managed in the region and end up being dumped into coastal and marine ecosystemsGonzalez explained.
With a binding global pact, added the coordinator, Latin America “can create a more efficient and harmonized way to combat plastic pollution.”
The second part of UNEA-5, which has already held its first session in 2021 virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, adopts a hybrid participation formula (face-to-face and virtual) from Monday to Wednesday.
According to the latest official data from UNEP, more than 3,400 delegates in person and 1,500 online from 175 UN Member States (unep initially spoke of 193) are attending UNEA-5, including 79 ministers and 17 officials from high level.
Source: Gestion
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