STORY: :: Countries fail to reach agreement
on curbing global plastic pollution
:: Luis Vayas Valdivieso, Meeting chair
“We have succeeded in many areas. However, there are critical matters still need to be agreed.”
:: Inger Andersen, Executive director, U.N. Environment Programme
“Nevertheless there is a degree of structure to what this text could potentially be, and that forms an important next step…” // “It is clear that there is still persisting divergence. That is the reality of these negotiations.”
:: Busan, South Korea
The fifth U.N. Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) meeting intended to yield a legally binding global treaty in Busan, South Korea, was meant to be the final one.
However, countries remained far apart on the basic scope of a treaty and could agree only to postpone key decisions and resume talks, dubbed INC 5.2, to a later date.
The fault lines were apparent in a revised document released on Sunday by the meeting’s chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso, which may form the basis of a treaty, but remained riddled with options on the most sensitive issues.
The most divisive issues included capping plastic production, managing plastic products and chemicals of concern, and financing to help developing countries implement the treaty.
A small number of petrochemical-producing nations, such as Saudi Arabia, have strongly opposed efforts to reduce plastic production and have tried to use procedural tactics to delay negotiations.
