Global Plastic Treaty Talks Stall Amid Disagreements

Busan (South Korea) (AFP) – Week-long talks in Busan, South Korea, to reach a global agreement against plastic pollution failed on Sunday amid opposition from a group of oil-producing countries, and must resume later. .

“Several pressing issues are still preventing us from reaching a general agreement. These unresolved issues are still alarming, and more time will be needed to resolve them effectively,” said Ecuadorian Ambassador Luis Vayas Valdivieso, who chairs the UN debates.

For a week, representatives from more than 170 countries tried to find a solution to reduce the plastic pollution that is attacking the oceans, soils and fluids inside the human body.

Opening the last plenary session of the talks, the diplomat noted three points of obstruction and disagreement: around the principle of reducing global plastic production, establishing a list of products or molecules that are considered dangerous for health, and finally aid funding for development. countries that wish to equip themselves with effective waste management systems.

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After two years of negotiations, representatives represented at the fifth and final meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for the Convention against Plastic Pollution (INC-5) until Sunday evening to reach an agreement.

But since the talks opened on November 25, talks have turned into a conversation on deaf ears between a majority of countries that want an ambitious agreement and a group of oil-producing states led by Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

“Barrier”

The French Minister of Industry, Olga Givernet, spoke of “a minority that still hinders. “We want to be able to remove these barriers and find a convergence of ideas,” she said at a press conference.

A European diplomat who took part in the talks described endless meetings at the AFP within the various contact groups, leading into the wee hours of the morning without the slightest progress.

The group of disreputable countries used “a tactic of crushing, abuse of veto power,” said this diplomat on condition of anonymity. “We saw up to 60 interventions of five minutes each to change a simple sentence” of the draft agreement.

“We would rather leave here without an agreement than with a bad contract, but we are unhappy. The situation is very bad,” he said.

Frustration grew during the week within the “Coalition of High Ambitions”, bringing together countries that want a strong agreement against the entire “life cycle” of plastic, from the production of polymers based on petroleum products to collection, sorting and recycling.

This coalition was against the oil producing countries, who believe that the future agreement should only apply to waste management and plastic waste recycling.

“The problem is pollution, not plastic itself,” Saudi representative Abdulrahmane Al Gwaiz said at the final conference on Sunday afternoon.

Delegates from ambitious countries were keen to close the Busan conference on a positive note, with Norway’s Erland Draget stressing that “for the first time, the outlines of a treaty appear” in the latest text which the negotiators reached.

“We have made significant progress on a range of issues that will be critical to the convention in order to achieve its goal of protecting human health and the environment from the harmful effects of plastic pollution,” said the head of the Rwandan delegation, Juliet. Kabera.

In a rare visual display, Ms Kabera asked all the delegates to share her standing position at the end of her speech, drawing thunderous applause.

“Disastrous Consequences”

If nothing is done, plastic pollution could triple worldwide by 2060, also after a tripling of global production to 1.2 billion tons compared to 460 million tons in 2019, according to OECD calculations.

Kuwait countered that producers had exceeded their mandate by demanding production cuts, which Russia said would bring “impoverishment” to oil-producing countries.

Environmental groups said they were disappointed with the outcome of the Busan meetings. “This delay has a terrible impact on people and the planet, ruthlessly sacrificing those who are on the front lines of this crisis,” said Greenpeace representative Graham Forbes.

The exact date and location of the next round of negotiations, in 2025, is yet to be decided. Canada and France have requested that this next meeting be held at the government level, and not between ambassadors and senior officials.