Earth Today | No go yet on plastics treaty

SMALL ISLAND states have said that they will not resile from the effort to end plastics pollution, despite the failure to arrive at an agreed treaty after six rounds of global negotiations.

The most recent round – the second part of the fifth meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (INC-5.2) – was held in Geneva, Switzerland from August 5 to 14.

“This was never going to be easy – but the outcome we have today falls short of what our people and the planet need,” said Surangel Whipps Jr, President of Palau, speaking as Chair of Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) in an August 14 statement.

AOSIS represents the interest of 39 small island and low-lying coastal states in international climate change and sustainable development negotiations and processes and has done so since 1990.

“Still … we will not walk away. The resilience of islanders has carried us through many storms, and we will persevere because we need real solutions, and we will carve pathways to deliver them for our people and our planet,” Whipps added.

AOSIS has nonetheless noted its “deep concern and disappointment” that the negotiations “failed to deliver the binding commitments that

science, justice, and island communities urgently demand to end plastic pollution”.

According to AOSIS, the mandate the delegates faced was “as vast as the ocean itself”, requiring attention to plastic production and product redesign, improving waste management, and mopping up existing plastics pollution while also addressing finance, protecting health and ensuring countries have the necessary institutional frameworks to act.

“But despite negotiations spanning over three years, fundamental divisions remained on core issues … Even among members with different views, we saw flexibility and common ground emerge when there was space for genuine engagement. Yet, in the end, broader political dynamics, a process that at times lacked necessary guardrails, and the constraints of the clock all combined to prevent us from advancing further,” the ASOIS statement said.

While INC-5.2 has failed to produce an agreed treaty, however, the plastics pollution problem persists, with the risks to the environment and human health a clear and present danger.

For example, the 2021 United Nations Environment (UNEP) report, From Pollution to Solution: A global assessment of marine and plastic pollution revealed that the amount of plastic waste entering aquatic ecosystems “could nearly triple from some 9-14 million tons per year in 2016 to a projected 23-37 million tons per year by 2040”.

As for the risks to human health and well-being, the report explained that those arise “from the open burning of plastic waste, ingestion of seafood contaminated with plastics, exposure to pathogenic bacteria transported on plastics, and leaching out of substances of concern to coastal waters”.

“Microplastics can enter the human body through inhalation and absorption via the skin and accumulate in organs including the placenta. Human uptake of microplastics via seafood is likely to pose serious threats to coastal and indigenous communities where marine species are the main source of food. The links between exposure to chemicals associated with plastics in the marine environment and human health are unclear. However, some of these chemicals are associated with serious health impacts, especially in women,” it explained.

Given these realities, AOSIS has said that the plastics crisis will not wait and, therefore, that they cannot “remain idle”.

“Our unity, persistence, and the urgency of our circumstances mean we will continue pressing, in every possible forum, for a treaty that is binding, effective, and just. As a Pacific proverb reminds us, ‘a smooth sea never made a skillful mariner’. The INC experience has strengthened our resolve and sharpened our determination to continue to find ways to fight for our people, our planet, and the future we all share,” ASOSIS noted.

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