Discussions between representatives of 170 countries to reach a treaty had stalled last December in South Korea.
An additional session of negotiations to reach an international treaty to reduce plastic pollution worldwide will take place from August 5 to 14 in Geneva, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) announced on its website on Monday, March 3. The previous negotiating session, tasked with developing « a legally binding international instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, » ended on December 1 in Busan, South Korea, without an agreement.
The resumption of discussions on plastic pollution comes on the heels of an agreement on funding for nature conservation reached at the UN’s COP16 biodiversity summit, which was difficult to finalize on Thursday in Rome by delegates from about 150 countries.
The fifth round of discussions in Busan between representatives of over 170 countries had stalled in December, following the emergence of a bloc of oil-producing countries (Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran, etc.) opposed to any limitation on the global production of polymers to fight the pollution flooding oceans, waterways, and even the human body.
Source: francetvinfo
