By Vishal Gulati
New Delhi, March 6 (SocialNews.XYZ) Two years will be decisive for further multilateral cooperation to limit plastic pollution -- the most significant environmental deal since the Paris accord -- that accounts for 85 per cent marine litter.
Following last week's historic resolution at the resumed fifth session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2) in Nairobi to end plastic pollution and forge an international legally binding agreement by 2024, the process has begun for an international binding agreement to beat plastics, a menace to the people and the planet.
According to UNEP, plastic production has risen exponentially in the last decades and now amounts to some 400 million tons per year -- a figure set to double by 2040.
Every minute, the equivalent of one garbage truck of plastic is dumped into the ocean.
This marine litter and plastic pollution endangers aquatic life, threatens human health and results in myriad hidden costs for the economy. Such a global threat requires a global response, and the just concluded UNEA 5.2 saw heads of state, ministers of environment and other representatives from 175 nations endorsing the resolution to end plastic pollution.
The resolution addresses the full lifecycle of plastic, including its production, design and disposal.
UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen, in her first remark as the gavel came down after adoption of the resolution with an emotional reaction in the crowd and a standing ovation, remarked, "The most important environmental deal since the Paris accord."
Delivering the national statement at UNEP@50, India's Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav said in 2018 Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a global call for eliminating single-use plastics on World Environment Day.
The call provided momentum for action on plastic, culminating in the resolution on plastics at the UN Environment Assembly, he said.
According to the just released GRID-Arendal factsheet, since the mid-1950s the production and use of plastics has grown rapidly.
Annual global production of primary fossil fuel-based plastics increased from two million tons in the 1950s to more than 438 million tons in 2017. Up to 99 per cent of plastics are made from polymers from non-renewable hydrocarbons, mostly oil and natural gas.
Only around 10 per cent of the plastic waste generated to date has been recycled. Fourteen per cent has been incinerated and 76 per cent has been disposed off in landfills or released into the environment.
A new report on plastic pollution and migratory species launched during the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, prepared under the UN's Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), maps plastic hotspots and assesses the risk of plastic pollution for migratory species in the Ganga and Mekong river basins which are protected under CMS.
It focuses on the impact of plastic pollution on freshwater and terrestrial species, which has been significantly understudied.
Together, the Ganga and Mekong rivers contribute an estimated 200,000 tonnes of plastic pollution to the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean every year.
As per estimates, some 75-199 million tonnes of plastic are currently found in the oceans. A lot of it comes from the world's rivers, which serve as direct conduits of trash.
That is why the transboundary nature of plastic pollution needs a global solution and a global treaty.
Responding to what kind of financing will be considered to provide technical guidance and enforcement on plastic, UNEP boss Andersen said: "Typically, grant financing tends to enable technical assistance work but what will be key is to scale up the innovations needed to help companies make the transition to a circular economy for plastics."
"Concessional financing in the form of debt, equity or guarantee financing could help catalyze the shift for businesses. Other mechanisms such as Extended Producer Responsibility could also be interesting vehicles to innovate with.
"However, it is not really possible to determine what the implementation of this potential agreement might cost until the details of the commitments have been decided."
In her blog before the resolution adoption, Anderson said it is clear that there is huge global interest in addressing the problem of plastic pollution through multilateral cooperation.
Since September 2021, according to the WWF Global Plastic Navigator, 154 countries have expressed an interest in negotiating a new global agreement on marine plastic pollution.
"We currently dump 11 million metric tons of plastic into the ocean each year and this figure is projected to double by 2030 and nearly triple by 2040. In 2018 alone, impact on tourism, fisheries, and aquaculture together with other costs such as those of clean-ups, were estimated to be at least $6-$19 billion globally.
"The different industries across the plastic value chain are facing a shifting dynamic. We are seeing that shareholders of companies and consumers are increasingly paying attention to the pollution challenges that may be arising from their investments and their purchasing decisions."
So what is the timeline now?
The resolution, based on three initial draft resolutions from various nations, establishes an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC), which will begin its work in 2022, with the ambition of completing a draft global legally binding agreement by the end of 2024.
It is expected to present a legally binding instrument, which would reflect diverse alternatives to address the full lifecycle of plastics, the design of reusable and recyclable products and materials, and the need for enhanced international collaboration to facilitate access to technology, capacity building and scientific and technical cooperation.
The UNEP will convene a forum by the end of 2022 that is open to all stakeholders in conjunction with the first session of the INC, to share knowledge and best practices in different parts of the world.
It will facilitate open discussions and ensure they are informed by science, reporting on progress throughout the next two years.
Finally, upon completion of the INC's work, the UNEP will convene a diplomatic conference to adopt its outcome and open it for signatures.
(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)
Source: IANS
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