A diverse coalition of civil society members and rights-holders provided vital expertise and perspectives from typically underrepresented groups across the full plastics lifecycle. In particular, the leadership of waste pickers resulted in the launch of the Just Transition Initiative (building upon its earlier iteration as the Group of Friends of Wastepickers), which will ensure their representation at future INCs and bring visibility to more than 20 million people who work as waste pickers worldwide (International Labour Office report, 2013). | “It’s been good this week to see such widespread recognition of the vital role we waste pickers play. Now countries need to design the treaty with our livelihoods and human rights in mind. Personally I’m very pleased to see my country of South Africa leading the way on this, alongside Kenya, by launching the Just Transition Initiative as a joint initiative with the International Alliance of Waste Pickers and other stakeholders.” Maddie Koena, the South African member of the delegation of International Alliance of Waste Pickers | Unfortunately, one of the most contentious topics, the adoption of the Rules of Procedure, has yet to be finalized and was moved to INC-2 in May 2023. This document will determine how States and organizations can engage in future negotiations. The outstanding issues include whether EU Member States will each have a vote or whether they will be treated as a single bloc during voting, and whether decisions should only be arrived at via consensus. To many observers, the latter seems to be a ploy to weaken strong measures that could be adopted to reduce plastic production. | “It is encouraging to see how the majority of countries participating in the first session of the Global Plastic Treaty in Uruguay spoke in favour of ambitious goals to change the way we use plastic, from tackling production to addressing health impacts. Unfortunately, for as long as the system continues to allow a few oil and plastic producing countries to veto the decisions of the majority, the fate of this plastic treaty can only resemble that of the climate treaties and lead to the lowest ambition. The negotiations didn’t start well; let’s redouble efforts to show the impact of plastic pollution so that inaction is inexcusable!” Joan Marc, Executive Director at Zero Waste Europe | Additionally, precious negotiation time was spent discussing the Multi-Stakeholder Forum, a roundtable organized a day before the start of the negotiations to deliver a report to the INC. This is not included in the mandate to develop the treaty, and the entire enterprise appears to be an effort to divert and prevent the voices of civil society and rightsholders from direct and meaningful forms of participation in the treaty development process. As a result, BFFP members demanded that the INC design a negotiation process that facilitates meaningful access for rightsholders and recognizes the critical role of civil society groups including Indigenous Peoples, scientists, workers from formal and informal sectors, trade unions, and climate-vulnerable and frontline communities in bringing valuable experiences to all aspects of the process and the future instrument. | “Vulnerable communities have consistently played a major role in plastic waste management, despite being historically neglected in waste management systems, and are significantly affected by plastic production. Working with waste pickers and waste cooperatives that lead zero waste models in Tanzania, we witness the impact of plastic in our communities. Companies with revenue higher than our GDP produce plastic that we don’t have the capacity to manage - nor should it be our responsibility - and flood our markets. These products do not make goods available to people unless they can afford them, so we face the contradiction of people drinking untreated water while their environment and waterways are filled with plastic bottles.” Ana Rocha, Executive Director at Nipe Fagio | During the first few days of negotiation, advocates expressed concerns about the presence of leading corporate polluters in the negotiation process and the lack of transparency from UNEP on how many of them are hiding behind NGO badges. Stakeholders who participated in the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control advocated strongly for the exclusion of the plastics industry in negotiations, building from their success in excluding perpetrators from tobacco negotiations, which resulted in a stronger and more effective framework. | “We cannot let oil producing countries, at the behest of big oil and petrochemical companies, dominate and slow down the treaty discussions and weaken its ambition. If the plastics industry has its way, plastic production could double within the next 10-15 years, and triple by 2050 - with catastrophic impacts on our planet and its people. The High Ambition Coalition must show leadership by pushing the negotiations forward and calling for more ambitious measures which protect our health, our climate, and our communities from the plastics crisis.” Graham Forbes, Global Plastics Project Lead at Greenpeace USA | | Country delegates agreed to host the next INC-2 exclusively in-person in Paris during the week of May 22nd, 2023. Sign our petition to demand an effective and just treaty negotiation! | | |
|
|
