«UA promising text, but with weaknesses” as the WWF defined it. This is the comment on first draft “Zero draft” of the Global Treaty on Plastic Pollution published by UNEP, the UN Environment Programme. The highly anticipated text lays the foundations for the next international negotiations on the topic which will be held in Nairobi, Kenya, next November. But it doesn’t seem to have satisfied completely.
Plastic pollution: yet another step
In March 2022, in fact, it was signed by 175 countries around the worldthe agreement to implement a legally binding treaty against plastic pollution by the end of 2024. The publication of the draft represents the first step in this direction. But what does this zero draft involve?
Inform the population of the dangers
“Zero draft” includes provisions to address the lack of accessible information on toxic chemical additives used to make plastic. And therefore “requires manufacturers and importers to disclose information on the composition of all plastic materials throughout their life cycle.” This is because currently, people have little access to information on the impacts of plastic on their health, water and air, which which prevents them from taking all precautions to reduce toxic exposure.
It then requires states to collect and report information on plastic produced, imported and exported from their territories. So, it provides that each part develop and implement a national plan And also includes prescriptive provisions mandating cuts in plastic production.
First draft of global treaty on plastic pollution published by UNEP (Getty)
«Just a starting point, much more needs to be done»
Although the draft offers several effective solutions that can help put an end to this crisis which is becoming devastating for the planet «it is only the starting point – comments Eirik Lindebjerg, Global Plastics Policy Lead of the WWF. – Negotiations will get underway on the text of the treaty in November. But countries need to know: if they fail to establish strong common measuresif they do not increase their ambitions and finalize a globally binding treaty, we will never be able to stem the unsustainable plastic pollution the world is already experiencing. This time it is no longer possible to be satisfied.”
The “devastating” impact of plastic on the environment
The impacts on the environment of plastic production, which went from 2 million tons per year in 1950 to 348 million tons in 2017, are in fact defined by the UN “a catastrophe in the making” while highlighting the fact that the problem does not lie in the material itself, which indeed has many essential uses, but the its excessive use and poor waste management.
Environmentalists: «It’s too vague a draft»
Being a first draft, moreover a compromise one, it clearly did not satisfy everyone. «The draft is vague and ambiguous in many respects – second Climate Rights International – Indeed, an undefined mechanism would be established to facilitate the implementation and compliance of the treaty. The project, however, does not establish minimum standards for national plansnor does it attribute specific powers to the mechanism”.
In essence, what is not liked, in particular by environmentalist associations, is that the text does not set objectives, nor tools to reach them, but it limits itself to crystallizing the different positions expressed in the two previous meetings. For many of these themes – and not for all – only the different options available are listed, leaving each country the right to choose and combine the different variants. And it is precisely this lack of uniformity and vagueness that is not pleasing. The treaty, the associations ask, «should be strengthened and include specific, time-bound commitments to reduce and eliminate the production and pollution of plastic throughout their life cycle. And coordinated global action is essential, not a choice option on the strategies to be implemented.”
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