Two boys collect plastic from a polluted river in Indonesia. According to statistics from the United Nations, approximately 400 million tons of plastic waste are generated globally every year, and this trend is still rising. Image: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The fifth round of negotiations on the United Nations plastics agreement failed to reach an agreement. In Busan, South Korea, representatives from more than 170 countries met for a week to decide on binding measures to curb global plastic pollution after years of preparation. The Busan meeting was intended to be the final round of negotiations, but as no agreement was reached, the debate will continue next year. The draft text negotiated over the past seven days should serve as the basis.
The central unresolved issue is possible limits on plastic production, demanded by a coalition of more than 100 like-minded countries including Mexico, Panama, Rwanda and the European Union. On the other hand, oil states such as Saudi Arabia and Russia strongly oppose production limits and demand that the agreement focus on effective waste management.
NGO WWF said in a statement: “Throughout the negotiations we have encountered continued resistance from a handful of countries who are clearly negotiating with bad faith and are not seeking to reach a meaningful agreement.”
Greenpeace: Better to delay than draw weak conclusions
Greenpeace made it clear it welcomed negotiations to continue rather than reach a weak conclusion under time pressure. “An effective agreement must contain binding global targets and measures to reduce plastic production,” said Greenpeace expert Moritz Jager Roschko. An agreement to protect health, the environment and the climate from the harmful effects of plastics must be included. The historic opportunity for the Plastics Agreement remains.
“We have not achieved what we wanted,” Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez of the Panama delegation said in a rousing speech at the end of the negotiations, to lingering applause: “Hesitation means With death, action means survival. “He is combative: they will not give in and will continue to fight for a binding agreement. A few hours earlier, Gomez had said that plastic was a “weapon of mass destruction” for Panama: “Everything we love is at risk. This is not a drill, this is a fight for survival» .
More than 400 million tons of plastic waste are generated every year
In March 2022, nearly 200 United Nations member states agreed to jointly decide to curb the use of plastic by the end of 2024. In total, the agreement took nearly ten years to prepare.
According to statistics from the United Nations, approximately 400 million tons of plastic waste are generated globally every year, and this trend is still rising. According to information from the Federal Environment Agency, Germany generates nearly 6 million tons of plastic waste. (Sudanese Development Authority/Department of Political Affairs)
The five biggest plastic offenders in the Mediterranean
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The five biggest plastic offenders in the Mediterranean
Türkiye has the largest amount of plastic flowing into the ocean every day, at 144 tons. Image: Fans of the Turkish football team Galatasaray perform a dance with plastic towels.
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Deer have been running around with plastic pumpkins since Halloween
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