Plastic treaty talks resume in Canada

Negotiators from 175 countries are meeting from today in Canada to nail down a binding global treaty to end plastic pollution with many sticking points to be resolved five months after the last round of talks in Kenya.

Nations in 2022 agreed to finalise by the end of this year a world-first UN treaty to address the scourge of plastics found everywhere from mountain tops to ocean depths, and within human blood and breast milk.

Negotiators have already met three times and are expected, after the Ottawa talks, to hold a final round of negotiations in South Korea.

The previous meeting in Nairobi last November was the first opportunity to debate a draft treaty that outlined pathways to tackling the problem. It ended with disagreements over its scope and environmental non-governmental organisations panning a lack of firm progress.

“We have a text, it is a basis even if there remains a lot of work to be done on it,” said Canadian Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault and host of the Ottawa talks.

According to him, the goal this round is to “achieve a text with 60-70% of the elements endorsed” by delegates who are meeting through April 29.

The stakes are high, with widespread plastic pollution having potentially grave impacts on oceans.

Although there is a broad consensus on the need for a treaty, environmental activists pleading for a 75% cut in plastic production by 2040 are at odds with oil-producing nations and the plastics industry itself that favour recycling.

“This treaty presents a monumental opportunity in a time of urgency,” said oceans scientist Neil Nathan of the University of California Santa Barbara.