{"id":425977,"date":"2024-11-26T06:45:41","date_gmt":"2024-11-26T06:45:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=425977"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Plastic-pollution-talks-must-not-fail-UN-environment-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Plastic-pollution-talks-must-not-fail-UN-environment-chief\/","title":{"rendered":"Plastic pollution talks must not fail: UN environment chief"},"content":{"rendered":"

Talks to agree the world’s first treaty to curb plastic pollution cannot fail and must tackle both production and consumption, the UN’s environment chief told AFP on Monday.<\/p>\n

Negotiators are deeply divided on issues including whether to limit new plastic manufacturing and phase out some chemicals, raising concerns that the talks could fail.<\/p>\n

“I can’t entertain that it fails,” said Inger Andersen, evoking the “massive plastic crisis”.<\/p>\n

“No one wants to find plastic in the placenta or in the blood of the unborn baby.”<\/p>\n

The negotiations opened hours after COP29 climate talks in Baku that went into overtime and ended in a deal roundly condemned by many developing countries.<\/p>\n

Battle lines were quickly drawn in Busan, with several countries initially objecting to a document intended to streamline negotiations.<\/p>\n

Andersen said the tussling at COP29 and biodiversity talks before it this year would not “set a negative precedence in any way, shape or form.”<\/p>\n

“Was it frustrating during some part of the day… of course,” she acknowledged.<\/p>\n

But, “we are only in day one.”<\/p>\n

“I’m not going to give up and say that the whole thing is the lost today, on the contrary.”<\/p>\n

– ‘The stakes are high’ –<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

While the debate over procedure was resolved by late Monday, negotiators now move the real substance of their disagreements: whether to reduce plastic production, limit chemicals known or believed to be harmful, and how to finance implementation of the agreement.<\/p>\n

Some countries — including Saudi Arabia and Russia — have been keen to limit the treaty’s focus to improved waste management, arguing that is the main cause of the plastic pollution that litters land, seas and skies.<\/p>\n

Without addressing any one country, Andersen said the UN resolution establishing the talks was quite clear and delegates must “address sustainable production and consumption”.<\/p>\n

“This is not a waste management treaty. This is not a treaty where we just do the downstream,” she said.<\/p>\n

“These are the instructions to negotiators. It’s not like there’s wiggle room here.”<\/p>\n

The depth of disagreement, as well as the time pressure, has raised concerns among some environmental groups that delegates could settle for a weaker treaty to win agreement.<\/p>\n

Andersen said she was convinced that countries were committed to a strong deal.<\/p>\n

“The stakes are high, but the commitment that we have in that hall in there is also high,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Nobody wants a bad deal.”<\/p>\n

Negotiators have until December 1 to agree a text, but the overrun at COP29 and biodiversity talks before it have left many sceptical the talks can wrap up on time.<\/p>\n

“The truth is that, there are only so many hours in the day for these negotiators, and they work day and night,” Andersen said.<\/p>\n

“We hope we won’t have to ask them to do that here, too. But it may happen.”<\/p>\n

sah\/rsc<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

UN Environment Programme chief Inger Andersen said the world is facing a ‘massive plastic crisis’<\/p>\n

-ANTHONY WALLACE
<\/figcaption><\/figure>

<\/p>\n

‘Nobody wants a bad deal,’ said the UN’s Andersen<\/p>\n

-ANTHONY WALLACE
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Talks to agree the world’s first treaty to curb plastic pollution cannot fail and must…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23812],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-425977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425977\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}