DAKAR, SENEGAL — The Ad Hoc Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) to advance a plastics treaty has concluded with important progress that lays the groundwork for the next two and a half years of negotiations. It was the first formal meeting following the United Nations Environment Assembly’s adoption of a mandate to negotiate an international, legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution.
Mirroring the ambition in the mandate, the OEWG’s agenda was ambitious, with items including developing rules of procedure for the negotiations, the establishment of the bureau, and the organization of future work. Negotiations on the substance of the future treaty will begin in earnest during the first meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) in Uruguay at the end of November 2022.
David Azoulay, Senior Attorney, Director of Environmental Health program at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) said:
“The mandate coming out of UNEA-5.2 calls for a treaty that is comprehensive in scope and that sufficiently addresses the plastic crisis. If the mandate defines the playing field, the OEWG establishes the rules for how the game will be played. This week, States have made significant progress in recognizing that, like the climate emergency, plastic pollution touches everyone, everywhere on the planet.
“It is encouraging to see States rise to the occasion and the momentum felt at UNEA-5.2 was only reinforced and strengthened. Discussions on the rules of procedure reinforce the call — and formal arrangements for — full, active participation of a wide variety of stakeholders. We now have text and commitments from States that explicitly recognize that the invaluable perspectives offered by civil society organizations, waste pickers, and Indigenous Peoples are essential at every stage of negotiations. Furthermore, States recognized the unique concerns of states that are particularly vulnerable to marine litter and plastic pollution through the protected appointment of a delegate from a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) to the bureau.
“There is still much to be done to ensure that the resulting treaty delivers on its promises for health, climate, biodiversity, and human rights. The UNEP secretariat will clearly need to step up its engagement between now and the end of November to ensure they deliver on what the governments have tasked them with. But the discussions and decisions made this week are another significant step in the right direction.”
Christina Dixon, Deputy Ocean Campaign Lead at Environmental Investigations Agency (EIA) said:
“The discussions this week set the stage for what will be an ambitious and complex negotiation to secure a plastics treaty that meets the scale of the crisis at hand. While progress was made, some challenges have emerged and the work of the first INC will be substantial. At its core, there have been strides to recognise waste pickers and other stakeholders in negotiations, as well as the specific context of small island developing states, serves to show how important consulting a diverse constituency will be to build an inclusive treaty. The emergence of new country and other voices in this phase, as well as the continued commitment from delegations to work late into the night to reach agreement, shows that the energy from UNEA prevails. It will be critical to maintain momentum and not allow delay tactics to derail meaningful and constructive dialogue as we move forward.”
NOTES FOR EDITORS
The meeting was expected to discuss rules of procedure for the negotiations (including how will decisions be made, how will the bureau be structured, who will participate and how they will engage, etc.), the establishment of the bureau, and the organization of future work.
States made progress was made on the rules of procedures, with an almost clean text being forwarded to the first INC meeting. There is one outstanding issue that, while contentious for a small number of countries, should not prevent negotiations from going forward. Several regions have finalized their bureau representatives, and a program of work has been laid out for the secretariat for the intersessional period leading up to the INC-1 meeting.
The draft report outcome is available through UNEP.
Media contact: Cate Bonacini — CIEL Communications Manager, press@ciel.org | +1-510-520-9109.
(Posted on June 2, 2022)