On December 14th, over 700 civil society groups from 113 countries called upon United Nations Member States to agree to establish a legally binding global instrument — a plastics treaty — at the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA5.2). The main messages and demands were published in a Call to Action and presented during a two-sessions launch event.
Despite a doubling of voluntary initiatives and national regulations over the last five years, plastic continues to leak into the environment at alarming rates. There is an urgent need to amplify current efforts through a more coordinated and ambitious approach. In their call to action, 740 civil society, Indigenous Peoples, workers and trade unions, children and youth, women’s organizations have called for the urgent negotiation of UN treaty on plastic pollution to address the fragmented landscape of regulation and complement existing voluntary measures, supporting the existing call from 89 businesses and more than 2.150.000 individuals for this important international agreement.
By establishing a common structure, global goals, and binding targets, the treaty will significantly accelerate progress to close the tap of plastics flowing in our environment, harming both nature and people. The agreement should be designed to be consistent and complementary with national and regional action plans to harmonize policy efforts. It should also enhance investment planning, stimulate innovation, build capacity and structure to support compliance with the treaty’s targets, and coordinate infrastructure development.
Upon the Catt to Action’s release, leaders from several signatory groups made the following statements:
Center for International Environmental Law
“We are in a plastics crisis, and we must move to end that crisis now. The complex global supply chain of plastic harms health, the climate, and the environment, yet solutions to those harms have often focused on waste management programs. The science is clear: what is needed to curb the plastic crisis is the adoption of an internationally binding agreement that includes preventative measures along the full life cycle of plastics. We must act together from the extraction of raw materials to the production of plastics products to legacy plastic pollution.” — Jane Patton, Campaign Manager for Plastics and Petrochemicals
World Wide Fund for Nature
“The world’s inability to manage plastic waste results in one-third of plastic, or 100 million metric tons of plastic waste, becoming land or marine pollution. People are fed up with seeing the pollution wash up on shores, contaminating our food and water supplies, and causing countless detrimental effects. The time is now for a UN treaty on plastic pollution that establishes the necessary common rules and regulations and stops the leakage of plastic pollution into the oceans by 2030.” — Eirik S. Lindebjerg, Global Plastics Policy Manager
Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)
“Awareness about the plastic crisis has never been so high and we are seeing an unprecedented momentum at multiple levels attempting to solve it. But, history has proved again and again that without globally coordinated efforts, such as a treaty, short-sighted attempts to respond to the crisis will be insufficient and will ultimately fail to reduce the amount of plastic in the environment and in our bodies. There is no excuse for further delays to negotiations or attempts to downgrade ambition.” — Christina Dixon, Deputy Campaign Lead for Oceans
Break Free From Plastic (BFFP)
“The pervasive and systemic nature of the plastic pollution crisis requires a concerted, common and coordinated approach by governments worldwide. An international binding agreement on plastics could provide the critical platform to address the overproduction and wanton distribution of single use and throwaway plastics.” — Von Hernandez, Global Coordinator
Island Sustainability Alliance CI Inc (ISACI)
“”No people on earth are more suited to be guardians of the world’s largest oceans than those for whom it has been home for generations” wrote indigenous Pacific scholar Epeli Hau’ofa. Governments of Pacific SIDS need to join other regions in support of a legally-binding treaty to reduce or eliminate Pacific Ocean pollution from plastics.” — Imogen Ingram, Indigenous leader and environmental activist
Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA)
“Plastic is the fossil fuel industry’s alter ego — made from the same oil and gas, it poisons fenceline communities and ordinary consumers alike. If plastic were a country, it would be the fifth-largest greenhouse gas emitter on Earth. We need a global treaty to rein in this destructive, out-of-control industry.” — Neil Tangri, Ph.D., Science and Policy Director
Friends of the Earth Malaysia
“South-East Asia was deluged with plastic waste after China shut its borders. The problems caused by waste trade require global collaboration across countires from a systemic perspective. The region must support a global treaty addressing the full lifecycle of plastics to confront the growing plastic pollution crisis.” — Mageswari Sangaralingam, Researcher
Nipe Fagio
“Subsaharan Africa is suffering from a plastic crisis originated by production systems that do not match the tradicional African delivery systems and that do not benefit the majority of the people in Africa. The region must support a global treaty to actively participate in a systemic approach to address this crisis and end waste colonialism.” — Ana Rocha, Executive Director
Environmental Defence Canada
“Plastic is everywhere — in the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat — and we’re demanding that Canada champion a binding global treaty that includes mechanisms to reduce production and use of plastics. Ambitious national plans are needed. Global coordination is crucial to stop the plastic pollution crisis.” — Karen Wirsig, Plastic Program Manager
OceanCare
“It is encouraging to see the growing appetite for better global plastic governance. At UNEA5.2. bold steps need to be taken to ensure that countries will start to build the future global legally binding framework to stop plastic pollution along the full lifecycle. In parallel, national plastic pollution prevention and remediation plans need to be progressed urgently.” — Fabienne McLellan, Co-Managing Director
REACHOUT SALONE
“Global leaders should be sincere with their actions and be part of the solution not part of pollution. Let our Action speak than our Words. We talk, we walk, we fight, and we win. Plastic pollution is the next global pandemic. We must act now.” — Edmond B. Margai, Founder & Executive Director
International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
“The global trade union movement calls for a global treaty to stop the massive and damaging impact of plastic pollution. This treaty should provide for comprehensive “just transition” plans to deal in a fair way with the impact on all people affected, including on the workers in the sectors involved.” —Bert De Wel, Climate Policy Officer
Environment and Social Development Organization (ESDO)
“We are working together to make our planet toxic and plastic pollution free for a generation to come. So, all nations should come forward and support a legally-binding plastics treaty.” — Dr. Shahriar Hossain, Secretary General
The Center for Oceanic Awareness, Research, and Education (COARE)
“Each step in the lifecycle of plastic is harmful not just to the environment, but also to human health, and we can no longer entertain false solutions or turn a blind eye. The time for rhetoric has long passed, and we need to take bold and decisive action to create a new legally binding framework to address the full lifecycle of plastic.” — Christopher Chin, Executive Director
Aotearoa Plastic Pollution Alliance and New Zealand Product Stewardship Council
“A legally binding global treaty that addresses the full lifecycle of plastics from extraction to the remediation of contaminated environments is urgently needed. Only such a coordinated global effort has the potential to match the growing scale of the plastics crisis. If we are to protect current and future generations from the systemic harms of plastic pollution, we will need a rights-based treaty underpinned by producer responsibility, precautionary, zero waste, and safe circular economy principles.” — Trisia Farrelly, Associate Professor
Break Free From Plastic (BFFP)
“Communities in the Global South have long borne the burden of plastics – from loss of livelihood and displacement from oil extraction, to being forced to live in highly toxic environments, as well as the false narrative that they are polluters. A global treaty is the first step to stemming this violence, addressing the injustices, and holding the real producers and polluters accountable.” — Satyarupa Shekhar, Asia Pacific Coordinator