Ms. Dechen Tsering
Regional Director and Representative, Asia and the Pacific Office, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Plastic pollution has become one of the most serious environmental problems in the Asia-Pacific region, and there is an urgent need for cooperation at the global level to drive solutions for a better future. In recent years, the number of international initiatives to combat plastic pollution has been increasing. However, voluntary action alone cannot drive systemic changes and achieve desired global goals. Therefore, a more binding and comprehensive international framework is urgently needed.
It is urgent to establish a global treaty
During fifth UN Environment Assembly (UNEA 5.2) that concluded successfully this March, Member States agreed to a historic resolution "End Plastic Pollution: Towards a legally binding instrument". The resolution aims at creating a pathway to establish an intergovernmental negotiating committee to prepare a legally binding global agreement by the end of 2024. By June 2022, an open-ended working group meeting will be convened, which will define the rules of procedures, the approaches as well as discussion on the workplan for the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC). Some of the issues and concerns raised by countries are around arrangements for capacity building and technical assistance, technology transfer or mutually agreed terms as well as financial assistance.
In two years, countries must work intensively to reach agreement on a comprehensive approach to address the full lifecycle of plastic within a formal legal agreement. The agreement will cover the full life cycle of plastics, which requires us to make concerted efforts in all aspects of plastic production, use, collection, and recycling, and to play a key role in building a plastic circular economy by governments and businesses to end plastic pollution in a comprehensive and collective manner. At the same time, stakeholders from all fields are encouraged to participate and the cultural and creative industries are advocated to play an active role in the process.
The number of international initiatives to fight plastic pollution has more than doubled in the last five years. Almost all of Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies are undertaking plastic packaging initiatives. These initiatives include everything from the launch of fully recyclable products to investments in recycling infrastructure. Over 200 businesses have signed on to 2025 targets under the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment. Voluntary initiatives are important, with frontrunners raising the levels of ambition and pioneering rapid responses to the challenge.
But voluntary initiatives alone cannot drive the system change required. Current efforts do not aggregate to deliver the desired global change of preventing all plastic leakage into the environment by a certain target date. They must be complemented by regulatory action. There is an opportunity to strengthen policy coordination and collaboration beyond exchanges of information and best practices, but this requires a more binding and comprehensive international framework. We must accelerate the establishment of a global treaty to develop an enabling environment and level the playing field for all businesses, which is aligned with a joint vision and global goal underpinning the global agreement.
A global treaty will empower the circular plastics economy
In 1972, world leaders met in Stockholm for the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment which, for the first time, brought environment to the central stage for human well-being and development. The Stockholm Conference inspired a series of global environmental actions such as the formation of environment ministries and agencies around the world, a host of new global environmental agreements, World Environment Day and the establishment of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). 50 years after the Stockholm Conference, where do we stand now? As science tell us, the environment is worse off than it was 50 years ago. Only 10 percent of the Sustainable Development Goals targets are likely to be met by 2030, unless we change our current development trajectory that is characterized by unbalanced economic growth, unequal wealth distribution and unsustainable consumption and production.
Plastic pollution has a direct and deadly effect on wildlife and on biodiversity. Terrestrial microplastic pollution has led to the decrease of species that live below the surface, such as mites, larvae and other tiny creatures that maintain the fertility of the land. Plastic begins as a fossil fuel, and greenhouse gases are emitted across its entire plastic life cycle: The annual global production and incineration of plastic is estimated to have contributed more than 1.7 gigatonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere in 2015, roughly equivalent to the emissions the world's 4th largest emitter.
Terrestrial microplastic pollution has led to a decline in species living near the surface. More than 800 marine and coastal species are affected by this pollution through ingestion, entanglement, and other dangers. More than 700 species of marine animals have been found with traces of plastics in their digestive tracts. Coral reefs have been deemed 89% more likely to develop disease in the presence of plastic. It is estimated that each year, a total of 220 million tons of plastic waste are generated, and this is set to double by 2040 if we do not act on it now. The science is clear that we must address plastic pollution urgently, with a systemic, life-cycle approach.
Establishing a circular plastics economy is a top priority, and it is necessary to take systematic interventions in the upstream and downstream of plastics production and use to promote whole-process industrial change. This not only involves actions on recycling materials at the end of life, but also calling on producers to reduce unnecessary packaging through products redesigning, innovate and develop bioplastics and alternative materials, and extend the economic chain to create new jobs and investment opportunities; policy makers to strengthen guidance and regulation through legal instruments to ensure the proper implementation of plastic waste recovery and recycling; professional institutions to estimate the cost of pollution by establishing economic models, closely integrate plastic pollution with economic production activities, and follow the principles of natural capital calculation based on the full consideration of external factors, so as to encourage enterprises to proactively assume social responsibility; all relevant parties to undertake publicity to ensure that the social and environmental costs of plastic pollution are widely known, raise the public's awareness in plastics reduction, and advocate the construction of sustainable consumption patterns in the whole society. Actions at all levels should be united to promote the effectiveness of the whole system.
Inger Andersen, UNEP Executive Director, has defined the UNEA resolution on plastic as "The most important moment for the environmental community since the adoption of the Paris Agreement". Under the current critical situation, it is urgently needed to unite and strengthen collaboration to jointly address the challenges posed by global plastic pollution. Experts and scholars in various fields are expected to actively participate in the drafting and formulation of a global agreement to end plastic pollution, so as to build a powerful legally binding tool at the global level as soon as possible, and alter our relationship with plastics, therefore benefitting the natural world and human health.
