EFFORTS to create a landmark treaty to end global plastic pollution advanced Monday in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, as nations, plus petrochemical companies, environmentalists and others affected by the pollution gathered to discuss draft language for the first time.
The gathering in Nairobi is the third in a compressed five-meeting schedule intended to complete negotiations by the end of next year.
“The urgency of addressing plastic pollution cannot be overstated,” said Gustavo Adolfo Meza-Cuadra Velasquez, chair of the negotiating committee, at the headquarters of the United Nations Environment Programme in Nairobi. “To bring a difference at the scale required, we must work collectively.”
Kenya’s President William Ruto called the treaty “the first domino” in a shift away from plastic pollution.
But the negotiations have been strained by concerns over delays in discussing the plastics issue at hand. In the last round of talks in Paris, talks stalled for about two days as some countries hampered discussions. The power dynamics and positions of different delegations became clear in the first two rounds of talks in Paris and Punta del Este, Uruguay. They echo some of the same positions as in international climate talks, and with good reason — many of the players are the same. Plastic is largely made from crude oil and natural gas, giving oil-producing countries and companies a large stake in any treaty. Global negotiators last met in Paris in June and agreed to produce initial treaty text before reconvening in Nairobi. The draft was published in early September.
Kenya is a global leader in fighting plastic pollution, and in 2017, the country banned the manufacture, sale and use of single-use plastic bags. In what is one of the strictest bans on the products, lawbreakers face fines and up to four years in jail. Two years later, Kenya banned single-use plastic like cutlery, straws and PET bottles from parks, forests, beaches and other protected areas.