“A global betrayal”. It was the head of the Panamanian delegation, Juan Carlos Monterrey, who had the harshest words to describe the failure of negotiations around a future global treaty aimed at putting an end to plastic pollution: “Every day of delay is a day against humanity. » The 175 countries gathered in Pusan (South Korea) for what was to be the final negotiating session, left on Sunday 1is December, without reaching an agreement. In the absence of consensus, the discussions, which began two years ago, will continue in 2025 according to a timetable which remains to be determined. “Several critical issues still prevent us from reaching a general agreement. More time will be needed to resolve them effectively,” recognized the president of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (CIN), the Ecuadorian Luis Vayas Valdivieso.
“History will not forgive us if we do not reach an agreement,” said Juan Carlos Monterrey on behalf of a group of around a hundred countries including those of the European Union which are pushing for the development of an ambitious text, that is to say which tackles the problem at the source by cutting off the tap of production that is now out of control. In March 2022, 175 countries adopted, under the auspices of the United Nations, a resolution described as“historical” : it set the objective of achieving by the end of 2024 a first legally binding treaty to eradicate plastic pollution and the global danger it represents for the environment, the climate and human health. “ Plastic is a weapon of mass destruction. Here, we are not negotiating just any treaty, but the most important treaty for the survival of humanity since the Paris Agreement. said the head of the Panama delegation, his hat screwed on his head.
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At the current rate, plastic production is expected to double to reach one billion tonnes before 2050. It is accompanied by a comparable explosion in waste: it could also double to exceed 600 million tonnes by 2040. A very a small part is recycled (less than 10%), almost half is buried in landfills and 19% is incinerated. The rest (22%) is found in the environment and particularly in the oceans.
A danger for the climate
Poison for ecosystems and human health, plastic is also a danger for the climate. According to estimates from the United Nations Environment Program, the share of emissions linked to the sole production of plastic, which is based on the extraction and transformation of fossil energy, should almost quadruple by 2050, to represent 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
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