UN to pass 'historic' plastic restriction treaty
When Arctic waters, Marine life and the earth's atmosphere are all polluted by plastic, governments are facing increasing environmental pressure to work together to tackle this global disaster. The United Nations Environment Assembly will be held in the Kenyan capital Nairobi from February 28 to March 2, where hundreds of countries will discuss the first global treaty to tackle the plastic crisis.
Agence France-Presse reported on the 27th that negotiators are finalizing the framework of the treaty, which they say is the "most promising" environmental agreement since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015. "This will be an important moment in the history books," stressed Inge Arnoldson, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme. At the conference, world leaders and environmental authorities are expected to set up a negotiating committee through online meetings and work on the details of the treaty over the next two years, the report said. More than 50 countries, businesses, environmental groups and scientists have now publicly called on governments to enact tougher industrial rules to curb plastic pollution of nature.
There is widespread agreement that the plastic crisis cannot be solved by individual countries acting on their own and that a coordinated global response is needed. Since the 1950s, plastics have been polluting faster than any other material, far outpacing national efforts to protect the environment. According to statistics, about 300 million tons of plastic waste is produced every year, and less than 10% of that waste is recycled, with most of it ending up in landfills or the ocean.
The plastic waste that ends up in the oceans not only suffocates Marine life, but also pollutes coastlines around the world. Some tiny plastic particles then enter the food chain, where they can end up being eaten by humans. "The plastic crisis knows no boundaries," says Arnold. "Your waste becomes mine, and my waste becomes yours."
International environmental group Greenpeace warned that the treaty needed specific targets and an enforcement mechanism to ensure subsequent accountability. "I think the world is ready for a change in the relationship between people and plastics," said Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF.