01 June 2023, Paris France - Representatives from 12 Pacific island countries are in France this week with a common goal, to advance the discussions on the formulation of a treaty to end plastic pollution.
It is the latest step in a journey dating back to the resumed fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2) in Nairobi where a historic resolution was adopted to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment.
Thanks to support from the Government of Australia and the United Nations, delegations from the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu are amongst representatives of more than 190 nations hoping to finalise a historic agreement covering the entire plastics life cycle. They are being supported by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).
The first session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC1) to develop the instrument was held in Uruguay last year. The meeting taking place in Paris this week (INC2) is the second of five INCs, with the goal being to complete the negotiations by the end of 2024.
It’s a lofty and ambitious goal.
In Paris this week, despite all the wonderful aspirations, the mood has been somewhat subdue after the first two and half days were taken up by a procedural deadlock. Delegates found themselves in circular discussions around the application of the draft rules of procedure, as well as on how to continue proceedings on the more contentious draft rules on voting rights and the adoption of decisions.
This resulted in delays to the plenary as well as the more substantive discussions. But there was a break through. Late into the third day on Wednesday, the delegates reached a compromise to allow them to get into the substantive discussions on the elements of the proposed instrument, contained in what is commonly referred to as the elements paper.
After general statements were delivered in the plenary, two contact groups were established to discuss the options in the elements paper. Contact Group 1, co-facilitated by Ms Gwendalyn Sisior, of Palau, and Mr Axel Borchmann, of Germany, was mandated to consider the objectives and substantive obligations of the future instrument. Contact Group 2, co-facilitated by Ms Katherine Lynch, of Australia and Mr Tommy Oliver Boachie, of Ghana, was mandated to consider the Means of Implementation (MOI), implementation measures, and additional matters.
The Pacific delegates amplifying our One Pacific Voice for a treaty to end plastic pollution have been meeting daily at the UNESCO headquarters to coordinate and strategise their approach to the issues, and how they are being treated at the negotiations.
On Thursday, Mr Charles Reklai Mitchell, Counsellor of the Permanent Mission of Palau to the United Nations, delivered a statement on behalf of the Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) on the Means of Implementation. The MOI contains important provisions to determine whether the instrument being negotiated can be implemented. Critical to the implementation of a workable instrument is the issue of finances, capacity building and technology transfer.
“On Financial assistance in the options paper, the PSIDS believe that new, additional, stable, accessible, adequate, timely and predictable flows of financial resources are critical,” said Mr Mitchell.
The PSIDS are also calling for “innovative” sources of funding, as well as a wider range of sources of funding.
The elements paper also highlights capacity building, among other things.
“We favour the options presented [with regards to capacity building]. We also see benefits in strengthening them,” Mr Mitchell said. “We support a higher ambition on capacity-building provisions and would like to see more straightforward commitments on this issue. We also wonder whether technical assistance is indirectly included in capacity building and whether we should aim to streamline the options.”
On the issue of technology transfer, PSIDS believe that some technology transferred as a purely voluntary scheme might not help solve the issues at hand.
“PSIDS values contributions from international, regional, sub-regional and sectoral instruments, frameworks and bodies in regard to the means of implementation. We believe that wider cooperation can ensure coherence in implementing potential solutions to resolve plastic pollution.”
The PSIDS statement on MOI is just one of many interventions being delivered by Pacific delegates in response to options in the “elements paper” dealing with possible objectives, core obligations, control measures, voluntary and/or legally binding approaches, implementation measures, and the MOI.
The PSIDS are also calling for holistic and ambitious objectives of the instrument, to end plastic pollution by 2040.
“The objective to end plastic pollution by 2040 is ambitious and needs to be supported by obligations and measures that are equally ambitious. As you will have heard in previous interventions, PSIDS supports obligations at all stages of the plastics lifecycle that lead to ending plastic pollution as opposed to the general regulation of the issue,” the PSIDS statement said.
“The instrument as we see it, could also contain flexibility for addressing plastic pollution beyond 2040 to reflect developments in science and technology. For the Pacific, it is imperative that the objective of the instrument also includes a reference to the marine environment, consistent with UNEA Resolution 5/14 and cognizant of all the efforts in UNEP and in other fora to protect the health of the marine environment.”
INC-1 held in Punta del Este, Uruguay in December 2022 considered broad options for the structure on the instrument and potential elements of the future instrument.
The meeting also requested the INC Secretariat to prepare, in consultation with the INC Chair, for consideration at INC-2 a document with potential options for elements towards an international legally binding instrument. The INC agreed that the options document would draw on the views expressed by Member States during the first session of the committee and in written submissions.
The work at INC-2, from 29 May to 2 June 2023, is expected to define the main features and possible scope of the future instrument. It is possible that after discussion of the options paper, a mandate would be given to draft a zero-draft text for the international legally binding agreement, to be circulated ahead of INC-3 in Nairobi, Kenya in November.
The second Intergovernmental negotiating committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment is taking place in Paris France from 29 May to 2 June 2023.
The Pacific Islands are represented by the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu through the support of the Government of Australia and the United Nations.
They are supported by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), working with partners the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, Office of the Pacific Ocean Commissioner, Environmental Investigation Agency, Centre for International Environmental Law, University of Wollongong, WWF and Massey University.
For more information, visit: https://www.unep.org/events/conference/second-session-intergovernmental-negotiating-committee-develop-international