In February 2022, the United Nations Environment Assembly, the governing body of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), adopted resolution 5/14 to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including the marine environment. The resolution led to the establishment of an intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC) tasked with completing the draft of a legally binding instrument by the end of 2024.
The INC has already met twice to discuss the treaty. At the end of the last negotiation session (INC-2), it was decided that the INC Chair and Secretariat would prepare a zero draft of the agreement ahead of the third session which will be held in Nairobi at the UNEP headquarters from 13 to 19 November 2023.
In this context, the INC Secretariat has invited Members of the negotiating committee and observers to provide written submissions by 15 August 2023 on (a) elements not discussed at INC-2, such as principles and scope of the instrument, and (b) any potential areas for intersessional work compiled by the co-facilitators of the two contact groups.
The Global Pact Coalition has submitted its written statement. Its observations are focused on the elements that should appear in the preamble of the future treaty. First and foremost, the GPC requests that the preamble of the treaty make reference to the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Furthermore, it also suggests including a set of key environmental law principles in the preamble of the treaty, such as the precautionary principle, the prevention principle, the polluter-pays principle, the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, the principle of non-regression, the principle of cooperation, the Rio principles, and a reference to the waste hierarchy.
The GPC is honored to present it for the INC Secretariat’s consideration. It hopes that its contribution may serve to substantiate the zero draft treaty on plastic pollution.
Statements from all interested parties, including the Global Pact Coalition, can be found on the INC-2 webpage.
You can find here the Global Pact Coalition’s written submission, in English.