What is the INC to develop a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution is about?
The UN Environment Assembly 5.2 held in Nairobi, Kenya from 28 February to 2 March in 2022 saw the adoption of a resolution titled, ‘End Plastic Pollution: Towards an internationally legally binding instrument”. By this resolution the Assembly agrees to establish an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) to draft the legally binding agreement by 2024. The agreement is expected to address the full lifecycle of plastics, including production, design, and disposal, as well as the design of reusable and recyclable products and materials.
Our Pacific region contributes only 1.3% of global plastic pollution, it does not produce plastic polymers the large molecule chemical compounds that make plastic. Despite this, the Pacific Islands region is grossly and disproportionately affected by its impacts with the highest recorded quantity of floating plastics located in the South Pacific subtropical gyre.
As Large Ocean Island States made up of 98% ocean and 2% land it is imperative that any International Legally Binding Agreement on Plastics introduced for signing, must factor and feature protections for the Pacific Islands region, as much as possible.
The first INC (INC1) will take place in Punta del Este, Uruguay from 28 November to 2 December, this will be preceded by a range of meetings and workshops to be scheduled from 23 November. To help the Pacific Islands region prepare for the INC1, a Pacific Regional Preparatory Workshop for the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) was held from 16 to 18 August 2022 in Suva, Fiji which provided the basis for the following strategy. For the purposes of this strategy, this event will be referred to as the “Pacific Prep Meeting”.
Five INC meetings will be held across 2023 and 2024. The first will be held in November 2022 with the second and third in April and November 2023 and the fourth and fifth in May and December 2024.
Negotiations will be conducted across six different clusters, those being:
Cluster 1: Objectives, definitions and structure of work
Cluster 2: Institutional Framework
Cluster 3: Sustainable production and consumption
Cluster 4: Sustainable Product Design and Manufacture
Cluster 5: Environmentally Sound Waste Management
Cluster 6: National Action Plans
Before each INC process there will be a Pacific preparatory meeting held for which one will be held in the Pacific Islands region, and the other in New York, to enable participation and strengthened partnerships between the Pacific Small Islands Developing States Missions who also actively engage in the negotiations.
For further information on the journey towards an Internationally Legally Binding Agreement on Plastics, please click the link below.