Ahead of the resumption of the global plastics treaty negotiations (INC-5.2) later this year, the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) has called for greater accountability, inclusiveness and transparency to be incorporated into the process.
In an open letter to the International Negotiating Committee (INC) Bureau, which is overseeing the plastics treaty negotiations, Ana Rocha, director of global plastics policy at GAIA, said, “Civil society has been locked out of the negotiations multiple times, from intersessional work to key meetings during INC-5, going against mandated procedures even when countries stated support for stakeholder participation.
“The very people who are being excluded are the ones whose voices are most needed – Indigenous Peoples, independent scientists, frontline communities, and representatives of the countries most impacted by plastic pollution.”
Addressing INC chair Luis Vayas Valvidieso, directly, Rocha added that the he needs to build a “transparent negotiations structure that ensures mandated civil society participation, and creates the conditions for an ambitious treaty to make it to the finish line”.
Collective voice
GAIA’s letter to the INC bureau aligns with calls from several other civil society organisations, including IPEN (International Pollutants Elimination Network), the Scientists Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty, the Indigenous Peoples and Their Communities Major Group, the Red del Abya Yala por la Reducción de la Producción de Plásticos con Metas Globales Vinculantes, the Women’s Major Group, the Aotearoa Plastic Pollution Alliance (APPA), and the International Alliance of Waste Pickers.
At the last round of negotiations, which took place in Busan, South Korea, last year, a large number of countries involved in the INC process announced support for the introduction of ambitious plastic reduction targets, the phase-out of certain chemicals used in packaging, and financial mechanisms for equitable implementation.
The date and location for the resumption of the INC talks has yet to be announced. Read more here.
