A few days ago, Rwanda and Peru proposed a global plan to reduce plastics at the United Nations conference in Geneva.
75 countries and the European Union are supporting this legally binding international treaty program to reduce plastic waste.
The proposed resolution will be considered by delegates at the United Nations Environment Conference in Nairobi next year.
In September, more than 1,000 representatives from 140 countries and non-governmental organizations attended a meeting organized by UNEP in Geneva. In the draft international agreement proposed by Peru and Rwanda, the dangers posed by microplastics are specifically mentioned. The goal must be to prevent the "circular economy" from generating large amounts of plastic waste. The proposed resolution will be considered by delegates at the United Nations Environment Conference in Nairobi next year. According to Flasbarth, 25 countries have fully supported the project, and another 50 countries announced initial support at the Geneva meeting.
However, according to the Secretary of State, long negotiations are expected. He predicts that an international agreement on reducing plastic waste will take months or even years to take effect. The French Secretary of State for Biodiversity, Berangere Abba, warned that if joint international action is not taken, by 2050, “there will be more plastic in the world’s oceans than fish”. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, about 300 million tons of plastic waste are generated every year. Since the 1950s, about 8.3 billion tons of plastic have been produced. Approximately 60% of waste has been discarded in landfills or in the natural environment. Every year, more than 1 million seabirds and more than 100,000 marine mammals die due to plastic pollution.
