CARIBBEAN-OECS wants a treaty empowering SDS to deal with plastic pollution

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC—The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission says it hopes negotiations taking place at the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) in Korea will result in a treaty that effectively empowers small island developing states (SIDS) to tackle the pressing issue of plastic pollution.

Susanna Scott, Officer in Charge of the Sustainable Ocean Management Programme, and Farzana Yusuf-Leon, Technical Officer, are representing the OECS at the INC-5, which ends on December 1.

According to a statement issued by the St. Lucia-based OECS Commission, the team hopes these negotiations will conclude successfully, resulting in a treaty that effectively empowers SIDS to tackle the pressing issue of plastic pollution.

Currently, the OECS is executing the Recycle OECS Project. The European Union funds it under the EU-Caribbean partnership for cooperation in the circular economy and solid waste management. The OECS Commission implements it in collaboration with the Agence Française de Développement.

The Commission said that plastic pollution poses a significant environmental threat to ecosystems worldwide, and the United Nations has recognized the urgent need to address this issue to ensure ecological sustainability.

It said that the OECS- comprising Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Montserrat- has been collaborating with partners to address this issue.

It said that the INC-5 is expected to culminate in a legally binding treaty to control plastic pollution, including in the marine environment.

“Throughout the INC process, which commenced in mid-2022, Small Island Developing States, including member states of the OECS, have called for an ambitious, comprehensive, and all-encompassing United Nations treaty on plastics that addresses issues related to the whole lifecycle of plastics”.

The Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Inger Andersen, told delegates that November 25 this year marked 1,000 days since the adoption of UN Environment Assembly Resolution 5/14. This resolution mandated the UNEP Executive Director to convene the INC to develop an international, legally binding instrument on plastic pollution. The resolution sets a goal for the committee to complete its work by the end of 2024.

She is urging the delegations from 175 countries to negotiate in good faith but not lower the bar so the treaty becomes meaningless.

The OCS Commission said several countries expressed concern about the possible invocation of Rule 38 of the Draft rules of procedure for the work of the intergovernmental negotiating committee to develop an international, legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment.

“This Rule, while not yet adopted by the Meeting, indicates that if all efforts to reach consensus have been exhausted and no agreement has been reached, the decision shall, as a last resort, be taken by a two-thirds majority of the representatives of Members who are present and voting. However, countries emphasized the importance of making all decisions by consensus,” it added.

Speaking on behalf of the 39 SIDS represented by the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), Samoa has acknowledged the efforts in producing the non-papers, which are intended to reflect the broad range of views on the elements to be negotiated under the future instrument.

However, it was highlighted that several vital elements specific to SIDS interests needed to be included or developed in the draft text.

SIDS reiterated that the final agreement must accurately reflect their nations’ circumstances. They continued to call for clear, legally binding obligations to remedy existing plastic pollution in the marine environment, including in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

They spoke of the obligations on Abandoned, Lost, or otherwise Discarded Fishing Gear; the institutions and processes that allow the agreement to evolve and become more ambitious over time in the agreement text; and the clear obligation for developed countries to provide new, additional, accessible, sufficient and predictable finance to developing countries, particularly SIDS and LDCs.

“Throughout the INC, as well as the non-paper process, however, SIDS has reiterated our calls for several key elements that were either missing or underdeveloped in the non-papers. SIDS are severely disadvantaged by global environmental challenges that we do not cause.

“A multilateral negotiation process that does not incorporate our interests adds insult to injury. We wish to make clear this week: we will not accept a “take it or leave it” text here at INC-5,” according to AOSIS.