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Some 175 nations including Bangladesh agreed to form an international committee to discuss and finalise a legally binding treaty to eliminate plastic pollution by 2024 at the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) in Nairobi, Kenya on Wednesday.
The mandate titled “End plastic pollution: Towards a legally binding international instrument” invites governments to negotiate a legally binding treaty that addresses the entire life cycle of plastic.
The United Nation member states met in Nairobi for more than a week to finalise the outline of a pact to combat the rising plastic pollution, an environmental crisis that reaches from ocean trenches to mountain tops.
Plastic waste in all its forms has been given a broad mandate by negotiators, including not just bottles and straws in the ocean, but also invisible micro plastics damaging the air, soil, and food chain.
At the assembly, the UN member states just adopted a landmark mandate calling for the development of the world’s first Global Plastic Pollution Treaty with a full life cycle approach.
It is being described as the most significant green deal since the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
Environment and Social Development Organisation (ESDO) welcomed the agreement, mentioning that this is one of the significant milestones for ESDO as it has been working for the last 32 years to combat plastic pollution. It has been advocating for a proper plastic legislation in Bangladesh as well as for a global plastic treaty because a global problem needs a global solution.
Welcoming the agreement ESDO Chairperson Syed Marghub Murshed said, “Clearly, this is a moment for all of us to be proud of. This agreement will assist us in putting an end to plastic pollution, which will prevent extensive environmental damage in the future decades.”
“This is also a proud moment for Bangladesh because we are the first country in the world to ban plastic bags in 2002.”
