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UN talks fail to deliver global plastic treaty

WWF says it is 鈥渘ow really crucial鈥 that nations who support a global deal 鈥渢ake this to a much larger degree in their own hands and be ready to move ahead despite the opposition鈥.

A third round of United Nations negotiations to try to deliver the world's first treaty to control plastic pollution has ended without consensus.

Negotiators, who spent a week meeting in the Kenyan capital Nairobi at talks known as INC3, now have until the end of next year to strike a deal for the control of plastics.

At the last round of negotiations in Paris in May, the US, Saudi Arabia, India and China favoured individual states having the freedom to determine their own commitments, while others, including Africa and many developing countries, preferred strong global commitments.

Eirik Lindebjerg is Global Plastics Policy Manager at the World Wide Fund for Nature. He told Newsday that they seek 鈥渁 global treaty that sets out the regulations, the global rules that can phase out and eliminate avoidable and problematic plastics that we don鈥檛 need and set requirements for all other plastics so that it is reduced, reused, and recycled.鈥

However, he says there are 鈥渂lockages and delay from a small group trying to hold the rest of the pack back鈥t鈥檚 now really crucial鈥he majority of countries that want to see a treaty, they must take this to a much larger degree in their own hands and be ready to move ahead despite the opposition.鈥

(Picture: Shows environmental activists seeking a global plastic treaty at a demonstration in Nairobi, Kenya on November 11, 2023. Credit: Edwin Ndeke / Anadolu via Getty Images.)

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