On November 25, delegates from around the globe will gather in Korea to finalize the draft text of the world’s first global plastics treaty.
Or at least that’s the plan. The document would operate as the plastics equivalent of the Paris Agreement, the well-known climate accord intended to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Advocates working to influence the plastics treaty language have learned many lessons from the Paris Agreement, whose implementation requires consensus from all parties, meaning that all climate action by participants must essentially be voluntary.
“There is an urgency, and there are fundamental human rights [issues] associated with the impacts of plastics production,” said Pamela Miller, executive director of Alaska Community Action on Toxins, which partners with many Native Alaskan communities to fight against oil and gas expansion in the region.
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