The main negotiation Plenary
The Global Plastics Treaty was held May 29th - June 2nd to help negotiate a legally binding pact for governments of the world to crack down on plastic pollution. The role of these negotiations (called INCs which stands for ‘Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee’) is for UN member countries to decide on what rules to include in the treaty and the specifics guidelines before the treaty takes effect in 2025. It was the second of 5 negotiations that are being held around the world, and the future ones will be held in Kenya, Canada and South Korea.
Hidden Plastic was among some of the NGOs that got badges into the UNESCO building in Paris, where we were able to watch the negotiations between governments take place. We also attended a few side-events, met some very inspiring people who were representing their organisations and worked briefly with the Global Youth Coalition for Plastic Pollution. Ashton, as the youngest person there, was even asked to deliver an intervention (speech) during one of the main negotiations- representing the worlds 3.2 billion youth and children!
Writing Ashtons intervention, which we did with the Global Youth Coalition On Plastic Pollution
We felt very fortunate to get in, since UNEP was turning down NGO’s applications due to a lack of space. So, we are so grateful that we were given this opportunity to represent the Planeteer Alliance and have a voice at this historic agreement- the results of which will affect our own and future generations.
We will be releasing more blog posts featuring the details of each thing that happened soon.. Stay tuned for more!