NAIROBI, March 2, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - The United Nations is to launch formal
negotiations on Wednesday for a global treaty to address a plastic trash
"epidemic" that supporters say is a historic moment for the planet.

   The UN Environment Assembly (UNEA), convening in Nairobi, is poised to
adopt a resolution creating an intergovernmental committee to negotiate and
finalise a legally binding agreement by 2024.

   The amount of plastic trash entering the oceans is forecast to triple by
2040, and governments have been under pressure to unite behind a global
response to the crisis.

   The framework for a comprehensive treaty has been approved by UN member
states, including major plastic producers like the US and China, according to
sources close to the negotiations.

   Officials say it gives negotiators a broad and robust mandate to consider
new rules that target plastic pollution from its birth as a raw material to
its design, use and safe disposal.

   This could include limits on making new plastic, which is derived from oil
and gas, though policy specifics will only be determined during later talks.

   The mandate provides for the negotiation of binding global targets with
monitoring mechanisms, the development of national plans and financing for
poorer countries.

   Negotiators also have the scope to consider all aspects of pollution --
not just plastic in the ocean but tiny particles in the air, soil and food
chain -- a key demand of many countries.

   - 'One for the history books' -

   "We are 100-percent happy with the outcome," said Ana Teresa Lecaros,
director of environment in the foreign ministry of Peru, a country that co-
signed one of the draft resolutions.

   Inger Andersen, the head of the UN Environment Programme, said a plastics
treaty would be "one for the history books" and the most important pact for
the planet since the Paris climate agreement.

   The rate of plastic production has grown faster than any other material
and is expected to double within two decades, the UN says.

   But less than 10 percent is recycled, with most winding up in landfill or
oceans.

   By some estimates, a garbage truck's worth of plastic is dumped into the
sea every minute.

   "Plastic pollution has grown into an epidemic of its own," said Norway's
climate and environment minister, Espen Barth Eide, who chairs UNEA.

   He said he was "quite optimistic" about bringing down the gavel on a
strong resolution in Nairobi.

   Environment groups are also buoyed by the outcome of the talks but like
officials and diplomats, caution that the strength of any treaty will only be
determined by rigorous negotiations to come.

   The first round of discussions is set for May, according to sources
involved in the process.

   Big corporations have expressed support for a treaty that creates a common
set of rules around plastic and a level playing field for competition.

   Big plastic makers have underscored the importance of plastic in
construction, medicine and other vital industries and warned that banning
certain materials would cause supply chain disruptions.