2024 UPDATE:
Ongoing work in many plastics projects linked to overall pollution work and Programme 2030 of IUCN. 1. The seven African islands for project IslandPlas (led by ESARO Team) and funded by Coca Cola Foundation; 2. The five African countries in PACO region for AFRIPAC for capacity building of negotiators for the plastics treaty funded by Norad; 3. UNOPS funded ASEAN work with ARO office on plastics guidance; 4. EPPIC project funded by US Dept of State for work in Central America and Africa; Global plastics treaty work with IUCN WCEL and the Centre for Policy and Law and the Ocean team; national plastics project of IUCN offices in several regions of the world. Secured more funding for EPPIC in 2024, and working on additional funding for work in other countries with IUCN national offices.Growth of community platforms for plastics solutions knowledge exchange (both PANORAMA and Ubuntoo); increased capacity for negotiators in PT, FR and EN, and policy and trade analysis is ongoing in AFRIPAC. Partners include GIZ PREVENT Waste Alliance, Ubuntoo, GRID-Arendal, UNOPS, Universities, NGOs in US and Europe, and ODA funders.
Several global webinars were held in 2023-2024 with GEN Network and other partners.
IUCN’s objectives for INC-5 are:
--Strategically influence the negotiations towards the inclusion of specific language on “Biodiversity Aspects” in the future Treaty, while supporting negotiators in achieving the approval of the agreement, at INC-5, in Busan, with further legal expertise and experience from the ground.
--Position and secure IUCN’s role as key player in the nature positive implementation of the Treaty (methodologies, criteria, data, support for National Action Plans and national legislation, capacity building, monitoring), once adopted.
--Increase IUCN’s influence, visibility and impact whilst promoting and advancing IUCN’s policy[1] and projects (AFRIPAC, EPPIC, IslandPlas Project, IUCN Plastics work globally) as well as its Programme – Nature 2030.
these materials are online
IUCN INC5 event page https://iucn.org/events/external-event/fifth-session-intergovernmental-negotiating-committee-plastic-pollution-inc-5
INCplastics policy page https://iucn.org/incplastics
One-pager biodiversity brief is here – and attached. https://iucn.org/resources/information-brief/reinforcing-commitments-nature-and-communities-options-include
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2023: Secretariat:
AFRIPAC is the new plastics treaty and assessment project in W. Africa (CV, GB, SN, SL, STP countries). Building capacity for negotiators. Training on legal frameworks and treaty processes, and doing plastic assessments. Partner is GRID-Arendal. Results to date include creating a West Africa network of actors incl NGOs, needs assessment surveys in 3 languages for the region, and 3 workshops which included all 5 countries' reps. One INC-2 official side event in Paris, with UNEP. Our Ocean team was extensively involved at INC2 in collaboration with IPC, WCEL and EKU at INC2 in side events, policy influence, and networking with IUCN’s plastics policies: Two official side events were granted to us. These were focusing on SIDs with the participation of governments of representatives of the PSIDS and Dominican republic and Fiji. Additionally with WorldBank ProBlue, FAO, UNEP and GGI co-organised side events on ALDFG. Supported five countries with legal backstopping during the negotiation process and supported Fiji delegation to participate in the INC.
All of this stands on work that has been built over years through the IUCN Ocean programme on Plastic Pollution, with its multiple scientific papers on plastic waste flows and calculations, and with its projects such as MARPLASTICCs, Plastic Waste Free Islands, PlastiCoCo, working together with IUCN Regional Offices and governments of SIDS and coastal nations in the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Caribbean.
Policy team leadership for INC-2 meetings, policy briefs and submissions officially to the INC process for IUCN, as well as building partnerships.
Economics of plastic pollution work is ongoing with the Economics Team in DC. Direct links to work in 5 W. African nations.
Also, ongoing work in Sri Lanka, West Africa with World Bank, and other offices of IUCN globally.
2023: WCEL:
Creation of 12 negotiators' briefings (see IUCN website), translated to PT, FR, SP for broad reach on the treaty aspects such as just transition, trade, and legal frameworks related to circular economy and waste management. Webinars and learning workshops in progress for the 5 West African nations plus North Africa with the Med Office plastics team.
From the Secretariat 2022:
Policy and technical meetings for the regions (including Organization of Eastern Caribbean States - OECS and Association of Small Island States (AOSIS)
Circular Economy Waste to Product businesses implemented in Caribbean and Pacific On-going
WTO (Informal Dialogues on Plastic - over 70 countries), UNEP Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee(190 plus countries, National Action Plans from each government, policy workshops, capacity building. Policy reports produced for Carib and Pacific On-going
National and regional quantification of plastic pollution in several countries and regions
From the national reports on activities:
1. Coalition Clean Baltic: For the plastic pollution & toxic substances, the exhibition has been launched on 1 October 2020 and within 2021 it continued to be used by CCB MOs as a tool to attract public and local stakeholders
2. Australian Government: Other The Australian Government awarded $600,000 to Boomerang Alliance’s Plastic Free Beaches Program to support Australian beachside cafes to transition away from single use plastics to reduce the amount of problematic single-use plastics and packaging that leaks into the environment. Completed
Other Through the Reef Trust, the Australian Government is providing up to $5 million over five years for clean-up and prevention services to reduce marine debris in the Great Barrier Reef. Australia is also supporting the implementation of the Pacific Regional Action Plan with $16 million in funding for the Pacific Ocean Litter Project. This Project assists Pacific Island countries with phasing out single-use plastics and changing the behaviour of plastic users, consumers and producers. On-going
Policy influencing/advocacy All governments are working towards more harmonised and efficient approaches under the National Waste Policy Action Plan. This includes investigating options for harmonisation of kerbside recycling collection to improve recycling and reduce contamination. Under the National Plastics Plan 2019, the Australian Government will fast-track the rollout of the Australasian Recycling Label (ARL) so that by the end of 2023 approximately 80% of supermarket products will display the ARL. The ARL will also be rolled out to business-to-business packaging (27% of plastic packaging in Australia). On-going
Policy influencing/advocacy Part 1: In 2019 Australia’s environment ministers agreed to the National Waste Policy Action Plan, which outlines actions and targets concerning plastic waste, including the ban on plastic waste exports (among other materials) and a phase out of problematic and unnecessary plastics by 2025, to make Australia a world leader in resource management and recovery. On 15 April 2021 Environment Ministers identified eight problematic and unnecessary single-use plastic product types for industry to phase out nationally by 2025 (or sooner in some cases) under the National Waste Policy Action Plan. The National Plastics Plan was released in March 2021, the Plan takes a whole-of-life-cycle approach to the plastics challenge. It includes actions to avoid and phase-out problematic and unnecessary plastics, improve product design, increase Australia’s recycling capacity, stimulate demand for recycled content, and prevent plastics from leaking into the environment. The Australian Government is working with the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) to deliver the National Packaging Targets of, by 2025: • 100 per cent of Australian packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025 or earlier. • 70 per cent of Australia’s plastic packaging being recycled or composted • 50 per cent average recycled content across all packaging • phasing out of problematic and unnecessary single-use plastic packaging through design, innovation or by introducing alternative materials. On-going
Policy influencing/advocacy Part 2. The waste export ban is Australia’s first step in taking responsibility for our own waste and using this resource to create jobs, spark innovation, and deliver strong environmental outcomes. In 2020-21 the Recycling and Waste Reduction Act 2020 was passed, providing a national framework for the export of harmful waste streams as agreed by all governments. Additionally, the $250 million Recycling Modernisation Fund (RMF) is on track to leverage over $1 billion of investment from the Australian Government, state and territory governments and industry for new or upgraded infrastructure to sort, process, recycle and remanufacture waste glass, tyres, plastic and paper. On-going
Scientific/technical activities CSIRO in partnership with the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water are developing a national plastic pollution web-based portal that can house existing and new pollution data collected by multiple stakeholders Australia wide. On-going
Scientific/technical activities The Australian Government has committed $14.8 million to address the challenge of ghost nets and plastic litter in the waters and beaches of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The Ghost Nets Initiative is being delivered by Parks Australia in partnership with other government agencies, Indigenous organisations, and other key stakeholders to improve the health of our ocean, reduce threats to our marine life and boost Indigenous employment. Building on past and present efforts by Indigenous communities, environmental groups and private industry, the Ghost Nets Initiative is focussing on the following activities: The delivery of new technology to better detect, collect and dispose of ghost nets, which may include mobile recycling plants, satellite tags and tracking databases; Work conducted with Indigenous ranger groups to collect data on the source of ghost nets and coordinate retrievals and marine debris beach clean ups in the Gulf of Carpentaria, one of the nation’s hot spots for ghost nets drifting from foreign waters; and New trials to attach GPS tracking devices to ghost nets when an initial retrieval is not possible due to unsafe conditions. This will enhance our ability to continually track the nets while they are drifting and arrange for their immediate retrieval by an appropriate vessel.
3. French Committee posted link to results https://uicn.fr/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/assemblee-onu-anue-position-comite-francais-de-luicn-cp-24022022.pdf - summary is "In view of the major impact of plastic waste pollution on the marine and coastal environment, the IUCN's French Committee is calling on states to commit to a binding international treaty on the fight against marine plastic pollution. " and link is https://uicn.fr/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/assemblee-onu-anue-position-comite-francais-de-luicn-cp-24022022.pdf
4. Policy, economic briefs, publications list:
-Blueprint: an approach to scale up solutions to achieve "zero plastic pollution" in the Mediterranean islands https://www.iucn.org/search?key=plastics#:~:text=Blueprint%3A%20an%20approach%20to%20scale%20up%20solutions%20to%20achieve%20%22zero%20plastic%20pollution%22%20in%20the%20Mediterranean%20islands
-Economic analysis: https://www.iucn.org/news/marine-and-polar/202204/four-iucn-economic-case-studies-show-impacts-plastic-pollution-marine-environment-biodiversity-livelihoods-and-more-africa-and-asia
- PUBLICATION: https://portals.iucn.org/library/node/49957
- Policy work https://www.iucn.org/our-work/informing-policy/international-policy/intergovernmental-negotiation-committee-plastic
