Latest news with #Luis Vayas Valdivieso
Arab News
21 hours ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Momentum sagging at UN plastic pollution treaty talks
GENEVA: Talks on forging a landmark treaty to combat the scourge of plastic pollution were stumbling Saturday, with progress slow and countries wildly at odds on how far the proposed agreement should go. The negotiations, which opened on Tuesday, have four working days left to strike a legally-binding instrument that would tackle the growing problem choking the environment. In a blunt mid-way assessment, talks chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso warned the 184 countries negotiating at the United Nations that they had to get shifting to get a deal. 'Progress made has not been sufficient,' Vayas told delegates. 'A real push to achieve our common goal is needed,' the Ecuadoran diplomat said, adding that Thursday was not a just deadline but 'a date by which we must deliver. 'Some articles still have unresolved issues and show little progress toward reaching a common understanding,' Vayas lamented. The key fracture is between countries that want to focus on waste management and others who want a more ambitious treaty that also cuts production and eliminates use of the most toxic chemicals. And with the talks relying on finding consensus, it has become a game of brinkmanship. A diplomatic source told reporters that many informal meetings had been scrambled together for Sunday's day off to try and break the deadlock. 'If nothing changes, we won't get there,' the source added. Countries have reconvened in Geneva after the failure of the supposedly fifth and final round of negotiations in Busan, South Korea in 2024. After four days of talks, the draft text has ballooned from 22 to 35 pages — with the number of brackets in the text going up near five-fold to almost 1,500 as countries insert a blizzard of conflicting wishes and ideas. The talks are mandated to look at the full life cycle of plastic, from production to pollution, but some countries are unhappy with such a wide scope. Kuwait spoke up for the so-called Like-Minded Group — a nebulous cluster of mostly oil-producing nations which rejects production limits and wants to focus on treating waste. 'Let us agree on what we can agree. Consensus must be the basis of all our decisions,' Kuwait insisted. Nudging in the same direction, Saudi Arabia, speaking for the Arab Group, said the responsible way ahead was to start considering what bits of the text 'may not make it to the final outcome due to irreconcilable divergence.' But given how little is truly agreed on, Uruguay warned that consensus 'cannot be used as a justification to not achieve our objectives.' Eirik Lindebjerg, global plastics adviser for the World Wide Fund for Nature, told AFP that the Like-Minded Group's proposal was 'another attempt to make it a waste management agreement,' and to stifle talks on reducing the amount of plastic in circulation. The UN Environment Programme is hosting the talks and swiftly called a press conference after the stock-take session. UNEP executive director Inger Andersen said a deal was 'really within our grasp, even though today it might not look so.' 'Despite the fog of negotiations I'm really encouraged,' she told reporters, insisting: 'There is a pathway to success.' Vayas added: 'We need to accelerate. We need a better rhythm in this and we need to also work in such a way that it will be clear that we will deliver by the end.' Afterwards, Bjorn Beeler, executive director at IPEN, a global network aimed at limiting toxic chemicals, told AFP: 'This whole process has not been able to take decisions and is still collecting ideas. We're sleepwalking toward a cliff and if we don't wake up, we're falling off.' Plastic pollution is so ubiquitous that microplastics have been found on the highest mountain peaks, in the deepest ocean trench and scattered throughout almost every part of the human body. More than 400 million tons of plastic are produced globally each year, half of which is for single-use items. Plastic production is set to triple by 2060. Panama's negotiator Juan Monterrey Gomez took the floor to slam those countries wanting to stop the treaty from encompassing the entire life cycle of plastic. He said microplastics 'are in our blood, in our lungs and in the first cry of a new-born child. Our bodies are living proof of a system that profits from poisoning us.' 'We cannot recycle our way out of this crisis.'
Japan Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Japan Times
Momentum sagging at U.N. plastic pollution treaty talks
Talks on forging a landmark treaty to combat the scourge of plastic pollution were stumbling Saturday, with progress slow and countries wildly at odds on how far the proposed agreement should go. The negotiations, which opened on Tuesday, have four working days left to strike a legally-binding instrument that would tackle the growing problem choking the environment. In a blunt midway assessment, talks chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso warned the 184 countries negotiating at the United Nations that they had to get shifting to get a deal. "Progress made has not been sufficient," Vayas told delegates. "A real push to achieve our common goal is needed," the Ecuadoran diplomat said, adding that Thursday was not a just deadline but "a date by which we must deliver. "Some articles still have unresolved issues and show little progress towards reaching a common understanding," Vayas lamented. The key fracture is between countries that want to focus on waste management and others who want a more ambitious treaty that also cuts production and eliminates use of the most toxic chemicals. And with the talks relying on finding consensus, it has become a game of brinkmanship. A diplomatic source told reporters that many informal meetings had been scrambled together for Sunday's day off to try and break the deadlock. "If nothing changes, we won't get there," the source added. Countries have reconvened in Geneva after the failure of the supposedly fifth and final round of negotiations in Busan, South Korea in 2024. After four days of talks, the draft text has ballooned from 22 to 35 pages — with the number of brackets in the text going up near fivefold to almost 1,500 as countries insert a blizzard of conflicting wishes and ideas. The talks are mandated to look at the full life cycle of plastic, from production to pollution, but some countries are unhappy with such a wide scope. Kuwait spoke up for the so-called Like-Minded Group — a nebulous cluster of mostly oil-producing nations which rejects production limits and wants to focus on treating waste. "Let us agree on what we can agree. Consensus must be the basis of all our decisions," Kuwait insisted. Nudging in the same direction, Saudi Arabia, speaking for the Arab Group, said the responsible way ahead was to start considering what bits of the text "may not make it to the final outcome due to irreconcilable divergence." But given how little is truly agreed on, Uruguay warned that consensus "cannot be used as a justification to not achieve our objectives." Eirik Lindebjerg, global plastics adviser for the World Wide Fund for Nature, said the Like-Minded Group's proposal was "another attempt to make it a waste management agreement", and to stifle talks on reducing the amount of plastic in circulation. The U.N. Environment Program is hosting the talks and swiftly called a press conference after the stock-take session. UNEP executive director Inger Andersen said a deal was "really within our grasp, even though today it might not look so." "Despite the fog of negotiations I'm really encouraged," she told reporters, insisting: "There is a pathway to success." Vayas added: "We need to accelerate. We need a better rhythm in this and we need to also work in such a way that it will be clear that we will deliver by the end." Afterward, Bjorn Beeler, executive director at IPEN, a global network aimed at limiting toxic chemicals, said: "This whole process has not been able to take decisions and is still collecting ideas. We're sleepwalking towards a cliff and if we don't wake up, we're falling off." Plastic pollution is so ubiquitous that microplastics have been found on the highest mountain peaks, in the deepest ocean trench and scattered throughout almost every part of the human body. More than 400 million metric tons of plastic are produced globally each year, half of which is for single-use items. Plastic production is set to triple by 2060. Panama's negotiator Juan Monterrey Gomez took the floor to slam those countries wanting to stop the treaty from encompassing the entire life cycle of plastic. He said microplastics "are in our blood, in our lungs and in the first cry of a new-born child. Our bodies are living proof of a system that profits from poisoning us." "We cannot recycle our way out of this crisis."
Japan Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Japan Times
U.N. plastic pollution treaty talks progress not 'sufficient': chair
Talks at the United Nations on forging a landmark treaty to combat the scourge of plastic pollution have made insufficient progress, the negotiations chair warned Saturday in a frank midway assessment. The negotiations, which opened on Tuesday, have four days left to find consensus on a legally binding instrument that would tackle the growing problem choking the environment. "Progress made has not been sufficient," Ecuadoran diplomat Luis Vayas Valdivieso told delegates in a blunt summary as all 184 country delegations gathered in the main assembly hall. "We have arrived at a critical stage where a real push to achieve our common goal is needed," ahead of the Thursday deadline. "Aug. 14 is not just a deadline for our work: it is a date by which we must deliver." The draft text as it stands, released publicly ahead of Saturday's session, has now ballooned from 22 to 35 pages, with the number of brackets in the text going up from 371 to almost 1,500. It does not specify which countries or groups inserted the proposed text — meaning the changes could have majority support or be backed by one country alone. "Some articles still have unresolved issues and show little progress towards reaching a common understanding," Valdivieso said. "We have had 2½ years of opportunities for delegations to make proposals," he said, adding: "there is no more time" for such interventions. Countries have reconvened at the U.N. in Geneva to try and find common ground after the failure of what was supposed to be the fifth and final round of talks in Busan, South Korea, which closed in December without agreement.
Arab News
6 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
UN starts new bid to forge plastics treaty amid ‘global crisis'
GENEVA: Nations must resolve the global plastics crisis, the head of UN talks told negotiators from 180 countries gathered in Geneva on Tuesday to forge a landmark treaty on eliminating the life-threatening waste. 'We are facing a global crisis,' Ecuadoran diplomat Luis Vayas Valdivieso said at the start of 10 days of negotiations. 'Plastic pollution is damaging ecosystems, polluting our oceans and rivers, threatening biodiversity, harming human health, and unfairly impacting the most vulnerable,' he said. 'The urgency is real, the evidence is clear, and the responsibility is on us.' Three years of negotiations hit the wall in Busan, South Korea in December when oil-producing states blocked a consensus. Key figures steering the negotiations at this new attempt said they were not expecting an easy ride this time, but insisted a deal remained within reach. 'There's been extensive diplomacy from Busan till now,' UN Environment Programme executive director Inger Andersen told AFP. UNEP is hosting the talks, and Andersen said conversations between different regions and interest groups had generated momentum. 'Most countries, actually, that I have spoken with have said: 'We're coming to Geneva to strike the deal'. 'Will it be easy? No. Will it be straightforward? No. Is there a pathway for a deal? Absolutely.' Plastic pollution is so ubiquitous that microplastics have been found on the highest mountain peaks, in the deepest ocean trench and scattered throughout almost every part of the human body. In 2022, countries agreed they would find a way to address the crisis by the end of 2024. However, the supposedly final negotiations on a legally-binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the seas, flopped in Busan. One group of countries sought an ambitious deal to limit production and phase out harmful chemicals. But a clutch of mostly oil-producing nations rejected production limits and wanted to focus on treating waste. Valdivieso insisted that an effective, fair and ambitious agreement was within reach. 'Our paths and positions might differ; our destination is the same,' he said Monday. 'We are all here because we believe in a shared cause: a world free of plastic pollution.' More than 600 non-governmental organizations are in Geneva. NGOs and civil society have access to the discussions tackling the thorniest points, such as banning certain chemicals and capping production. 'To solve the plastic pollution crisis, we have to stop making so much plastic,' Greenpeace delegation chief Graham Forbes told AFP. The group and its allies want a treaty 'that cuts plastic production, eliminates toxic chemicals, and provides the financing that's going to be required to transition to a fossil fuel, plastic-free future,' he said. 'The fossil fuel industry is here in force,' he noted, adding: 'We cannot let a few countries determine humanity's future when it comes to plastic pollution.' More than 400 million tons of plastic are produced globally each year, half of which is for single-use items. While 15 percent of plastic waste is collected for recycling, only nine percent is actually recycled. Nearly half, 46 percent, ends up in landfills, while 17 percent is incinerated and 22 percent is mismanaged and becomes litter. A report in The Lancet medical journal warned Monday that plastic pollution was a 'grave, growing and under-recognized danger' to health, costing the world at least $1.5 trillion a year in health-related economic losses. The new review of existing evidence, conducted by leading health researchers and doctors, compared plastic to air pollution and lead, saying its impact on health could be mitigated by laws and policies. To hammer home the message, a replica outside the UN of Auguste Rodin's famous sculpture 'The Thinker' will be slowly submerged in mounting plastic rubbish during the talks. The artwork, entitled 'The Thinker's Burden,' is being constructed by the Canadian artist and activist Benjamin Von Wong. 'If you want to protect health, then we need to think about the toxic chemicals that are entering our environment,' he told AFP. But Matthew Kastner, spokesman for the American Chemistry Council, said the plastics industry and its products were 'vital to public health,' notably through medical devices, surgical masks, child safety seats, helmets and pipes delivering clean water.
News.com.au
6 days ago
- Politics
- News.com.au
UN starts new bid to forge plastics treaty amid 'global crisis'
Nations must resolve the global plastics crisis, the head of UN talks told negotiators from 180 countries gathered in Geneva on Tuesday to forge a landmark treaty on eliminating the life-threatening waste. "We are facing a global crisis," Ecuadoran diplomat Luis Vayas Valdivieso said at the start of 10 days of negotiations. "Plastic pollution is damaging ecosystems, polluting our oceans and rivers, threatening biodiversity, harming human health, and unfairly impacting the most vulnerable," he said. "The urgency is real, the evidence is clear, and the responsibility is on us." Three years of negotiations hit the wall in Busan, South Korea in December when oil-producing states blocked a consensus. Key figures steering the negotiations at this new attempt said they were not expecting an easy ride this time, but insisted a deal remained within reach. "There's been extensive diplomacy from Busan till now," UN Environment Programme executive director Inger Andersen told AFP. UNEP is hosting the talks, and Andersen said conversations between different regions and interest groups had generated momentum. "Most countries, actually, that I have spoken with have said: 'We're coming to Geneva to strike the deal'. "Will it be easy? No. Will it be straightforward? No. Is there a pathway for a deal? Absolutely." - Human bodies riddled - Plastic pollution is so ubiquitous that microplastics have been found on the highest mountain peaks, in the deepest ocean trench and scattered throughout almost every part of the human body. In 2022, countries agreed they would find a way to address the crisis by the end of 2024. However, the supposedly final negotiations on a legally-binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the seas, flopped in Busan. One group of countries sought an ambitious deal to limit production and phase out harmful chemicals. But a clutch of mostly oil-producing nations rejected production limits and wanted to focus on treating waste. Valdivieso insisted that an effective, fair and ambitious agreement was within reach. "Our paths and positions might differ; our destination is the same," he said Monday. "We are all here because we believe in a shared cause: a world free of plastic pollution." - 'Plastic-free future' - More than 600 non-governmental organisations are in Geneva. NGOs and civil society have access to the discussions tackling the thorniest points, such as banning certain chemicals and capping production. "To solve the plastic pollution crisis, we have to stop making so much plastic," Greenpeace delegation chief Graham Forbes told AFP. The group and its allies want a treaty "that cuts plastic production, eliminates toxic chemicals, and provides the financing that's going to be required to transition to a fossil fuel, plastic-free future", he said. "The fossil fuel industry is here in force," he noted, adding: "We cannot let a few countries determine humanity's future when it comes to plastic pollution." - Dumped, burned and trashed - More than 400 million tonnes of plastic are produced globally each year, half of which is for single-use items. While 15 percent of plastic waste is collected for recycling, only nine percent is actually recycled. Nearly half, 46 percent, ends up in landfills, while 17 percent is incinerated and 22 percent is mismanaged and becomes litter. A report in The Lancet medical journal warned Monday that plastic pollution was a "grave, growing and under-recognised danger" to health, costing the world at least $1.5 trillion a year in health-related economic losses. The new review of existing evidence, conducted by leading health researchers and doctors, compared plastic to air pollution and lead, saying its impact on health could be mitigated by laws and policies. To hammer home the message, a replica outside the UN of Auguste Rodin's famous sculpture "The Thinker" will be slowly submerged in mounting plastic rubbish during the talks. The artwork, entitled "The Thinker's Burden", is being constructed by the Canadian artist and activist Benjamin Von Wong. "If you want to protect health, then we need to think about the toxic chemicals that are entering our environment," he told AFP. But Matthew Kastner, spokesman for the American Chemistry Council, said the plastics industry and its products were "vital to public health", notably through medical devices, surgical masks, child safety seats, helmets and pipes delivering clean water.
