Yesterday’s Earth Day Live session featured international voices leading the charge to advocate for an international treaty banning plastics. Global leaders on multilateralism and pollution controls provided a comprehensive overview of this treaty, ways that it can develop leading up to UNEA-5.2 and beyond, and how citizens can support this providential opportunity to take action against plastic pollution. VIEW THE RECORDING HERE
Highlights from the event included:
Hugo-Maria Schally
Head of Unit, Global Environmental Cooperation & Multilateralism, European Commission
- “We are moving as a group of interested countries that share the same final objective to the decisive meeting of UNEA 5.2 in a couple of weeks time. We hope that we will actually have a speedy and swift agreement on launching the negotiations. That is only the first step. A lot of work is still ahead of us until we can conclude but I think it is a necessary step that we need to take in February in Nairobi.”
- “We need to look at things from a systemic perspective and we need to create the enabling framework for countries to make the transition to an economy that is actually allowing the value of products and materials to stay longer in the economy and thereby reduce primary resource consumption….I think that is why basing the action on looking at the whole lifecycle is so important because you need to address it from the very beginning if you want to address it well at the end.”
Monica Medina
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, U.S. Department of State
- “It really is time to turn the tide on plastic pollution and waste. Plastic pollution is a global problem that affects our environment, it affects our food security, maritime transportation, tourism, economic stability, resource management, and even potentially human health.”
- “It is a major global challenge that will only continue to get worse unless we take ambitious action now. Which is why the United States supports launching the negotiation on a global agreement at the next U.N. Environment Assembly meeting … UNEA 5.2 is an opportunity to mobilize immediate global action to address ocean plastic and plastic pollution in general and find innovative solutions.”
- “We must ensure that an agreement to combat this pollution includes a financial mechanism to help countries most in need.”
Ana Teresa Lecaros
Director of Environment, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Peru
- “We understand that the legally-binding nature of the treaty is much needed. The treaty should have strong, mandatory pillars, elements, and mechanisms to really achieve the goal of reducing plastic pollution in all ecosystems.”
Juliet Kabera
Director General, Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA)
- “It is through a global treaty that we will have the right knowledge sharing…We need a founding mechanism to be able to implement and upscale the activities that we are doing right now with education and awareness.”
Gavin McIntyre
Chief Commercialization Officer and Co-Founder, Ecovative
- “This [plastic pollution] is not a challenge that will be solved by only one technology, but really does require a family of technologies in order to truly resolve.”
ABOUT EARTH DAY LIVE™
Originating from the first virtual celebration of Earth Day, EARTHDAY.ORG’s new Earth Day Live event series explores Earth’s urgent environmental issues and examines a variety of approaches to protect our shared home. Topics include climate restoration, regenerative agriculture, environment and social justice, supply chain resilience, plastic pollution, resource scarcity, food security, biodiversity restoration, and universal climate literacy. Panelists range from public and private sector leaders, to activists, scientists, influencers and beyond. The series has reached hundreds of thousands of viewers on several streaming platforms. Learn more about our upcoming events at https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-live-webinars/
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