Earlier this year, the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) met in Kenya where delegates reached international consensus on the need for a legally binding plastics treaty. That session at the UNEA proved to be the first round of discussions on what a plastics treaty could look like and how it could be implemented.
Environmental ministers and experts from across Africa are meeting in Dakar, Senegal, at the resumed 18th session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) from September 12 -16, 2022 where negotiations around the global plastics treaty is one of the key items on the table.
The theme of AMCEN this year is “Securing people’s well-being and ensuring environmental sustainability in Africa”. The AMCEN meeting follows the ad-hoc open-ended working group (OEWG) to prepare for the intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC) on plastic pollution, held from May 30 to June 1, 2022, also hosted in Dakar.
Among other agenda items, Africa’s participation in the development of an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution will be discussed. This is an opportunity for African leaders to outline a clear path forward regarding Africa’s regional position to be developed ahead of the first meeting of the INC which will be held later this year in Uruguay.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), in a press statement, said that the AMCEN has played a critical role in demonstrating the leadership and unity of the African environment ministers, calling for urgent and ambitious global action to address plastic pollution through its 17th session, 18th session and 19th special session over the last four years.
WWF hopes the ministers will reaffirm their united call for an ambitious and effective global plastics treaty and agree on a clear path forward for Africa’s participation in treaty negotiations.
WWF envisions a global plastics treaty that contains common global rules across the full life cycle of plastics.
These rules may include global bans or phase-outs of the most problematic, high-risk and harmful plastic products and materials, establishing common design standards for plastic products and materials to ensure they are kept within a circular economy, and regulating greater transparency along the plastics value chain.
As African negotiators plan the road and draft their position, it is critical that they ensure the inclusive and meaningful engagement of all stakeholders, including the informal waste sector, who contribute to collecting, sorting and recovering valuable plastics for recycling.
Alice Ruhweza, the Africa Regional Director at the WWF, said that “the theme of this year’s AMCEN highlights that the well-being of people and protection of nature need to be central to the future of our continent. When it comes to plastic pollution, this is of utmost importance as we move towards a circular plastics economy.”
Ruhweza believes that the global plastics treaty will provide an opportunity to ensure that any plastic materials and products that are produced on, or enter, the African continent are designed, used and managed in a way that serves both people and nature.
Laurent Some, Policy and Partnerships Head, WWF regional office for Africa, congratulated the leadership of Rwanda and Senegal for their commitments made through the High Ambition Coalition of like-minded governments.
“We encourage more African governments to be champions of an ambitious treaty. To this end, we call on AMCEN to emphasise the need for global action-oriented measures targeting the full life cycle of plastics, coupled with the necessary means of implementation, to be included in the global instrument,” Some said.
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