VICTORIA, Seychelles — The fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on plastic pollution (INC-5.2) closed in Geneva in the morning of August 17 without parties reaching consensus on the articles of the proposed treaty, the first part of which had taken place in Busan. Seychelles was represented at the ministerial segment by a delegation from the Ministry of Environment, comprising Minister Flavien Joubert, Director General for Waste Enforcement and Permit Nanette Laure, and the INC National Focal Point Fredrick Kinloch, Director for Waste and Standards in the Department of Environment.
Mr Joubert held bilateral meetings with counterparts from member countries, including Mauritius’s vice-minister for environment, Joanna Marie Berenger, with whom it was agreed that the two countries would further explore regional solutions for waste fractions. He also met Belgium’s Minister for Mobility, Climate and Ecological Transition, Jean-Luc Crucke, who showed interest in closer collaboration on climate matters with the Africa Island States. Seychelles, on its side, closely supported the call for the INC to deliver rapidly on its mandate given by the United Nations Environment Assembly in 2022 to bring forward a globally binding treaty leading to effective management of plastic throughout its life cycle.
The group made an appeal for the chair to facilitate timely delivery by co-chairs of contact groups, with more informal sessions to help deliver on the mandate and additional political engagements ahead of the next session. The Alliance of Small Island States, led by Palau, will reconvene soon to consider the proposed text in more detail. A positive point for Seychelles and other SIDS was that the chair’s new proposed text includes more of the small islands’ requirements than the previous iteration, making it acceptable for further discussion. Concerns remain, however, that after five negotiating sessions the INC only has a draft with numerous bracketed text and little alignment.
-
-
-
-
