Posted on December, 01 2024
BUSAN, Republic of Korea (1 December 2024) - WWF commends the call from over 80 countries - and growing by the minute - to accept a global plastic pollution treaty only if it includes binding global bans and phaseouts of the most harmful plastic products and chemicals of concern. Coming in the final hours of INC-5 for establishing a global plastic pollution treaty, the call comes at a crucial time as current treaty text shows little promise of establishing strong and binding measures that can give humanity a chance at ending the scourge of plastic pollution.
“We have just hours before the Chair calls the final negotiations for the world’s first ever global plastic pollution treaty to an end, and despite monumental support for binding upstream measures, we have yet to see the treaty live up to its promise of ending plastic pollution. So this call from countries couldn’t have come at a more crucial point - it’s the last stand of the courageous in the face of greed and self-interest,” said Eirik Lindebjerg, Global Plastics Policy Lead, WWF.
“To give us even a slim chance of ending pollution and reducing the amount of plastics, it is clear that the world must establish binding global bans and phaseouts on harmful products and chemicals. Without these binding global bans, we will continue to swim in oceans of plastic trash and our babies will be born with plastic in them.”
“Without binding global bans, this treaty is not worth the paper it’s written on. Busan needs to be the refuge from global inaction and indifference that we have seen mark 2024. The message is clear - we must not leave Busan without binding global bans on the very plastic products and harmful chemicals that we know and have seen with our own eyes to be poisoning current and future generations.”
ENDS
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About WWF
WWF is an independent conservation organization, with over 30 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries. WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the Earth's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world's biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption. Visit www.panda.org/news for the latest news and media resources and follow us on Twitter @WWF_media.