Dispatch 3 from UNEP's Ban Plastics Conference
The Firebreak's Man Inside the UNEP Plastic Pollution INC 5.2 Negotiations in Geneva had a late night last night
Dispatch 3 from Geneva for Tuesday, 12 August reveals an organization with poor communications, spontaneous press conferences, an anti-plastic youth NGO manufactured for the conference having meetings with an EU Commissioner, and rumors that there isn’t even a draft text as the base for the meetings. The Firebreak’s Man Inside UNEP’s Ban Plastics negotiations had a late night last night and is clearly the hardest working delegate in Geneva.
Communications Chaos
EU Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and Competitive Circular Economy, Jessika Roswall and the, Danish Environment minister (representing the EU Council presidency), gave a brief press conference with Roswall mixing her messages in a rather confused manner (on how we all love plastics but they are “invading” our bodies).
I did not attend that press conference myself because it was not announced. Some people just happened to be around and found out. I got the information from someone else. Delegates are too often left to our own devices, spending a lot of time trying to find out things between ourselves.
Then the European Commissioner for the Environment went outside and posed, awkwardly, with some young people from the Youth Plastic Action Network (YPAN) providing them with her pulpy message of a need for change, rising to the challenges and delivering for future generations.
Editor’s note: The Youth Plastic Action Network seems to have been set up a week ago, at the start of the conference, by the Geneva Environment Network, and quickly embraced by a wide range of NGOs. But this couldn’t possibly be a stunt where activist groups manipulate some young people to advance their campaigns. That would be cynical and the European Commissioner surely would have been briefed before being allowed to be used in such a stunt.
On Tuesday afternoon, the INC Chair, Ambassador Luis Vayas Valdivieso, convened the observers to give us un update on the status of the negotiations. The update was short (about 7 minutes) and it boiled down to the concerns over the lack of progress so far, that certain issues are blocking the negotiations and the hope that until Thursday or Friday morning (probably) they will be able to close the deal. He mentioned, however, that political discussions may be the only avenue to reach a deal.
Is There Even a Draft Text?
Compared to the previous INCs, where the work in the Contact Groups was really negotiation and agreement on the scope and text itself, now these groups have become mere reporting sessions about the work done during the informal meetings. Beyond the lack of transparency, the naked truth may be that there is no agreed upon text at this point, even on the less contentious issues.
The evening sessions were less dramatic, with strong statements, however, from certain parties who made it clear that the initial agreement was to negotiate on the treaty provisions that were acceptable to all parties. There was general discontent that topics which are divisive kept being pushed back into the process, hindering the finalization of the text on subjects for which agreement has been found.
Two more days … and probably a long night.