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Presentation by Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), at the INC-5.2 Opening Plenary in Geneva, Switzerland
Almost three and a half years have passed since the historic adoption of the UN Environment Assembly Resolution 5/14. It is now high time for Member States to get the deal over the line. And, today, this means rolling up the sleeves and getting into Contact Groups. I will therefore be brief.
You face 10 days of intensive negotiations. You know that you will have to work hard and with determination, as you have done before. You know that you will have to work in the spirt of solidarity and compromise, as you have done before. But I believe you can leave Geneva with a treaty.
Since Busan, you have enabled a real surge in diplomacy. You have been engaging with one another in informal settings, in bilaterals, regional consultation groups and across regions, as well as across viewpoints, to forge approaches, ideas and solutions. This engagement has been critical to getting us where we are today and is the most intense, I have seen yet during this process, demonstrating that you want this treaty.
I thank you for this productive diplomacy, which has begun to carve out a path to a possible agreement. Now, I do accept that this path is narrow and precarious, with a steep drop on either side. But we are here in the alps and when you walk a precarious path, you walk together. And indeed, you are bound together as you navigate this path. Because the only way to reach the destination is by going together.
I am always inspired when I enter these halls here in Geneva. This city is the birthplace of modern multilateralism. While the set-up of the League of Nations was far from ideal, and while many voices were excluded and unrepresented, this city saw the setting in motion the noble notion that countries can problem solve together. And as we look out on the soaring height of the alps, let us reach for those heights as we take inspiration from the past, but build and shape for the future.
I also invite you to draw inspiration from the establishment of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel on Chemicals, Waste and Pollution, which could provide important science for the treaty on plastic pollution. By agreeing on this panel just two months’ ago, Member States proved yet again that environmental multilateralism delivers. Now it is your turn.
As you get down to negotiating, I remind you that the world wants and needs to tackle the plastic pollution crisis. People are outraged. They are worried. They are watching. And rightly so.
Plastic pollution is already in nature, in our oceans and even in our bodies. And plastic leakage to the environment is predicted to grow 50 per cent by 2040. If we continue on the current trajectory the world will be drowning in plastic pollution – with massive consequences for planetary, economic and human health.
I know that you know that it is in your hands to make sure that this does not happen. It is in your hands to protect us all, the environment and future generations. That it is in your hand to turn the plastic pollution challenge into an opportunity of solutions and new beginnings. We at UNEP will be there to support you. Ultimately, of course, the path is paved by you.
So, I ask you to reach across the aisle and start crafting the Chair’s text into a final agreement. One that draws on the many areas of convergence. One that starts with strength but also includes the hooks for further development. And one that sets the world on the path to ending plastic pollution forever.
