Historical Step in Combating Plastic Pollution: Global Plastics Agreement

While plastic, one of the most dangerous weapons against the future of our world, continues to affect our whole lives by increasing its effect day by day, a promising development has occurred. While the steps of a global agreement for the production, use, and disposal of plastics were taken at the UN Environment Conference hosted by the Kenyan city of Nairobi, UN member countries agreed to start negotiations for the decisions to be taken.

With these steps, 175 countries have announced to the world press that they will take action, hand in hand, after reaching a common decision on the "plastic crisis" for the first time in history. In addition, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) described these steps as "one of the most ambitious environmental actions to be reached" since the 1989 Montreal Protocol, which phased out ozone-depleting substances.

While increasing concerns about the deep wounds caused by plastic on our natural life, food chain, and ecosystem are increasing, Prof. Steve Fletcher emphasized his speech with these words:

"The dangers posed by plastic have crossed borders. No country, no matter how good its policies are, cannot cope with plastic pollution alone. We need a global agreement that will enable us to deal with the widespread challenges that plastic presents to us as a society."
So what awaits us after all this?

By 2024, world leaders need to reach a consensus on which elements of the agreement will be legally binding and how they will be financed.

At the same time, it is aimed that governments do more work on the climate and plastic crisis and that environmental organizations increase their work and inform society.

One of the important points of the agreement is about the aid to be given to the southern countries, which are victims of the plastic waste sent by the northern countries.

"There are debates about whether and how to finance these resources," Prof. Fletcher said.

"We have done unimaginable damage to the environment by suffocating every ounce of plastic pollution in the world's oceans in just one human lifetime," said Lord Zac Goldsmith, a government official for the environment.

"Now we can start to close this ugly page, although much remains to be done to turn this into an ambitious and far-reaching agreement."

Authored by: İlayda Gülşen