- It is the first time that Catalonia participates in negotiations for a global treaty, and it has been actively involved since the beginning.
- The coalition has been driven by the Government of Catalonia, the Government of Quebec, and the Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) network to unify the voice of administrations closest to citizens in treaty negotiations and strengthen their role in the multilateral system.
The Minister for Foreign Action and the European Union, Meritxell Serret i Aleu, presented on Monday in Ottawa (Canada) an international coalition of local and regional governments to influence the international treaty against plastic pollution. She did so from the Shaw Centre in the Canadian capital, as part of her institutional trip.
This coalition, named "Local and Regional Governments Coalition to End Plastic Pollution," has been driven by the Government of Catalonia, the Government of Quebec, and the Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) network with the aim of unifying the voice of administrations closest to citizens in negotiations for the treaty against plastic pollution and strengthening their role in the multilateral system.
"We want to add voices and, above all, increase our capacity to influence so that governments which are closer to citizens can promote policies and actions that ensure a real reduction in plastic pollution," Serret explained in a media briefing, accompanied by the Quebec Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette.
This is the first time that Catalonia participates in negotiations for an international treaty, and the presentation of the coalition is the result of the Government's continued commitment since the beginning of these negotiations in October 2022.
The coalition has already garnered support from 40 governments from the Americas, Europe and Africa, various influential city and regional networks such as the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), and United Nations agencies including the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), as well as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). It will continue to work to secure more signatures.
The coalition's presentation event was part of the agenda for Partnerships Day, a session organized by the Government of Canada and the WWF. Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, gave a welcome speech at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa, the same venue that will host the fourth negotiating session (INC-4) of the treaty from April 23 to 29.
Minister Serret's agenda in Ottawa also included meetings with the Deputy Assistant Minister for International Affairs at Canada's Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Sandra McCardell, and with the Quebec Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, among other engagements.
Catalonia's Participation
Catalonia is the third region in the world which signed "The New Plastics Global Economy Commitment" in 2019, considered one of the precursors to the current treaty. Since then, the Catalan Government has been very actively involved in the treaty through contributions to the text and meetings with delegates from other countries and key negotiation stakeholders. Catalonia has been present at the negotiating sessions in Paris, Nairobi, and now Ottawa.
MedWaves, a regional center of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for sustainable consumption and production, integrated into the Catalan Waste Agency, has also contributed to the treaty and advised the Government on areas such as plastic pollution, marine litter, and the circular economy.
The Catalan Government has been advocating, on one hand, the need to include local and regional governments in the treaty negotiations and to mention them in the text, as they are the most directly competent and responsible actors for addressing the issue of plastic pollution. In the initial draft of the treaty, there were no references to these governments, but after the third negotiating session held in Nairobi, there are now several.
On the other hand, Catalonia has aligned itself with countries calling for a more ambitious implementation of the treaty, such as the "High Ambition Coalition," led by Norway and Rwanda and integrated by the European Union.
The coalition presented on Monday was born when, following a session in Nairobi, the Government of Catalonia, the Government of Quebec, and ICLEI formed a working group and developed a joint position.
The treaty against plastic pollution
At the fifth United Nations Environment Assembly in March 2022, Member States made the historic decision to establish an intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC) to develop and agree on a legally binding international treaty on plastic pollution before the end of 2024. The treaty includes pollution in the marine environment and addresses the entire life cycle of plastics, from production to becoming waste.
Since then, the INC has been meeting in various negotiating sessions: in Punta del Este, Paris, Nairobi, and now in Ottawa. The fifth meeting (INC-5) will take place in Busan this November.
The treaty is the most ambitious ever undertaken in terms of plastic pollution and has generated growing interest in international policy.
The session in Ottawa is expected to be intense and will involve discussions on one of the hottest topics, plastic production. Member States, as well as observers (a category that includes United Nations agencies, NGOs, civil society entities, and regional governments), will negotiate what is still a draft of the treaty.
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