Promising Start to Plastic Pollution Negotiations as Countries Show Strong Support for Ambitious Global Agreement
The first meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a new legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution concluded today in Punta del Este, Uruguay. WWF welcomes the strong support shown for an ambitious global plastics treaty demonstrated at the meeting, but cautions that this is just the first step in the two-year road to a global plastics treaty.
More than 145 countries have shown strong alignment in their preference for a treaty with specific and common, global rules. Such rules could include bans on the most problematic forms of plastic, and product requirements to ensure reuse and circularity.
This is the first time that governments have met to negotiate global level regulations to stop the plastic pollution crisis. The process is planned to conclude in 2024 and aims to create a global convention with a common global approach to tackle plastic pollution.
Welcoming the progress made at the meeting, Eirik Lindebjerg, WWF Global Plastics Policy Lead, said “The momentum demonstrated at these negotiations is a promising sign that we will get a truly ambitious treaty with effective global measures to stop plastic pollution by the end of these negotiations.” However, he also warns that “This is just the first step towards a legally binding global treaty that can help us stop plastic pollution. The next stage of negotiations will be more challenging, as countries must agree on the technical measures and rules. Although in the minority, there are also some powerful opponents of global rules and standards, which risk potentially weakening obligations on countries to take action. The push for an ambitious global plastics treaty has only just begun.”
While the formal outcomes of the meeting appear quite limited, they do not reflect the strong support for global rules and commitments from governments. It is now crucial that governments start developing the specific rules towards the next negotiation meeting in Paris in May 2023, according to WWF.
WWF has called for the negotiations to result in an ambitious and inclusive treaty, with efficient control measures applicable at various levels, and which considers financial, technical and technological mechanisms to carry out a just transition at a global level.
Lindebjerg argues that: “The volume of plastic polluting the environment has reached crisis levels. Millions of people around the world, whose livelihoods and environments are affected by plastic, have their eyes on these negotiations. It has been a very important week in the history of protecting the environment and people. This week we saw an encouraging level of agreement, both in formal and informal spaces, on the urgency of seeking a joint solution to this major threat to nature and communities, and to do so in a comprehensive, effective, inclusive and science-based manner. Now negotiators must harness this momentum to push for specific rules to be negotiated as part of the treaty”
Notes for editors:
WWF’s report Towards a Global Treaty to End Plastic Pollution: Global rules to solve a global problem is available to here.
WWF: World Must Not Miss its Chance to Secure a ‘Paris’-style Agreement for Nature at CBD CoP15
Montreal, Canada – In the face of accelerating biodiversity loss and growing food insecurity, WWF is urging world leaders to secure an ambitious global agreement to save our life support systems at the COP15 UN biodiversity conference set to start next week in Montreal (7-19 December).
Nature is declining at rates unprecedented in human history, with one million species now threatened with extinction. People are becoming increasingly aware of this crisis. New WWF research published today shows the amount of people concerned about rapid nature loss in the world’s top global biodiversity hotspots, has risen to nearly 60% – reflecting a 10% increase, since 2018*. In addition, nature and climate change were seen as the most important policy areas for people (81%), across the thousands surveyed.
WWF will be pressing governments in Montreal to adopt a ‘Paris’-style agreement capable of driving immediate action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 for a nature-positive world. This means having more nature at the end of the decade, than we have now.
“Climate change is not the only horseman of the environmental apocalypse. Nature loss looms just as large. And the two are intertwined. You can’t solve one without addressing the other. But nature is often overshadowed by climate change in public policy debates,” said Carter Roberts, President and CEO of WWF-US. “COP15 can be a platform to elevate the fundamental importance that nature has to play in securing a liveable future. And it’s an opportunity for governments, businesses, and other actors to step forward with bold new commitments to be nature positive by 2030 and to transform the way we produce and consume food and other products.”
To date, more than 90 world leaders have endorsed the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature, committing to reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.
“We are losing biodiversity at an alarming rate. We’ve lost half of the world’s warm water corals, and forests the size of roughly one football field vanish every two seconds**. Wildlife populations have suffered a two-thirds decline globally in less than 50 years. The future of the natural world is on a knife’s edge. But nature is resilient – and with a strong global agreement driving urgent action it can bounce-back…” says Marco Lambertini, Director General, WWF International.
“Nature holds the answers to many of the world’s most pressing challenges. Failure at COP15 is not an option. It would place us at increased risk from pandemics, exacerbate climate change making it impossible to limit global warming at 1.5C, and stunt economic growth – leaving the poorest people more vulnerable to food and water insecurity. To tackle the nature crisis, governments must agree on a nature-positive goal that unites the world in protecting more of the nature left on the planet while restoring as much as possible and transforming our productive sectors to work with nature, not against it. After many pledges and commitments it’s crunch time in Montreal for leaders to deliver for people and planet.”
WWF stresses the importance of countries agreeing to a goal of conserving at least 30% of the planet’s land, inland waters and oceans by 2030 through a rights-based approach that recognizes the leadership and rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.
At the same time, action is needed to ensure the remaining 70% of the planet is sustainably managed and restored – and this means addressing the drivers of biodiversity loss, with the same level of urgency. Science is clear that global production and consumption rates are completely unsustainable and are causing serious damage to the natural systems people rely on for their livelihoods and wellbeing. WWF believes a commitment to half the global footprint of production and consumption by 2030, while recognising huge inequalities between and within countries, is desperately needed in the framework to ensure that key sectors, such as agriculture and food, fisheries, forestry, extractives and infrastructure, are transformed to help deliver a nature-positive world.
Despite a large and growing number of world leaders committing to secure an ambitious global biodiversity agreement, key issues remain unresolved, including how to mobilize the necessary finance. Currently, the biodiversity finance gap is estimated to be US$700 billion annually. WWF is calling for countries to substantially increase finance, including international public finance with developing countries as the beneficiaries, and align public and private financial flows with nature-positive practices, including through the elimination or repurposing of harmful subsidies and other incentives.
The talks are the finale to what has been an incredibly challenging four years of negotiations, with the pandemic delaying any agreement on the global biodiversity framework under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) until now.
“Leaders must send the message loud and clear that the existential nature crisis can, and must, be addressed at the same time as current pressing socio-economic needs. They must mandate their ministers and negotiators to translate existing commitments into ambition in the negotiation room and find common ground on tricky issues such as finance. The June round of negotiations left the chances of an ambitious nature agreement on life-support but it can still be reached if all step up to the plate in Montreal,” says Lin Li, Senior Director of Global Policy and Advocacy, WWF International.
“In 2020, we saw the devastating results of the ten-year ‘Aichi Targets’ – the second consecutive decade in which the world failed to meet any global biodiversity targets. We cannot afford another lost decade for nature, which would be tantamount to dereliction of duty by governments and only cause more human suffering. This means negotiators coming to the table ready to sign up to a clear blueprint to deliver the necessary finance - with developed countries supporting the conservation efforts of developing countries - and a strong implementation mechanism to hold countries to account.”
WWF notes that a strong implementation mechanism which requires countries to review progress against targets and increase action as required is an essential mechanism to ensure real action is delivered on the ground.
This proposal is underlined by WWF’s research, which found 56% of people surveyed believe government action to protect biodiversity is insufficient. The research, which surveyed more than 9200 people across regions with staggering rates of biodiversity loss, found that people also perceived policy-related actions to be more impactful than individual consumer action.
Notes to editors:
WWF’s expectations paper for COP15 is available to read here
WWF considers the below essential ingredients in an ambitious global biodiversity framework:
- A mission to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 for a nature-positive world
- A goal to 30% of the planet’s land and water conserved by 2030 through a rights-based approach
- A commitment to halve the world’s footprint of production and consumption by 2030
- A comprehensive resource mobilization strategy to finance implementation of the framework
- A strong implementation mechanism which offers reviews and ratchets action over time, in the mold of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, with agreed indicators to measure progress
- A rights-based approach, recognizing the leadership, rights, and knowledge of indigenous peoples and local communities, and a whole of society approach, enabling participation of all sectors of society throughout the implementation of the framework
- The inclusion of equitable and rights-based Nature-based Solutions alongside ecosystem-based approaches to deliver benefits for people and nature
*The WWF Biodiversity Awareness study, funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI), surveyed 9,228 respondents from across nine countries in biodiversity hotspots, including Brazil, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Peru, Vietnam and South Africa. The survey aimed to understand the current levels of awareness and attitudes towards biodiversity, willingness to act to protect nature and gauge the level of concern about biodiversity loss. The data was collected between 25 November - 9 December 2021 through an online quantitative survey. A summary is available to download on this webpage, and further analysis of these figures will be availablehere on 29 November.
**Half of the world’s warm water corals have been lost, and forests the size of football fields vanish every two seconds. Living Planet Report 2022. We're currently losing around 100,000 sq km of forest per year, or roughly one football pitch every two seconds. In the most recent five-year period (2015–2020), the annual rate of deforestation was estimated at 10 million ha, down from 12 million ha in 2010–2015. & pers calculation football pitch size of 7,000 sq m. FAO. 2020. Source: Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020: Main report. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/ca9825en
Momento histórico para tiburones y rayas durante la clausura de la CoP19 de CITES
WWF hace un llamado urgente para la implementación de acciones
Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá.- La 19ª Conferencia CITES (Convención sobre el Comercio Internacional de Especies Amenazadas de Fauna y Flora Silvestres) concluyó hoy en Panamá con una serie de aspectos positivos para la vida silvestre en términos de protección mundial contra el comercio insostenible. En general, la conferencia fue un éxito, especialmente para los tiburones y las rayas, ya que alrededor del 90% de todas las especies comercializadas internacionalmente ahora solo podrán comercializarse si sus poblaciones no se ven impactadas como resultado de ese comercio, en comparación con solo el 20% antes del inicio de la conferencia.
54 especies de tiburones réquiem, seis especies de tiburones martillo y 37 especies de peces guitarra se han incluido en el Apéndice II de la CITES. Esto significa que, en el futuro, el comercio internacional de estas especies sólo se permitirá si las poblaciones de tiburones y rayas no están en peligro.
Margaret Kinnaird, Líder de Práctica de Vida Silvestre de WWF, dijo: "Los acuerdos alcanzados en esta conferencia en torno a tiburones y rayas son como un salvavidas para estas especies que se encuentran bajo una inmensa presión debido al comercio no regulado de sus aletas y carne. Compartimos nuestro planeta con millones de especies de plantas y animales; una increíble variedad de vida silvestre de la que dependemos de muchas maneras. En WWF somos optimistas ya que las victorias aseguradas en esta conferencia para estas especies y sus hábitats oceánicos proporcionarán el ímpetu necesario para futuras acciones relacionadas a otras especies amenazadas".
El nuevo reglamento sobre el comercio de aves canoras tropicales también es un paso en la dirección correcta, al igual que las decisiones sobre más de 140 especies de árboles tropicales que se han añadido al Apéndice II de la Convención. Esto significa que las exportaciones solo pueden ocurrir siempre y cuando su madera esté certificada como legal y sostenible. Sin embargo, WWF lamenta profundamente la decisión de retrasar la implementación de estas propuestas por un periodo de dos años, en el caso de dos especies de árboles de América Latina: el cumaru y el ipé. Este retraso puede abrir una peligrosa ventana para la sobreexplotación de estas especies, lo cual es preocupante.
"La vida silvestre de nuestro planeta está en crisis y WWF está preocupado debido a que el largo plazo establecido para que algunos de estos acuerdos entren en vigor puede representar un serio obstáculo para el progreso realizado en las últimas dos semanas. Las poblaciones de vida silvestre se han desplomado en un promedio del 69% en poco menos de 50 años y no tenemos el lujo de perder otro día más para implementar los acuerdos alcanzados en esta conferencia", agregó el Dr. Kinnaird.
Otra oportunidad perdida, desde la perspectiva de WWF, fue el ritmo extremadamente lento al que se están llevando a cabo los esfuerzos para proteger de la caza furtiva y el comercio ilegal a los felinos más grandes del mundo, los tigres.
"En este año, el año lunar del tigre, esperábamos que la amenaza del comercio que enfrenta el felino más grande del mundo recibiera mayor atención en la CITES. Aunque no retrocedimos en Panamá, se necesitan acciones urgentes y específicas para mejorar la implementación de las leyes y reducir la demanda que aborden el problema a la escala de esta amenaza", dijo Heather Sohl, Líder de Comercio de Tigres de WWF.
La aprobación de una resolución en la que se reconoce la importancia de garantizar la incorporación de la perspectiva de género y la igualdad en la Convención CITES es un aspecto muy positivo en una conferencia llena de incertidumbre para muchas de las especies más amenazadas del mundo. La decisión constituye la base para el desarrollo de diversos instrumentos y medidas que pondrán a la convención en un camino positivo hacia el éxito de la conservación, la mejora de las condiciones de vida y la gobernanza, la reducción de conflictos, las desigualdades sociales y la erradicación de la violencia de género relacionada con el comercio internacional legal e ilegal de vida silvestre.
