Towards a Global Treaty to End Plastic Pollution

The policy brief outlines strategies to ensure the 'widest and most effective participation possible' in the negotiations for a global treaty to end plastic pollution. It identifies systemic barriers in current UN processes—such as restrictive accreditation, limited speaking rights, language gaps, and lack of funding—and recommends adopting more open models (like the Escazú Agreement) to include frontline stakeholders, including waste pickers, Indigenous Peoples, and youth.

• The United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) resolution 5/14 established a mandate to negotiate a legally binding international instrument to end plastic pollution, calling for the "widest and most effective participation possible" from potential parties, international organizations, and relevant stakeholders.
• Non-State actors currently engage in UN-level Multilateral Environmental Agreement (MEA) negotiations through six primary methods: civil society delegations, assisting the Secretariat with conference documents, joining national government delegations, organizing side-events, producing research/publications, and proposing text amendments via Member State co-sponsorship.
• The Major Groups and Other Stakeholders (MGS) system used by UNEP categorizes non-governmental stakeholders into nine groups: NGOs, Indigenous Peoples, women, children and youth, workers and trade unions, farmers, local authorities, the scientific and technological community, and business and industry.
• Meaningful participation is often hindered by restrictive rules of procedure, such as limiting stakeholder interventions to "as appropriate" or restricting speaking slots to the end of meetings after decisions have already been made.
• Language barriers limit participation in MEA negotiations; while official UN languages are recognized, interpretation is often only available during plenary sessions, with technical meetings and informal negotiations frequently limited to English.
• There is a critical lack of formal funding mechanisms within MEA rules of procedure to support stakeholder attendance, which includes costs for visas, travel, and interpretation, though some models like the UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples provide a precedent.
• The COVID-19 pandemic created precedents for restricting access, such as during the IGC-4 on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, where civil society organizations were initially denied physical access to the UN compound and limited to remote participation without oral intervention rights.
• Indigenous Peoples are uniquely exposed to plastic pollution across its full life cycle and possess traditional knowledge essential for the treaty, yet they face historical suppression and institutional barriers to participation.
• Informal workers, particularly waste pickers, are among the most exposed to the plastics cycle and often lack formal organization, social security, or protective equipment, necessitating specific inclusion measures in the treaty process.
• Children and youth face structural constraints to participation—including age, funding, and education requirements—despite evidence that they are exposed to hazardous plastic-related chemicals from birth.
• Women experience gendered impacts from plastic pollution, including higher health risks from chemical additives and an outsized role as informal waste pickers, yet they remain underrepresented in meeting staffs and Secretariats.
• The brief recommends that the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) adopt open accreditation modeled on the Escazú Agreement, ensure all meetings are hybrid, provide full UN language interpretation, and include public representatives within the INC Bureau.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (n.d.). Towards a Global Treaty to End Plastic Pollution. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Ensuring-Meaningful-and-Effective-Stakeholder-Involvement-in-the-Intergovernmental-Environmental-Negotiations-FINAL-TEXT.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. Towards a Global Treaty to End Plastic Pollution. n.d. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Ensuring-Meaningful-and-Effective-Stakeholder-Involvement-in-the-Intergovernmental-Environmental-Negotiations-FINAL-TEXT.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=Towards a Global Treaty to End Plastic Pollution |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Ensuring-Meaningful-and-Effective-Stakeholder-Involvement-in-the-Intergovernmental-Environmental-Negotiations-FINAL-TEXT.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centerforinternationalenvironmentallawndtowards, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{Towards a Global Treaty to End Plastic Pollution}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Ensuring-Meaningful-and-Effective-Stakeholder-Involvement-in-the-Intergovernmental-Environmental-Negotiations-FINAL-TEXT.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }