Protecting the Marine Environment: An International Treaty on Plastic Pollution

Marine plastic pollution stems both from human activities on land and at sea. On land this includes the production and disposal of plastics, their use in road transportation (e.g., vehicle tyres), agricultural activities, the food and beverage industry, the packaging industry, and tourism, while activities at sea include the use of plastics in fishing (e.g., for fishing gear) and shipping. Between 4.8 and 12.7 million tons of plastic enter the ocean annually, with land-based activities being the primary source of plastic marine litter. The effects on the marine environment range from biodiversity loss to the entanglement and ingestion of plastic by marine species, as well as harms to human health. For instance, toxic effects of microplastics in experimental models included oxidative stress, DNA damage, organ dysfunction, among others. These challenges pose a threat to the ocean, which provides essential benefits to society, such as food, oxygen production, and climate regulation.

A global response to addressing marine plastic pollution requires that the full life cycle of plastics is considered to effectively address the problem at its sources. Such an approach includes the production, transport, and use of plastics, in addition to sound waste management and recycling. It must also address chemical pollutants, acknowledge the problem of legacy plastics, include land- and sea-based sources of plastic pollution and apply a transdisciplinary approach. The latter would provide for an inclusive and transformative process, enabling partnerships, engagement, action and joint knowledge production among academic and non-academic stakeholders towards effectively reducing plastic pollution. 

Building on previous resolutions focussing on marine litter, the 2022 United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) resolution 5/14 established an intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC) to develop an international legally binding instrument covering the full life cycle of plastics by the end of 2024 over the course of five rounds of negotiations.

Approximately sixty percent of the plastics produced since 1950 has ended up in the natural environment. Land-based plastic pollution enters the seas through rivers, storm water runoff, wind dispersal and littering. The new treaty aims to comprehensively address the plastics problem, since existing instruments currently focus on specific stages of the plastic life cycle or specifically on marine litter, resulting in a fragmented governance landscape, covering only certain governance levels, sectors or stages of the life cycle. For example, at the international level, Annex V of the Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) imposes a ban on the disposal of plastic into the sea, addressing sea-based sources of marine plastic pollution. At the regional level, Regional Seas Conventions also aim to address plastic pollution, including from land-based sources. At EU-level, the Plastics Strategy aims to reduce marine litter by improving the recyclability of plastics, tackling single-use plastics and plastic waste and promoting biobased and compostable plastics, among others. Furthermore, national plastic bans, such as for single-use plastics and plastic bags, have been established in many countries (e.g., Kenya, Tanzania) to prevent these from entering the seas. As various measures exist, coordination, including at the international level, could help to harmonise these multiple efforts. 

Prior to the start of the treaty negotiations in 2022, an expert group was established by UNEA in 2017 to explore options for global actions to tackle marine litter and plastic pollution. In 2019 a majority of States at the UNEA meeting agreed to work towards establishing a global treaty against plastics in the ocean. In parallel, a group of 29 global companies launched a business manifesto in support of such a treaty. By 2022, 156 States had declared their support for an international plastics treaty, leading to the adoption by UN Member States of UNEA resolution 5/14 in March 2022. In addition to this, together with 18 other States, Norway and Rwanda launched the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution by 2040 (HAC), of which the EU is also a member. The HAC, currently counting 67 members from different regions worldwide, promotes an ambitious plastics treaty with binding provisions along the entire life cycle, not only to reduce production and consumption, but also to eliminate and restrict unnecessary, avoidable or problematic plastic products, as well as setting clear targets, among other aspects. This also includes restrictions on certain hazardous chemicals and the introduction of bans on problematic plastic products that are difficult to recycle.

In the wake of UNEA resolution 5/14, the first session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-1) took place from 28 November to 2 December 2022 in Punta del Este, Uruguay. Preceded by regional consultations and a multi-stakeholder forum, the negotiations brought together more than 2300 delegates from 160 countries in an effort to find common ground on the scope and implementation of the future treaty. As a result, the Committee requested the INC Secretariat to provide a draft outline of options for elements to be covered by the instrument ahead of the second round of negotiations. This outline included core obligations, control measures, voluntary approaches, means of implementation, as well as legally binding and voluntary measures.

The second session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-2), which took place in Paris, France from 29 May to 2 June 2023, mainly discussed procedural matters, as some delegations insisted on voting by consensus. Despite these procedural scuffles, the national delegations agreed on a mandate for developing a zero draft of the treaty, as the basis for the third round of negotiations. While many countries expressed their support for provisions at source, limiting primary plastic production, the third session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-3), which took place in Nairobi, Kenya from 13-19 November 2023, was stalled by a group of like-minded countries, favouring tackling plastic pollution downstream by focusing solely on waste management and recycling. While the mismanagement of plastic waste occurs due to a lack of waste collection, dumping and littering activities, as well as uncontrolled landfills, the problem is rooted in plastic production and consumption, which influence downstream plastic pollution, ending up in the ocean. 

Following discussions at INC-3, delegations continued treaty negotiations based on the revised draft text from 21 to 30 April 2024 during the fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4) in Ottawa, Canada. Among the key outcomes of INC-4 were the establishment of an open-ended legal drafting group and the agreement on intersessional work ahead of INC-5, reintroducing textual negotiations. 

The fifth meeting on the Committee, INC-5, took place in Busan, South Korea from 25 November to 01 December 2024, and was supposed to be the last round of negotiations for the treaty. However, States failed to agree on a treaty due to divergence in positions on the scope its mandate and as such decided to reconvene for INC5.2 in 2025 instead. Despite the failure of negotiating a treaty at INC-5, States agreed on a chairs text as a basis for further negotiations at INC 5.2. 

Some key challenges remain, including the adoption of the treaty by consensus, the need to find common ground among States on core legally binding obligations and the level of ambition that should be reflected in the treaty. This pertains to the fundamental question of whether the treaty will encompass the entire life cycle of plastics and address the plastic problem at its source, or whether it will address merely waste management. Open questions also remain in relation to finding a suitable financial mechanism, agreeing on how the future instrument will be implemented, including reporting processes and common definitions, such as problematic and avoidable plastic polymers and products, microplastics and circularity. 

The negotiation process for a global plastic treaty brought forward various State interests and positions that have manifested in different State groupings and coalitions. For instance, the Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC), the African Group, Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Pacific SIDS groups support upstream provisions, to reduce and prevent plastic production at source and as such from entering the marine environment. The African Group emphasizes the need for the treaty to include provisions for legacy plastics, comprising plastics that are already in the (marine) environment and cannot be reused or recycled. This contrasts with the position of petrochemical producing industry, with lobbyists being present during the negotiations, including as members of national delegations, favouring a primary focus on mechanical and chemical recycling through the introduction of recycling quotas as a solution to plastic waste. Differences can also be observed between States favouring a top-down approach, including globally agreed and legally binding targets versus countries advocating for a voluntary and national approach based on national action plans and countries’ capacities, similar to the Paris Agreement. Environmental organisations, in turn, criticise the proposal by States to focus on waste management alone, while scientists emphasize the need for the treaty to cover ecosystems that are affected by plastic pollution. The International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Plastics emphasises the need for a plastic treaty that recognises the rights of Indigenous Peoples and their full participation. INC 5.2 should therefore make use of the knowledge of various stakeholders and rightsholders to balance human wellbeing, economic activities and environmental protection. Furthermore, the next round of negotiations will have to overcome procedural scuffles and ensure that the treaty covers the entire life cycle of plastics.  

The way that governments, communities, industries and other stakeholders interact and govern ocean activities, through national and international law, custom, tradition and culture, as well as the institutions and processes created by them, is a key focus of our research at RIFS. A team of interdisciplinary researchers of the Ocean Governance research group is engaged in a number of associated projects to co-develop and co-create together with different stakeholders new knowledge and recommendations for solutions for key sustainability challenges. These include two EU-funded projects focusing on the topic of marine pollution:

• The Source to Seas Zero Pollution 2023 (SOS-ZEROPOL2030) project, a Horizon Europe project, aims to develop a holistic, stakeholder-led zero pollution framework guiding the EU towards zero pollution in European seas by 2030. The project aims to characterise existing barriers to successful pollution reduction policies and identify best practices for effective measures, engage with key stakeholders to co-identify policy opportunities, as well as co-develop a practical roadmap to guide the transition to clean European seas. The project is coordinated by the University College Cork (UCC) with nine partners across Europe, including RIFS in Potsdam, Germany. RIFS will lead the development of a Strategic Zero Pollution Framework to outline a governance process to prevent and reduce the pollution of seas and achieve the goal of zero pollution.
• The Multi-layer Governance Performance of Marine Policies (PermaGov) project includes a case study on marine plastic pollution in the Baltic Sea and in relation to the EU Green Deal themes of zero pollution and the circular economy. PermaGov will analyse the way in which the Regional Sea Conventions combat marine litter, including cross-sectoral and cross-boundary cooperation and monitoring.

Further information:

• Van Leeuwen, J., Van Hulst, F., Del Savio, L., Yeatman Omarsdottir, S., Miño, C. Hendriksen, A., Cowan, E., Boteler, B., Devriese, L. (2023) SOS-ZEROPOL2030: D2.2 The EU Governance Landscape for Zero Marine Pollution; Overview of the existing EU governance arrangements and the best practices and constraints of governance efforts to achieve zero marine pollution.
• Devriese L., Verleye T., Boteler B., Del Savio L., Miño C., Sandra M., Molenveld K., Dozier A., Maes T., Vlachogianni T., Kopke K. (2023). SOS-Zeropol2030: Deliverable D2.1 ‘The EU Zero Pollution Ambition’ 79 pp.
• Maes T, Wienrich N, Weiand L, Cowan E. A little less conversation: How existing governance can strengthen the future global plastics treaty. Cambridge Prisms: Plastics. 2023;1:e22. doi:10.1017/plc.2023.22.
• Wienrich, N., Weiand, L., Unger, S. (2021). Stronger together: The role of regional instruments in strengthening global governance of marine plastic pollution 

Other on-going or recent research of the RIFS Ocean Governance research group seeks to advance the EU’s approaches to marine policy and governance for delivering the EU Green Deal for European Seas (CrossGov) and accelerating the uptake of ecosystem-based management (MarineSABRES), to establish good governance approaches for ocean-based negative emission technologies (OceanNETs), and to support regional ocean governance approaches and practices (Marine Regions Forum).