Legal agreement, suitable for the conditions of the countries
The Negotiation Conference was attended by more than 170 delegations with about 2,000 delegates from member countries. The head of the international negotiation delegation was a representative from Peru. The delegation was divided into 6 groups of countries including Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Alliance of Small Island States, Western Europe and other countries.
The Vietnamese delegation has 13 members representing the Government Office, the Ministries of Natural Resources and Environment, Foreign Affairs, Industry and Trade, and Justice. The head of the delegation is the leader of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment; the negotiator is the leader of the Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Vietnam belongs to the Asia-Pacific group, the head and deputy head of the group are representatives of Japan and Jordan.
The conference includes the main event and side events. INC-2 follows on from INC-1 held in 2022 to reach a legally binding agreement on plastic pollution (the Agreement). The Global Negotiating Committee is responsible for drafting the Agreement and will be discussed further as scheduled.
Highlights from the event included major oil-producing countries such as the United States, China and Saudi Arabia focusing on plastic recycling and national rules rather than universal limits. The High Ambition Coalition (HAC), led by Norway and Rwanda, along with environmental groups, wants to end plastic pollution entirely by 2040 by cutting production and restricting certain chemicals used in plastic production. Some governments suggested adjusting the target to reflect reality. Delegations split into two groups to discuss possible controls to prevent plastic pollution and how to implement/support the Agreement in a sustainable and comprehensive manner.
Countries generally agree on the way to implement the Agreement by developing a National Action Plan to End Plastic Pollution and a National Report on the implementation of this Plan. Developed countries (the United States, the European Union, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, etc.) suggest that the NAP should set goals and commitments in line with the Agreement, with specific indicators to assess progress at the national level. Some developing countries (China, India, Saudi Arabia, etc.) believe that the NAP is a country-led process, with countries setting their own goals, assessing and updating them. Countries have not yet agreed on the assessment mechanism and frequency of assessment of the implementation of the NAP in each country.
Countries support a comprehensive approach to implementing the Agreement through financial arrangements, promoting technology transfer and technical assistance, and supporting capacity building. Countries agree on the need to mobilize both public and private finance, both domestic and foreign.
Countries support the development of capacity building programmes that are appropriate to the needs and priorities of developing countries, especially least developed countries and small island states. Capacity building and technical assistance programmes will be implemented through regional, sub-regional and national mechanisms, including through regional centres and through partnership programmes.
Developing countries have suggested a separate provision on technology transfer, which could be linked to Sustainable Development Goal 9 on technology transfer to developing countries. As in other existing multilateral environmental agreements, developed countries could promote and support the transfer of technology to developing countries, in particular to least developed countries and small island developing countries.
The Asia Pacific Group (APG) in its regional statement stressed the importance of financial, technical and technological support, as well as capacity building, as prerequisites for implementing the targets to address the root causes of plastic pollution, including ineffective waste management and lack of public awareness. The group also pointed out that a lifecycle approach to plastics is essential. The instrument must address plastic pollution throughout the entire life cycle of plastics, from product design to disposal. Distinguish between mandatory and voluntary obligations in core obligations. National circumstances and capabilities must be taken into account when considering implementation and compliance with the entire instrument. Developing, implementing and periodically updating National Action Plans (NAPs) is an important action to implement the core obligation.
Active participation and Vietnam's challenges
As an active and proactive member of the Global Agreement on Plastic Waste, Vietnam always strives to build capacity to implement plastic reduction policies. However, facing the goals that the Global Agreement on Plastic Reduction is discussing, Vietnam also faces great challenges when we still lack a lot of basic scientific information such as: There is no report assessing the current status of plastic waste, especially National Ocean Plastic Waste; There is no comprehensive and updated database on the amount of generation/collection/treatment/recycling/recovery of solid waste, the composition of plastic waste in solid waste in localities nationwide, as well as the participation of the informal sector in collecting plastic waste, making it difficult to forecast the amount of plastic waste that will be generated in the future.
We have not yet investigated and developed a report assessing the current status of plastic waste and microplastic pollution in the country. Current studies are still small-scale, conducted by research groups in a short period of time and with inconsistent research methods, making it difficult to assess the level of pollution between regions in particular and compare the level of pollution between countries in general.
In addition, there is a lack of microplastic monitoring systems on land (freshwater systems, rivers, lakes, ponds, groundwater, soil...) and coastal areas, coastal ecosystems... to periodically monitor pollution levels; There is no model to forecast the amount of plastic waste generated and forecast microplastic pollution for Vietnam (due to limited databases and lack of monitoring data to evaluate model results), from which to build policy solutions to respond to ocean plastic pollution for Vietnam.
Under these conditions, the Vietnamese delegation will continue to attend the mid-term meetings of the Conference of the Parties to update information on the development of the First Draft of the Agreement from now until November 2023. Based on Vietnam's practical conditions (lack of comprehensive data on plastics, incomplete infrastructure conditions for monitoring and managing plastic pollution, etc.), Vietnam will proactively and actively exchange on the sidelines with countries with similar conditions as well as with members of the group to propose specific requirements for developing countries; firmly propose support in technology, finance and roadmap for developed countries so as not to affect Vietnam's economic development.
Minh Thu
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