175 countries have unanimously passed a resolution calling for the creation of a legally binding global treaty to combat the scourge of plastic pollution.
The news broke on Wednesday, the final day of the fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) in Nairobi, Kenya.
Over 3,400 representatives attended the session in person, with an additional 1,500 participating virtually. The three-day meeting reached an agreement to support a legally binding treaty to rid the world of plastic pollution.
While the assembly hall erupted in applause following the resolution’s passage, Espen Barth Eide, the outgoing UNEA Chairperson and Norway’s Climate and Environment Minister, hailed it as a historic moment.
The agreement is being hailed as the most significant environmental agreement since the 2015 Paris Agreement, which called for lowering overall emissions in half by 2030 in order to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C this century.
Rwanda, Peru, Japan, and India jointly proposed the resolution. The three-day UNEA gathering tackled other issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss in addition to the historic agreement.
In addition, the UNEA promptly convened a two-day session to commemorate the UN Environment Program’s (UNEP) 50th anniversary, which was created in 1972 to coordinate solutions to global environmental concerns.
To read our blog on “The Samsung Galaxy S22 will be made from recycled ocean plastics,” click here.
