Exploring the Option of a New Global Agreement on Marine Plastic Pollution – A Guide to the Issues

Foreword

part of the scope? And perhaps most importantly, how can we ensure that the agreement, once concluded, is faithfully implemented? This report is a timely contribution to the ongoing discussions about what a new global agreement on marine plastic pollution could and should address. It provides context and background, but also points to some of the typical challenges involved in the design of international agreements and presents some of the lessons learned from other international environmental issues. It offers food for thought for anyone involved in the ongoing discussions on how the international community should respond to the issue of marine litter and microplastics, but it has relevance well beyond the specific issue of plastic pollution as well, and even outside the environmental nexus. The report is also an apt reminder of the urgency of this issue. The longer we wait, the more plastic will continue to leak into and degrade our natural environment. We are all part of this problem, and we must work together to find a common solution.

Marine plastic pollution is another inherently transboundary problem . Plastic is a material with exceptional qualities, but those qualities, including its durability, also make it a highly persistent pollutant. Every year, millions of tonnes of plastic end up in the ocean, causing serious and long-term environmental, social, and economic harm, ultimately affecting all of us. In recent years, public attention to the plastic pollution problem has grown rapidly. In parallel, discussions among States on how the international community should respond have intensified, including in the form of multiple United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) resolutions and expert group discussions. continuation of business as usual is not an option. The existing legal and regulatory framework has proven inadequate. Something has to be done. Over the past couple of years, a growing number of stakeholders, including a long list of States, have signalled that one possible path forward that merits consideration is the development of a new global agreement specifically dedicated to addressing the problem of plastic pollution. Many have explicitly called for such a treaty to be negotiated. In exploring the option of a new global agreement on marine plastic pollution, a long list of questions will have to be examined. What should be the overarching objective of any new agreement? Would it aim to tackle all plastic pollution, or only the transboundary aspects of the problem? Would it impose harmonized international standards and technical requirements, or would it rely primarily on country- specific strategies and local solutions? Would it only focus on prevention, or would clean-up be A key conclusion from the multilateral discussions so far has been that a

Peter Harris Managing Director

GRID-Arendal

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