The United Nations on Wednesday agreed to start negotiating a world-first global treaty on plastic pollution in what has been hailed a watershed moment for the planet.
Nearly 200 nations at the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi unanimously agreed to create an intergovernmental committee to negotiate and finalize a legally binding plastics treaty by 2024.
UNEA chair Espen Barthe Eide declared the resolution passed with a strike of the gavel as the assembly hall erupted into cheers and applause.
“We are making history today. You should all be proud,” said Eide, who is Norway’s climate and environment minister.
Negotiators have been given a broad mandate to target plastic trash in all its forms -– not just bottles and straws in the ocean, but invisible microplastics polluting the air, soil and food chain.
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