Preparations are underway for the 4th session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4, 23-29 April 2024, Ottawa, Canada) to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution. A revised draft of the instrument has been released by the UNEP secretariat on 28 December 2023 and the Global Cities Hub is glad to see its suggestions included, thereby taking into consideration the role of local and regional governments (LRGs) in waste and plastic pollution management and other related areas. This being said, this revised draft still contains (too) many options and a lot of work remains to secure that the various options take into account the role of LRGs.
Read our position paper
In this position paper, the GCH points out several areas where local and regional governments (LRGs) can really make a difference in dealing with plastic pollution, and how it should be best reflected in a new international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution that addresses the full life cycle of plastic.
Read our comments of the revised draft
The Global Cities Hub and its partners will continue to raise awareness about the importance of the participation and contribution of LRGs in the plastic treaty negotiations as we prepare for INC-4 and to put forward language for the various iterations of the text.