Environmental groups on Tuesday issued a statement calling for Taiwan’s participation in talks to create a global plastics treaty, as delegates gather in Nairobi this week for their third round of discussions.
The UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution is working to develop the first international, legally binding treaty on plastic pollution on land and at sea.
The gathering in Kenya from Monday to Sunday is the third in a compressed five-meeting schedule intended to complete negotiations by the end of next year.
Photo: AFP
As one of the world’s largest traders of petrochemicals, Taiwan should at least be included as an observer to the negotiations, nine Taiwan-based environmental organizations said in a joint statement.
Seventy percent of the petrochemicals produced in Taiwan are exported, while the nation is in the top 10 nations worldwide for the import and export of plastics, the groups said.
In addition, 20 percent of the export value of certain raw materials come from Taiwan, bound primarily for China and Southeast Asia, they added.
The groups also called for the treaty to regulate trade between signatories and non-signatories to ensure compliance by the latter.
Although the organizations cannot give the statement directly to the negotiating committee, it has passed it along to participants through the Break Free From Plastic platform, Environmental Rights Foundation researcher Hsu Po-jen (許博任) said.
If trade restrictions are not included in the agreement, then global plastic production would likely move to non-signatory countries such as Taiwan, heavily impacting the environment and public health, Hsu said.
Once an agreement is reached, the government might write its contents into an amendment to a planned “recycling promotion act,” Resource Circulation Administration Director-General Lai Ying-ying (賴瑩瑩) said.
Additional reporting by AP
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