The Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee (INC) is working on a binding agreement to stop plastic contamination. MarViva and other civil society organizations are asking the INC for more transparency and access before the next meeting of the open-participation Ad hoc Working Groups in August in Bangkok, Thailand.

At the end of the fourth INC session, the member states agreed to create two expert work groups to promote collaboration among INCs. Although the work session is open only to member states, each work group can include up to twelve “experts” who must have been previously named and selected.

In a letter directed to INC Secretary Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, INC President Ambassador Luis Vayas Valdivieso, and the members of the Bureau, the groups express their concern for the restrictions on observer participation and the lack of transparency when selecting the technical experts—who should be unequivocally free of any conflicts of interest—who will attend the future meeting. Additionally, the letter requests an open application process, allowing credited organizations of observers to register at least one representative.

“We continue to advance in discussing this new international treaty about plastic pollution that considers its entire life cycle, starting with raw materials derived from fossils. This problem is of a global extension, so solutions must be global and coordinated on different levels, including all social sectors, communities, and scientific people”, said Alberto Quesada, MarViva’s regional coordinator of marine pollution.

The plea from civil society groups for fair and meaningful participation comes as more than 170 countries prepare to participate in the August intersessional meeting. With the fifth and final round of negotiations scheduled to take place in Busan, South Korea, the stakes are high to create a global plastics Treaty that can end plastic pollution.

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See the letter here