Second Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution
Monday 29 May 2023 - Friday 2 June 2023
: UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France
Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) will take part in the second session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee towards developing an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (also described as INC-2), taking place from 29 May to 2 June 2023 at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Headquarters in Paris, France. The meeting will be preceded by regional consultations on 28 May 2023, at the same venue.
PML experts have provided input to the Global Plastic Treaty process throughout, for example we led on a briefing paper for the UNEA5.2 (as requested by the Norwegian Minister of Climate and Environment and president of UNEA, Espen Barth Eide) providing a science-based response on relevant societal and regulatory aspects and we are a co-author on a submission to INC-2 with the North Atlantic Marine Microplastics Centre (230110_norce_on_behalf_of_the_north_atlantic_microplastic_centre_namc.pdf (unep.org). You can find our science referenced in related papers such as in the UNEP secretariat paper UNEP/PP/INC.1/7 which was one of a list of working documents that the Secretariat provided to the INC-1: First Session of Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (unep.org) and the link to the final paper: Plastic_Science_E.pdf (unep.org).
Dr Samantha Garrard will be attending and representing PML’s wider marine litter work. She is a regular contributor in science-policy engagement and has taken part in the UK Treaty Dialogues convened by the Ocean Plastics Leadership Network (OPLN) and the UK government, as well as the Multistakeholder dialogues on the Plastics Treaty, and contributed through reports such as a reviewer of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report ‘A Compass to End Plastic Pollution: Pathways to a New Plastics Economy’. Samantha is a member of the Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty, an international network of diverse, independent scientific and technical experts seeking to contribute with summaries and interpretations of scientific knowledge to decision makers and the public involved in the negotiations towards a global agreement to end plastic pollution.