Children's Health Defense ByÂ
By Jake Johnson
United Nations talks over a proposed global plastics treaty ended on Nov. 19 with little concrete progress toward an agreement to curb the production, use and waste of the polluting material after lobbyists for the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries showed up in force to prevent a breakthrough.
Negotiators convened last week in Nairobi, Kenya â a capital city inundated with plastic waste â with a mandate to make headway toward a legally binding global treaty regulating plastics, the production of which is expected to triple in the next several decades in the absence of government action.
But AFP reported that âtreaty terms were never really addressed, with a small number of oil-producing nations â particularly Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Russia â accused of employing stalling tactics seen at previous negotiation rounds to hinder progress.â
Additionally, as the Center for Biological Diversity noted, the U.S. delegation âhas not made any firm public commitments to push for measures that curb plastic production.â
The U.S. generates the second-most amount of plastic waste per year behind China…
