Plastic treaty shouldn't hurt sustainable development: India

NEW DELHI: With countries gearing up for a crucial meeting of the UN's International Negotiating Committee (INC) in Geneva from Aug 5-14 to finalise a legally binding global treaty to end plastic pollution, India will pitch for "consensus-based decision making" to reach an agreement that should focus on aspects related to "plastic pollution only" without affecting right to sustainable development of developing countries.

"Aspects which are not directly related to plastic pollution should not be taken up. We need to strike a critical balance between preventing plastic pollution without affecting the right to sustainable development of developing countries and keeping in view their respective national circumstances," Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav told TOI recently in an interview.

Specifically asked about an obstacle before developing an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution and India's stand in this context, Yadav said the country believes that the success of negotiations at INC require consensus-based decision making with the spirit of mutual trust and cooperation for reaching an agreement on various provisions.

He further said, "As developed countries have higher per capita generation of plastic waste and have historical responsibility, they need to provide financial and technical assistance by setting up a standalone multilateral fund which provides incremental cost for transition to developing countries for meeting compliance obligations."

The treaty is vital as currently more than 460 million metric tonne of plastic is produced globally every year, of which an estimated 20 million tonne ends up polluting the environment by affecting land, freshwater and marine habitats. The situation will gradually become more serious as global plastic waste is expected to reach 1.7 billion metric tonne by 2060.