The Republic of Angola attended the third session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for the creation of a binding international legal instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (INC-3), in Nairobi from 13 to 19 November 2023, with a delegation, led by Ambassador Sianga Abílio, Permanent Representative of Angola to the UN Offices in Nairobi, that included the Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Waste Agency, Nelma Caetano, senior officials from the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Angolan Embassy in Nairobi.
The opening session of the event, which took place at the United Nations complex, was chaired by the President of the Republic of Kenya, Dr William Ruto.
The highlight of the working sessions was the discussion and negotiation of the preliminary draft of this international legal instrument, which aims to identify measures to reduce the production of plastic products with the main focus on single-use products.
The Republic of Angola defended the position of the African Group, which believes that the legal instrument to combat plastic pollution should serve to build the institutional capacity of countries with the aim of dealing with marine pollution.
According to statistics, every year more than four hundred million tonnes of plastic waste are produced in the world, of which twenty-three million tonnes end up in rivers, lakes and oceans and only ten percent of this amount is recycled.
The third session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, covering the entire life cycle of plastics (INC-3), was preceded by a technical meeting on 11 November and regional consultations on 12 November 2023 in Nairobi.
The ongoing process began in February 2022 with the adoption, during the second session of the Fifth United Nations Environment Assembly, of Resolution 5/14, for the creation of a legally binding international instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, with the challenge of the negotiations for the creation of this international law ending in 2024.
With this in mind, the first session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-1) was held in November 2022 in Punta del Este, Uruguay, while the second session (INC-2) took place in May 2023 in Paris, France.
The next round of negotiations is scheduled for the fourth session (INC-4), scheduled for 21 to 30 April 2024 in Ottawa, Canada.
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