Talks to agree the world's first treaty to curb plastic pollution cannot fail and must tackle both production and consumption, the UN's environment chief told AFP on Monday.
Negotiators are deeply divided on issues including whether to limit new plastic manufacturing and phase out some chemicals, raising concerns that the talks could fail.
“I can't entertain that it fails,” said Inger Andersen, evoking the “massive plastic crisis”.
“No one wants to find plastic in the placenta or in the blood of the unborn baby.”
The negotiations opened hours after COP29 climate talks in Baku that went into overtime and ended in a deal roundly condemned by many developing countries.
Battle lines were quickly drawn in Busan, with several countries initially objecting to a document intended to streamline negotiations.
Andersen said the tussling at COP29 and biodiversity talks before it this year would not “set a negative precedence in any way, shape or form.”
“Was it frustrating during some part of the day... of course,” she acknowledged.
But, “we are only in day one.”
“I'm not going to give up and say that the whole thing is the lost today, on the contrary.”
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
