Permanent Secretary for Climate Change and Environment, Sivendra Michael has vowed that Pacific communities will not accept a global plastics treaty that compromises livelihoods, health, or the environment.
He has stated this in a social media post from Geneva where gruelling negotiations at the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on the Global Plastics Treaty is underway.
Global talks to develop a landmark treaty to tackle plastic pollution failed yesterday to reach an agreement, despite efforts late into the night to strike a deal.
Mr Michael described the final 30 hours of talks as “brutal, not just physically, but emotionally.”
He said a journalist had asked him what he would tell his daughters and communities when he returned home.
Mr Michael said he held back from responding in the moment, struggling to contain his emotions.
“This is the spirit that carried us throughout these intense moments,” he said.
“We will not accept a weak treaty. We will not accept a text that ignores the full life cycle of plastics. We will not accept anything that sells out the right of our people to live in a safe, clean, and healthy environment.”
He said the Pacific deserved nothing less than a strong, enforceable agreement to protect communities from plastic pollution from production to disposal.
“Our Pacific communities deserve nothing less,” he said. “Not now. Not ever.”