ASH joins the Stop Tobacco Pollution Alliance in attending the third Intergovernmental Negotiating Conference (INC-3) of the United Nations Treaty to End Plastic Pollution in Nairobi, Kenya from November 13 – 19, 2023. ASH’s Chief Operating Officer Liz Furgurson and Researcher Rob Ralston of the University of Edinburgh will share updates and progress here for our community to stay engaged and informed.
November 17, 2023 – The contact groups continued with the publication of the written submissions and revised synthesis documents. The Stop Tobacco Pollution Alliance (STPA) and its allies spent much of the day reviewing everything as we were able. (Available online for those following along). Today’s debates centered around how and in what order to address financing, objectives, the preamble, scope, definitions, and principles.
The dialogues around intersessional work continued into the evening session with several states calling for not only a wide range of topics to be covered but also prioritizing regional and gender balance as well as conflicts of interest, which remains a major concern for civil society participating in this process.
Emotions are high and it’s evident that fatigue is setting in across all delegates. The final plenary is coming up – we’re anxious to see how it comes together for this INC.
We need to keep in mind the specific challenge that there are only two additional INCs scheduled and the universal challenge of needing to deal with plastic pollution before we all drown in it.
