Webinar on Launch of Nordic report: Addressing Microplastics in a Global Agreement on Plastic Pollution

Date: Tuesday, 10 January 2023
Time: 14.00 – 15.15 CET
Venue: Microsoft Teams Meeting

Register for the webinar here.

This webinar and report launch will serve as a starting point for discussing the Plastics Treaty and the outcomes of the 1st meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee in Uruguay, November 2022. It is organised by the Nordic Council of Ministers, Norwegian Institute for Water Research and IKHAPP.

Background

In March 2022, the second session of the 5th United National Environment Assembly unanimously adopted Resolution 14. End Plastic Pollution: towards an international legally binding instrument. The resolution marked the start of a process to negotiate a legally binding international agreement to end plastic pollution. The preamble to the resolution highlights that “plastic pollution includes microplastics”. While the resolution is predominantly focused on macroplastic pollution in the terrestrial and marine environment, this inclusion indicates that the intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC) will also have to consider how best to address microplastics in the design of a global agreement.

The Nordic report ‘Adressing Microplastics under the Global Agreement to End Plastic Pollution’ explores how microplastics can be tackled in a global treaty to end plastic pollution. It describes how microplastics are currently regulated and identifies possible measures and modalities that can be adopted to address microplastics, including different sources and pathways on a regional and national level.

Read the report here. 

Agenda and speakers

For the event we are happy to have a representative panel of speakers that will provide their views on the findings in the report, insights from the first INC and reflections on the challenges and opportunities that lies ahead prepearing for the second convention of the intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC2). 

Agenda for the event:

  • Introduction by Anne Christine Parborg Meaas, Norwegian Environment Agency
  • Statement by Erlend Draget, Norwegian Ministry for Climate and the Environment
  • Presentation of the report by Idun Rognerud, Norwegian Institute for Water Research
  • Panel discussion with
    • Dr. Alexandra R. Harrington (Lancaster University Law School), Chair of the IUCN WCEL Agreement on Plastic Pollution Task Force
    • Dr. Guilberto Borongan, Director of the Regional Resource Centre for Asia and the Pacific
    • Daniela García Freire, Deputy Permanent Representative Misión Permanente de la República del Ecuador ante la Organización Mundial del Comercio
    • Declan McAdams, chairman Pinovo
  • Q&A (panel and NIVA researchers)
  • Closing statement (Hans Nicolai Adam, NIVA and IKHAPP)