One hundred countries were wanting a cap on plastic production at the UN plastic talks, but a handful of oil producing nations were only prepared to target plastic waste. Photo: supplied
Fiji's representative in recent United Nations plastic talks says a small group of countries ensured no deal was reached to curb plastic pollution.
One hundred countries were wanting a cap on plastic production, but a handful of oil producing nations were only prepared to target plastic waste.
Plastic pollution treaty fails to pass
The fifth UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee meeting was expected to result in a legally binding global treaty in Busan, South Korea.
Dr Sivendra Michael told RNZ Morning Report that fossil fuel and petrol chemical lobbyists flooded the negotiation, outnumbering delegates from the Pacific small island developing states by more than double.
He said it was similar to COP29, the UN climate change meeting last month in Azerbaijan.
"We know that a small group of countries managed to derail the process by using what I would describe as the dark arts of multilateral diplomacy," Michael said.
"They achieved this by manipulating the rules of procedure and narrowing the scope of treaty."
He said Fiji wants any future plastic deal to be more robust than previous international climate deals, which allows nations to get away with not fulfilling its commitments.
"We don't want to make the same mistake when agreeing to this treaty in the Paris Agreement we left it to voluntary targets, in the plastics treaty we are most adamant that we cannot have the same mistakes."