A two-thirds majority does not convince all countries. In total, 175 countries have been meeting since Monday in Paris, hoping to develop the first outlines of a treaty against plastic pollution. But they have not yet started their discussions on the substance on Tuesday, because of a procedural deadlock. Indeed, Saudi Arabia and several Gulf countries as well as Russia, China, India and Brazil refuse to allow the future treaty to be approved by a two-thirds majority vote if a consensus is not found.

On the other hand, a majority of countries defend voting as a last resort, which would make it possible to override a blocking minority. Or they consider, at the very least, that this question can be decided later. The discussion on this point, which began in plenary on Monday afternoon, has not yet been resolved at midday on Tuesday, preventing the start of negotiations on the content of the future treaty. It is scheduled to resume at 16 p.m.

"We are wasting time and energy"

"We are missing out on what brings us here, which is plastic pollution," Camila Zepeda of the Mexican delegation thundered Tuesday morning. "We waste time and energy in discussions that go around in circles (...) Let's get to the point," she said, to loud applause by the majority of delegations and NGO observers in the galleries.

"It is the right of member states to make suggestions" and "we are not in favor of the erroneous definition of the consensus of some states," retorted an Iranian diplomat. "The strategy of some countries is to delay the debates," says Joan-Marc Simon, director of Zero Waste Europe, "because if we want an ambitious treaty that covers the entire life cycle of plastic, it will take time to negotiate."

The sacrosanct consensus

For the activist, "these countries want a treaty, but that only talks about the end of life of plastic, improving waste management and avoiding releases into the environment". Avoiding the issues of production reduction, toxicity of certain compounds, microplastics, etc.

The Paris climate agreement or the Kunming-Montreal agreement on biodiversity were approved by consensus, like most treaties established under the auspices of the United Nations, i.e. there is no vote, even by show of hands. Approval by vote, in the absence of consensus, would not, however, be unprecedented. It was used in 2013 when 140 countries adopted the International Convention on Mercury, signed in Minamata, Japan.

  • Environment
  • Planet
  • Pollution
  • Plastic
  • UN