Moment of truth for plastic treaty talks
Talks began in Busan, South Korea, on Monday aiming to clinch a legally binding deal on plastics pollution. The meeting follows two years of intergovernmental negotiations to develop a legally binding global instrument
Fiji to join high ambition coalition on ending plastic pollution
The Fiji Cabinet has decided the nation will join a ‘High Ambition Coalition’, a group of nations working together to end plastic
Tackling the Pacific’s plastics crisis
The Pacific Ocean Litter Project (POLP), an initiative under the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), is fighting the threat of single-use plastics to the Pacific coastal environment. With
Opinion: Private sector can play a vital role in tackling plastic tsunami
The Pacific Islands, among the most picturesque yet vulnerable regions in the world, are facing an escalating crisis: plastic pollution. The initiation of a global plastics treaty, underpinned by initiatives such as the
$10 million project aims to reduce single-use plastics in Cook Islands
A project to reduce the number of plastics entering the country, focused on the food and beverage sector, was discussed during a workshop in Rarotonga last week. Like other countries around the world, the Cook Islands
Plastics producers deceived public about recycling, report reveals
Plastic producers have known for more than 30 years that recycling is not an economically or technically feasible plastic waste management solution. That has not stopped them from promoting it, according to a new
Sending back the rubbish to keep Kiribati beautiful
'Kiribati Te Boboto' means Kiribati the beautiful. It’s a slogan you see almost everywhere on South Tarawa—Kiribati’s administrative capital—where solid waste management used to be a problem that had no real
Galoa women turning trash to cash
In Fiji, a group of 15 dedicated women has been doing their part to create a circular economy by turning plastic trash into cash for the last four years. Based in the coastal village of Galoa, the Bulikula Women’s
Sweeping Kagoshima’s waters
Aboard the Kinko In Kagoshima, Japan, an organisation is taking a proactive approach to floating ocean pollution, ‘sweeping’ the local port five days a week. The Kagoshima Seikoukai Marine Group is a membership
Mixed signs of agreement, warnings mark end of latest treaty talks
The third round of the plastics treaty negotiations concluded 19 November on a very mixed note, with countries agreeing to move forward but with environmental groups delivering sharp warnings that the talks risk failure
Pacific Islands urge global leaders to seize a ‘once-in-a-generation’ opportunity to halt the plastics crisis
Pacific Islands nations are calling on world leaders to commit to an ambitious global plastic treaty modelled along the lines of the hugely successful Montreal Protocol which tackled the issue of ozone layer depletion.
Special envoy urges Pacific nations to ‘ratify and implement’ oceans agreements
The United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean says while great strides have been made towards reaching the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG14) on sustainable ocean management and conservation,
Turning the Tide on Plastics
Pristine, picturesque, paradise. Common words which are often used to describe our Pacific Island Countries. It is not unusual to hear that a visit to the Pacific region sits on the bucket lists of many people. With
First steps agreed on plastics treaty after breakthrough at Paris talks
Nation-state representatives have taken the first concrete step toward a legally binding treaty to regulate plastic, described as the most important green deal since the 2015 international climate agreement. The banging
‘I hope they open their ears and listen to us’: Tuvalu at INC1 Forum
Pacific delegates attending the first session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC1) to negotiate a global legally binding instrument on plastics, have embraced the opportunity to share perspectives with
