Plastic-free planet: Protecting sanitation workers & waste-pickers, just transition discussed on Day 2 of INC-3

Subject :Environment

Section: International Conventions

Context:

The third session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-3) on Plastic Pollution is going on.

Details:

By 2040, up to 19 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions will stem from plastics.
To meet the goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius global temperature rise and to beat plastic pollution, there is a need for a treaty that reduces plastic production.
- The Plastics treaty must protect the right to science, including indigenous peoples’ rights to their knowledge, practices and innovations.
The Group of Latin America and Caribbean Countries — a UN regional group composed of 33 member states from Central and South America — presented an official position advocating for the rights of waste pickers, which should be explicitly mentioned.
El Salvador and Guatemala also supported the protection of sanitation workers and waste-pickers.

Just Transition:

It is a mechanism for multilateral financing by developed countries to support an energy transition in developing countries.
It aims to reduce emissions in the energy sector and accelerate the coal phase-out.
Transition describes the gradual movement towards lower carbon technologies, while ‘Just’ qualifies that this transition will not negatively impact society, jobs and livelihoods.

Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC):

In March 2022, at the resumed fifth session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2), a historic resolution was adopted to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment.
Goal: To bring a legally binding treaty on plastic pollution by 2024.
The first session of the INC (INC-1) took place in Punta del Este, Uruguay, followed by a second session (INC-2) in Paris, France, and the third session (INC-3) is ongoing at the UNEP Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.

International Alliance of Waste pickers:

It is a networking process started after the 1st World Conference of Waste pickers held in Bogotá, Colombia, in 2008.
Waste pickers organizations and allies from more than 30 countries participated in this first global event organized by the Bogota Waste Pickers’ Association, Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat waste pickers’ collective of Pune, India (KKPKP), the Latin American Waste pickers’ Network, Avina Foundation and Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO).
Since then, an International Steering Committee has met once a year in Durban, Belo Horizonte, Bangkok and Pune to give direction to our strategic vision and work.
It is currently focusing on the sharing and exchange of information and solidarity among thousands of waste pickers’ organizations.