Kenya has reaffirmed its call for an ambitious, science-based, and adequately financed global treaty to tackle plastic pollution across its full life cycle, as negotiations towards an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution continue in Bangkok, Thailand.
Speaking during the Second Informal Heads of Delegation Meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC), Kenya urged Member States to bridge outstanding areas of divergence and build consensus towards an effective treaty that delivers on UN Environment Assembly Resolution 5/14 on ending plastic pollution.
Further, Kenya stressed that the treaty should address plastic pollution across its full life cycle and be supported by new, accessible, adequate, predictable, and sustainable financing, alongside adequate technical support to facilitate effective implementation.
The country also reiterated its position that the treaty’s Secretariat should be hosted at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) headquarters in Nairobi, in line with existing intergovernmental commitments to strengthen UNEP’s role and functions at its headquarters.
Delivering Kenya’s national statement, Evelyne Ong’ayo, Director in charge of Climate Change at the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, welcomed the Bangkok meeting as an opportunity to build on previous negotiations, including those held in Nairobi under the banner ‘Pamoja Umoja’.
Meanwhile, the State Department for Environment and Climate Change is represented at the negotiations by Mr. William Melau of the Directorate of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), alongside Dr. Ayub Macharia, Director of Environmental Enforcement and Compliance at the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA).
The meeting, being held at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, is focused on advancing convergence on outstanding issues and sustaining momentum towards a global legally binding instrument to address plastic pollution, including in the marine environment.
By Michael Omondi
