Tackling plastic pollution needs scientists to be in the negotiating room at upcoming talks. Tackling plastic pollution needs scientists to be in the negotiating room at upcoming talks.
Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser . In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.The fourth round of negotiations on a global treaty to end plastic pollution starts next week.
Around 25% of all plastics manufactured end up polluting the environment. Of this, 6 million tonnes end up in rivers and along coastlines annually. These materials degrade into micro- and nanosized particles that, from Arctic ice to Antarctic snow — and even in the stomachs of unborn babies. The greenhouse-gas emissions associated with plastics amount to almost 1.8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide — 3% of the global total in 2019.
Moreover, researchers are being sidelined when there is so much they could help to resolve. They include, for example, members of an international network, the Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty, who provide scientific advice to low-income countries that might not have their own research expertise.
Many scientists were unable to get accreditation for the first three negotiation rounds. This is because publicly funded universities had been included in the ‘government’ category, which meant that their researchers would have had to be accredited as representing their governments, which they don’t. In January, UNEP clarified that those at public universities that are autonomous from their governments can apply.
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