By Habitat Reporter
Geneva. A renewed call for global unity rang out at the United Nations headquarters in ongoing negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland as more than 3,700 delegates and observers gathered to open the resumed fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5.2) on plastic pollution.
With just 10 days to finalize a legally binding global treaty, urgency and expectation are running high.
The goal is historic: to craft an international agreement that will curb the escalating crisis of plastic pollution, which is choking oceans, disrupting ecosystems, and, alarmingly, entering human bloodstreams.
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Inger Andersen opened the session with a stark warning. “Plastic pollution is already in nature, in our oceans, and in our bloodstreams… If we continue as we are, plastic leakage will increase with severe consequences for health, the environment, and the economy,” she said.
Andersen challenged countries to move beyond cautious diplomacy and embrace bold, science-based action.
“It is high time for Member States to get the deal over the line,” she added, pointing to the two and a half years that have passed since the UN Environment Assembly adopted Resolution 5/14—the mandate for this process.
“Though the path is narrow, it requires solidarity, understanding, and the courage to act,” Andersen said. “I believe you will leave this country with a treaty gavel in hand.”
Luis Vayas Valdiviezo, Chair of the INC, reminded negotiators that the crisis is one of human making—and one that only united action can solve. “This moment demands concrete and meaningful progress, not finger-pointing but collaborative engagement,” he said.
He urged delegates to move beyond entrenched positions and work toward practical, science-informed compromises. “You are not just reviewing a document,” he told them. “You are setting the foundations for a global tool that could change environmental history.”
Switzerland’s Katrin Schneeberger, Director of the Federal Office for the Environment, echoed the spirit of optimism. “Let August 15 be remembered as the day the world came together with one voice, one agreement, and one shared mission—to end plastic pollution for good,” she said.
As negotiations unfold in Geneva, the international community watches with hope that this session will mark a turning point—a collective breakthrough in the battle against plastic pollution, grounded in courage, compromise, and determination.