In the single week that world leaders convened for high-level UN talks in New York, nearly 100,000 water bottles' worth of microplastics swirled through the city's air, posing known and still unknown risks to human health. "We talk a lot about plastic in the marine environment, but it's all around," Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, the Norwegian international development minister who is helping lead the charge to seal a global plastics treaty in South Korea later this year, told AFP Wednesday. The treaty aims to marshal an international response to the plastic trash that is choking the environment, from oceans and rivers to mountains and sea ice, moving up food webs as it is ingested by animals. Some nations want the agreement to restrict how much plastic can be made while others - particularly oil- and gas-producing countries that provide the raw materials to make plastic - want a focus on recycling. Despite several rounds of talks, progress has lagged, and time is running out to reach a consensus before the final make-or-break session in Busan starting November 25. But "I'm more optimistic now than I was a few weeks ago, because we feel that there are some positive signals from various countries," Tvinnereim said in an interview on the margins of the UN General Assembly, where she is working to build support for an ambitious agreement. She pointed to "new signals" from the United States, one of the world's largest plastic producers, indicating a willingness to cap new plastic production. Beyond that, she pointed to a tough new statement published Wednesday by the so-called High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution (HAC), a group of more than 60 countries and the European Union that make up the majority of plastic consumption globally. Co-chaired by Norway and Rwanda, the coalition affirmed its commitment to legally binding measures such as reducing plastic production and consumption, and phasing out certain toxic... |