PERSONAL: Young Indonesian activist disappointed by UN plastic talks, urges for strong treaty

Record ID: 1860427

  • Title: PERSONAL: Young Indonesian activist disappointed by UN plastic talks, urges for strong treaty
  • Date: 2nd December 2024
  • Summary: BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA (DECEMBER 1, 2024) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF NINA HOLDING LETTER WITH WORDS READING (English) "STOP EXPORT PLASTIC AND PAPER WASTE TO INDONESIA" ADDRESSED TO DELEGATE OF UN PLASTIC TALKS AND WALKING AROUND MEETING VENUE NINA WALKING THROUGH INSTALLATION ARTWORK DECORATED WITH PLASTIC WASTES (SOUNDBITE) (English) INDONESIAN 17-YEAR-OLD CLIMATE ACTIVIST, AESHNINA AZZAHRA AQILANI KNOWN AS 'NINA', SAYING: “The letter is about the condition in my country where we are already being a dumping ground for the developed countries. The plastic waste, the plastic piles is everywhere in the riverbanks, in the roadside, in the landfill, it's everywhere. So, it's really polluting our environment because it's being burnt, being dumped in the river and polluting our communities and the children's health is in danger. So, I asked them to stop, export plastic waste to my country and to developing country and to manage their own waste in their own country.”
  • Embargoed: 16th December 2024 08:30
  • Keywords: Busan INC-5 Indonesia Nina South Korea UN United Nations activist global plastic talks teenage treaty young
  • Location: BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA / SINGAPORE / IN AIR / SURABAYA, LUMPUR VILLAGE, GRESIK REGENT, PAGAK DISTRICT, MALANG REGION, EAST JAVA PROVINCE, INDONESIA
  • City: BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA / SINGAPORE / IN AIR / SURABAYA, LUMPUR VILLAGE, GRESIK REGENT, PAGAK DISTRICT, MALANG REGION, EAST JAVA PROVINCE, INDONESIA
  • Country: South Korea
  • Topics: Asia / Pacific,Climate Change,Climate Policy and Regulation,Environment,General News
  • Reuters ID: LVA003396202122024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A young Indonesian teenage climate activist expressed disappointment on Monday (December 2) after countries negotiating a global treaty to curb plastic pollution failed to reach a breakthrough.
    Seventeen-year-old Aeshnina "Nina" Azzahra Aqilani — a long-time protester against developed countries' exporting of plastic waste to her home country and other developing nations — travelled over 10 hours to South Korea’s port city of Busan in hopes of witnessing historic deals relating to environmental protection being made.
    Instead, Nina could only look on after the fifth U.N. Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) meeting intended to yield a legally binding global treaty failed to reach an agreement, with more than 100 nations wanting to cap production while a handful of oil producers were prepared only to target plastic waste.
    Nina, who started her journey as a climate activist after seeing piles of plastics from developed countries on riverbanks in her neighbourhood, said she sent letters to world leaders, including then U.S. President Donald Trump, urging them to stop sending plastic waste to Indonesia.
    In Busan where the UN plastic talks took place, Nina marched down streets with fellow activists while holding dolls in plastic bottles — a grim illustration of microplastics in the womb.
    "As the future generation, we have to live in a safe environment. Microplastic is everywhere inside our bodies. This is emergency. It is an urgent problem. So, we really need a strong, legally binding plastic treaty," the activist said.
    As the meeting, which was meant to be the final one, concluded, countries remained far apart on the basic scope of a treaty, and could agree only to postpone key decisions and resume talks, dubbed INC 5.2, to a later date.
    An option proposed by Panama backed by more than 100 countries would have created a path for a global plastic production reduction target, while another proposal did not include production caps.
    The fault lines were apparent in a revised document released on Sunday (December 1) by the meeting's chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso, which may form the basis of a treaty, but remained riddled with options on the most sensitive issues.
    A small number of petrochemical-producing nations, such as Saudi Arabia, have strongly opposed efforts to reduce plastic production and have tried to use procedural tactics to delay negotiations.
    "This is the last meeting ever and it's a bit disappointing for me because they didn't come out with a strong and ambitious treaty," Nina said after the closing plenary.
    Plastic production is on track to triple by 2050, and microplastics have been found in the air, fresh produce and even human breast milk. Chemicals found to be of concern in plastics include more than 3,200 according to a 2023 U.N. Environment Programme report, which said women and children were particularly susceptible to their toxicity.
    (Production: Daewoung Kim, Minwoo Park, Zahra Matarani)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register