The third session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-3) to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, is scheduled to take place from 13 to 19 November 2023 at the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. IUCN's International Policy Centre Plastics team and the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law will be present and available for meetings and guidance. 

This session will be preceded by regional consultations on 12 November 2023. Also as decided by the Committee at its second session, a preparatory one-day meeting will take place on 11 November 2023, at the same venue. 

Karine Siegwart, Senior Policy Advisor from IUCN, said: “As part of the triple planetary crisis, plastic pollution is detrimental to our terrestrial, freshwater, and marine biodiversity and all ecosystems. A healthy environment is not only the basis of humanity’s means of support, welfare and economies, but it is also a human right. The threats posed by plastics pollution require international legal responses to address plastic pollution across its lifecycle, ensuring a circular plastics economy and a just transition with benefits for nature and people depending on. Governments must ambitiously reduce plastic production, eliminate products and chemicals of concern, and agree a treaty to end all plastic pollution by 2030, as stated in relevant IUCN Resolutions (7.019 - Stopping the global plastic pollution crisis in marine environments by 2030 and 7.069 - Eliminate plastic pollution in protected areas, with priority action on single-use plastic products). This will be a critical step towards achieving global biodiversity and sustainable development goals, and the commitments of the High Seas Treaty."

Dr. Alexandra Harrington, Chair, Plastic Pollution Task Force, IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL) noted, “These briefings aim to provide a comprehensive approach to build negotiation capacity globally, but especially in West Africa as part of IUCN's Norad-funded AFRIPAC project. We are focusing on knowledge transfer, building a strong understanding of the regime interaction between the Treaty and existing international treaties, while highlighting the roles of the circular economy, waste management, and the plastic lifecycle from a legal perspective as we move toward an international legally binding instrument to prevent plastic pollution globally.” 

The briefings are:

• Briefing 1: Key Elements for Plastic Pollution Treaty 
• Briefing 2: Glossary of Key Terms 
• Briefing 3: Structure of Plastic Pollution Treaty (ILBI) 
• Briefing 4: Just Transition and the International Legally Binding Instrument 
• Briefing 5: Regime Convergence and the International Legally Binding Instrument 
• Briefing 6: Circular Economy and Plastic Life-Cycle Issues 
• Briefing 7: Legal Process of Treaty Negotiations 
• Briefing 8: Connections between IUCN’s Plastic Pollution Elimination Timeline and the SDGs 
• Briefing 9: Connections between IUCN’s Plastic Pollution Elimination Timeline and the GBF
• Briefing 10: Free Trade Agreement Convergence and the Plastic Pollution Treaty

A compilation of all 10 Briefings is available here.

These briefings are also available in French and Portuguese.

These are updated briefings of the INC-1 and INC-2 submissions, please note, and are considered version 3 – for submission to INC-3 as annexes for Submission Form A and Form B from IUCN.

For more information from IUCN on the plastics treaty process, please visit:

• IUCN's Policy pages and resources
• IUCN's global plastic news, projects and knowledge resources
• AFRIPAC: capacity building in West Africa with partners GRID-Arendal