You can now read SF’s most recent governance paper, ‘The Plastics Treaty Process Needs Greatly Improved Observer Participation at this Critical Point in the Negotiations and Beyond,’ by Craig Boljkovac.
In 2022, the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) mandated an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) to develop a global, legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, based on a comprehensive approach addressing the full life cycle of plastics—from production and product design to use and disposal. The negotiations have since become deeply divided and, after the resumed fifth session in Geneva adjourned without consensus in August 2025, the process is now moving through informal consultations towards INC-5.4 in March 2027. Against that background, the exclusion of observers from the June 2026 Heads of Delegation (HoDs) meeting in Nairobi and the next such meeting in Bangkok is more than a procedural concern: it points to a forced separation between governments and observers during the decisive months before that session. At precisely the moment when the negotiations need scientific knowledge, practical experience, public scrutiny and political confidence, the process is becoming less inclusive.
There should be no misunderstanding about roles. Governments negotiate treaties and take decisions; observers do not claim either function. Meaningful observer participation is nevertheless a mainstream feature of United Nations environmental negotiations, not an optional courtesy or a privilege that must be earned by reorganizing civil society and other stakeholders into a form that is administratively convenient to the Chair and the Secretariat. Read the full paper here.
