Cuba is participating in Paris in the second session of negotiations on an international treaty against plastic pollution, a forum in which it shared concerns about this threat and defended technology transfer to developing countries.
According to delegate Jorge Álvarez, general director of the Office for Regulation and Environmental Security of Cuba’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, Cuba pays attention to the issue and works on responses to the pressing challenge, which will shared in the week of discussions organized at UNESCO headquarters by the Environmental Program of the United Nations (UNEP).
In this sense, Álvarez noted that the island has a law already approved in the National Assembly, not yet published in the Official Gazette, which establishes the obligation to create a national plan to reduce the use of disposable plastics and increase the efficiency of waste management and recycling processes.
He stated that the Cuba advocates basing the decisions adopted with a view to materializing the treaty on scientifically proven argument. He added that the nation cautiously takes various approaches to the life cycle of plastic and other products, aimed at eliminating or restricting the use of certain elements, based on criteria such as disposable plastics, those considered unnecessary, or those complicated by their chemical composition.
The Cuban specialist cited, for example, the wide use in the health sector of surgical gloves, syringes and other single-use products, cases in which he estimated that the priority should be strengthening responsible waste management.
He stressed that Cuba’s vision is to recognize the problem and the need to act, and at the same time insist on the scientific endorsement of the measures and the importance of supporting developing countries with means of implementation, including the transfer of technologies.
UNEP and Member States of the United Nations hope to materialize before the end of 2024 the multilateral instrument to combat plastic pollution, a phenomenon with an impact on climate change and human health and the marine environment.
