The fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (INC-4), is scheduled to take place from 23 to 29 April 2024 at the Shaw Center in Ottawa, Canada. The session will be preceded by regional consultations on 21 April 2024.
The fourth session will focus on the further development of the Revised Zero Draft text and mandating any intersessional work that is necessary between the fourth and fifth session. The revised draft text of the international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (UNEP/PP/INC.4/3), is now available here in all six UN official languages.
The International Science Council at INC-4
The ISC is committed to supporting Member States and relevant parties to deliver an effective, science-based legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution by championing integrated scientific inputs into the ongoing negotiations. For INC-3, the ISC developed a policy brief advancing a strong science-policy-society interface to support implementation of the Treaty, including a set of principles and functions to guide the scope, objectives and institutional arrangements of such a scientific mechanism.
After INC-3, the ISC announced the establishment of an expert group on plastic pollution. This group comprises experts from the ISC’s membership, affiliated bodies, and close scientific networks, spanning various disciplines across the natural and social sciences and representing different global regions.
In preparation for INC-4, the expert group has prepared a High-level commentary in response to the Revised Draft and ongoing negotiations. The commentary underscores a set of science-based recommendations to inform ongoing negotiations, ensuring an effective and robust regulatory instrument and implementation.
High-level Commentary: Key Requirements for a Science-based International Legally Binding Instrument to End Plastic Pollution
Key Requirements for a Science-based International Legally Binding Instrument to End Plastic Pollution. High-level commentary on the Revised draft text ahead of the fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on plastic pollution (INC-4). Paris, International Science Council.
Related resources from the ISC community
- Legacy plastics: interventions to remove existing plastic from aquatic environments – The Royal Society (UK)
- Report on the impact of plastics on human health in the journal Annals of Global Health – Scientific Center of Monaco
Side-event – Enabling just transition
The ISC is involved in the coordination of an INC-4 side event titled Enabling just transition in partnership with the Ministry of Environment of Brazil, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), World Trade Organization and others. The event will take place on Thursday 25 April in the Asia Pacific room/Room 213/215 at Shaw Centre, Ottawa, Canada.
Further information will be made available here: https://www.unep.org/inc-plastic-pollution/session-4/events#SideEvent3
ISC Delegation and Community at the INC-4
Chief Conservation and Science Officer
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Chair of ISC’s expert group on plastic pollution
Science Director, Institute of Marine Science of the National Research Council of Italy
Vice-President and Senior Scientist at the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR)
Associate Professor and Director of the Sustainability Research Centre, School of Engineering, Universidad del Desarrollo, Chile
Member of the Global Young Academy
Professor of Marine Biology and Head of the Department of Life Sciences, The University of the West Indies
Ex-officio member of the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) Executive Committee
Adjunct Professor of Environmental Science and of Engineering at Silliman University, Dumaguete, The Philippines
Research Professor of Oceanography at the Sea Education Association and member of the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR)
Professor of Environmental Engineering at the University of Georgia and Co-chair of the US NAS Roundtable on Plastics
