MAKE EVERYDAY EARTH DAY

This year's World Earth Day drew attention to the Planet vs Plastics discourse, but what we need is immediate and urgent action

- Rajiv Tikoo

World Earth Day is getting louder and more visible. The theme this year was Planet vs Plastics. While the day was being marked worldwide, on April 22, an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) mandated to negotiate a legally binding plastics treaty to address the yet-to-be-defined “full life cycle of plastics” was preparing to get into deliberations the next day to be held till 29 April in Toronto, Canada.

The treaty, which is also to factor in marine environment, is expected to come into being by end 2024 as was agreed upon by 175 nations at the United Nations Environment Assembly in March 2022. They are to build on the zero draft developed during the last round of negotiations held in November 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya. If the treaty comes into effect as scheduled, it will be the fastest the treaty to be negotiated ever.