Not only did the talks fail to produce a treaty, they systematically ignored the voices of Indigenous peoples most impacted by plastic pollution—a snub which led to an act of successful defiance at one of the summit’s plenary events.
“This entire process has been a violation” of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), said Tori Cress, an Anishinaabe woman from the Beausoleil First Nation and co-chair of the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Plastics. “We were profoundly disappointed because we were shown a complete disregard for Indigenous peoples’ rights.”
Frustration rippled throughout the one-week conference in Busan, South Korea, where delegates from more than 170 countries failed to reach a consensus on how to address the 350 million tons of plastic waste generated every year. Negotiators couldn’t cross the divide between countries that supported limiting plastic production and oil-rich countries that vehemently opposed it.
But more than disappointment, Indigenous attendees said they felt “heartache and deep pain” over how talks played out. The U.N. chair’s suggested treaty text removed references to UNDRIP and the “existing rights of Indigenous Peoples” found in earlier drafts.
“This is not just an oversight; it is a deliberate dismissal of our sovereignty, our rights, and our leadership,” the IIPFP said in a statement, which called the remaining references in the treaty to Indigenous knowledge “hollow and insulting.”
And despite being recognized as sovereign nations, Indigenous peoples weren’t allowed to participate in the closed-door, country-only negotiations that made up half of the summit. Instead, sovereign Indigenous nations were relegated to civil society status: allowed to be physically present, but barred from most important discussions.
Even when Indigenous peoples were allowed to participate, they were given far less time than usual, representatives say. Indigenous groups and other non-sovereign observers were not given time to talk during plenaries, when speakers have the opportunity to address delegates from every country—even though it is customary for the U.N. chair to invite civil societies to speak.
“That’s very concerning,” said Delphine Lévi Alvarès, the global petrochemicals campaign manager at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), who has been to every plastic treaty negotiations.
In protest, representatives of IIPFP stood with their fists in the air at Wednesday’s plenary, and asked for the right for one of their elders to address the conference. “It took courage to make sure I stood there and called out the chair to give us space to speak,” said Cress, who added she was afraid the U.N. would take away their badges and observer status for disrupting the talks.
It was only after other civil society members offered their support that an elder from IIPFP was given two minutes to talk about why Indigenous people are central to solving the plastic waste crisis. “We bear the brunt of the triple planetary crisis and plastic pollution is poisoning our lands, air, waters, ice, food systems, bodies, and very existence,” said Lisa Bellanger, an Anishinaabe Ojibwe woman.
“We know that Indigenous people and our knowledge and science systems are an essential solution to ending plastic pollution,” said Cress.
