The Establishment of Science-Policy Interfaces for the Global Plastics Treaty: Reflections on Small Island Developing States' Perspectives

On 2 March 2022, the United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) requested the Executive Director of UNEP to convene an international negotiating committee (INC) charged with moving towards the negotiation of an international legally binding instrument on plastics by 2024. Due to the complex environmental, societal, and human health impacts of plastic pollution, the work undertaken ought to consider the best available science, traditional knowledge, and local knowledge systems in the context of scientific and socioeconomic assessments. This article explores the importance of specifically considering the challenges faced by small island developing States in the development of a Science-Policy Interface (SPI) as is envisaged by the INC. It is argued that in the creation of a global SPI on plastic pollution, a vision for the co-creation and co-design of traditional and local stakeholders' knowledge must be integrated from the beginning.