
GENEVA, August 24 (IPS) – In 2022, the United Nations Environment Assembly mandated an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) to develop a global, legally binding instrument addressing the full life cycle of plastics, from production and product design to disposal. After the resumed fifth session adjourned without consensus in Geneva in August 2025, the divided process moved into informal consultations before INC-5.4 in March 2027.

Ukraine: Attacks on education threaten an entire generation, UNICEF warns
Back to school in Haiti: ‘Madame, can you stop what the gangs are doing to us?’
Ebola responders grapple with widening outbreak in DR Congo
UNICEF says thousands of children require mental health support after Nepal floods
Escalating conflict drives new displacement in Yemen
Security Council LIVE: Rising violence triggers emergency meeting on Yemen