Washington Lawyer - March/April 2020 - 39

GLOBAL & DOMESTIC OUTLOOK
ratified its implementing agreement on
straddling and migratory fish, and thus could
similarly accede to the BBNJ treaty.

PLASTIC PROBLEMS
Concern over plastic pollution on human health
as well as terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems
has accelerated in recent years. In 2018 Norway
proposed a novel approach: amending the
1989 Basel Convention on the Control of
Transboundary Movements of Hazardous
Wastes and Their Disposal to add mixed and
contaminated plastic waste to the list of materials covered by the convention. The amendment passed in May 2019.
"The negotiations moved at lightning speed in
the context of the Basel Convention, but even
in the context of any multilateral environmental
agreement that I have ever participated in,"
says Russ LaMotte, a principal at Beveridge
& Diamond PC's Washington, D.C., office.
In 2020 the Basel Convention parties will follow
up on the plastics provisions with specified
guidance for the transboundary movements
of plastics. The Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD), a
group of 36 developed countries, has also
pledged to complete in 2020 a transnational
plastics agreement in accord with the Basel
Convention's provision. The United States, not
a party to the Basel Convention but an OECD
member, would therefore have its plastic waste
trade fall under the OECD plastics regime.
LaMotte says lawyers following plastics on the
international level should consider other
matters, such as advocacy within the United

Proper Silouhette TK on arpproval

Nations Environment Assembly for a separate
plastics treaty, and also the Basel Convention's
impact on the ability of many companies to
fulfill ambitious circular economy plans, which
rely on access to more recycled plastics for
making new products.

MONTREAL PROTOCOL
This year the Meeting of the Parties to the
Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete
the Ozone Layer will consider reviewing and
strengthening its Kigali Amendment, which
came into force in early 2019. The Kigali
Amendment focuses on phasing out HFCs
to mitigate global warming.
Durwood Zaelke, president of the Institute for
Governance & Sustainable Development in
Washington, D.C., has been actively advocating
for the rapid phaseout of HFCs because it
would contribute faster to limiting global
warming than would slower-activating carbon

dioxide mitigation such as power plant controls.
"The need for speed for policy is even more
acute than 10 years ago, primarily because of
self-enforcing feedbacks - tipping points,"
says Zaelke.
While the Kigali Amendment enjoys bipartisan
U.S. support, Senate action on it might be difficult in an election year. However, domestic
initiatives on HFCs in Congress, the states, and
in business circles have also been gaining
steam. In particular, Senators John Kennedy of
Louisiana and Tom Carper of Delaware have
introduced the American Innovation and
Manufacturing Act of 2019, which, among its
provisions, authorizes phasing out HFCs in 15
years, giving industry some time to develop
replacements.

CONSERVATION & MORE
Another significant gathering in 2020 is the
much-anticipated Conference of the Parties to
the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
this October in China, which should decide on
a long-term approach to succeed the CBD's
2011-2020 Aichi Biodiversity Targets. The plan
could promulgate bold goals shaped by the
Half-Earth Project for dramatically upscaling
areas set aside for species conservation. In
addition, climate change litigation around the
world, like that of the U.S. Juliana case brought
by 21 youth plaintiffs against the United States,
could have dramatic results in 2020.
Richard Blaustein is a freelance science, environment, and legal journalist with a background in
environmental law.

Washington Lawyer - March/April 2020

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