Click to expand Image Campaigners and waste pickers from around the world holding a sign reading, "plastic puts 218 million people at risk of more severe flooding," outside the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, where the second round of plastics treaty negotiations took place, May 30, 2023. 2023 Hellen Huang/Human Rights Watch The second round of the United Nations Environment Programme's plastics treaty negotiations concluded last Friday in Paris. Countries agreed to a mandate for a "zero draft" of the treaty to be prepared by the negotiating committee's chair prior to the next session in Nairobi this November. However, governments still remained divided on key terms and obligations, with some even blocking the possibility of a meaningful plastics treaty. Last week's session was attended by 169 UN member states and 900 civil society and industry representatives. Countries with vested interests in the fossil fuel industries, including China, Russia, Saudi A