Traditional Knowledge and Intellectual Property

QUNO Review 2025

The Quaker United Nations Office is pleased to announce the release of our 2025 QUNO Review. As in previous years, the Review documents the work of our staff and partners across all program areas between our offices in New York and Geneva as we continue to support UN initiatives and influence international policy toward a more just and peaceful world. Over the past year, many challenges and conflicts have arisen or continued around the world. QUNO has worked on these by building trust and community with our UN partners, and providing space for dialogue and analysis. QUNO staff engaged with the UN’s Human Rights Council, presented research on the intersection between climate change and sustainable economic development, hosted Peace Games from New York to Uganda, and undertook additional initiatives aimed at fostering peace in the international community. To learn more about the past year’s work, and to see how you can support us in the future, explore the full Review below.

Our Right to a Healthy Environment

QUNO is pleased to share the publication of a new resource on the Right to a Clean, Healthy, and Sustainable Environment (R2He). In celebrating this newly recognized right, we hope that our easily shareable guide will empower each of us as individuals and members of our communities to advocate for our rights, participate in decision making, and hold governments to account. Over 85% of UN Member States recognize a right to a healthy environment in either constitutions, legislation, or regional treaties. Recognition of R2He means states have the obligation to uphold and protect this as enumerated. If and when they do not, advocates can and must push for its proper implementation. Our guide details the history, importance, and context of R2He within the human rights system and its relation and intersection with other universal human rights. Read on for a thorough introduction to this critical right and an outline of steps individuals can follow to take action. The guide can be found below.

Summary Report – “Plastic Money: Turning Off the Subsidies Tap (Phase 2)”

The Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO), in collaboration with Eunomia Research & Consulting Ltd., is pleased to announce the release of the Summary Report for Phase 2 of the initiative titled Plastic Money: Turning Off the Subsidies Tap. This report is being released ahead of the Fifth Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) on Plastic Pollution, which begins on 25 November 2024, in Busan, Republic of Korea. This release marks another milestone in our ongoing efforts to provide greater clarity on the nature and extent of subsidies in the production of primary plastic polymers (PPPs) and seeks to serve as a resource for negotiators and stakeholders as they deliberate measures to develop an international legally binding instrument to address plastic pollution. Important figures from Phase 2: Global subsidies for PPP production: The study estimates total subsidies to polymer production at USD 45 billion in 2024, projected to rise to USD 78 billion by 2050 under a baseline scenario. These subsidies disproportionately benefit major producers, with Saudi Arabia alone accounting for USD 38 billion in 2024. Production volumes: In 2024, global production of commodity polymers is expected to reach 306 million tonnes, rising to 590 million tonnes by 2050 under […]

Full Report: “Plastic Money: Turning Off the Subsidies Tap (Phase 2)”

This study by the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) and Eunomia, conducted with grant funding from the Rockefeller Foundation and supported by Dalberg Catalyst, presents the results of a second phase of research and modelling to understand the extent of subsidies for primary polymer production (PPP) and the potential impact of removing these. Synthetic plastic polymers are ubiquitous in modern life, but each stage of the plastics lifecycle – from extracting, refining and polymerising hydrocarbons to disposing of plastic waste – contributes to climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. Eliminating subsidies for plastics production is one measure under consideration by the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC), which is working to develop the UN-mandated Global Plastics Treaty to end plastic pollution. The study aims to fill gaps in the data on subsidies for the industry segment that processes raw materials for plastic, produces basic resins and extrudes them as plastic pellets. It builds on the results of a Phase 1 report to model the impacts of removing PPP subsidies against a business-as-usual scenario and finds it would significantly reduce primary polymer production. It also models the likely impacts on prices for consumers and finds these would increase minimally in […]

Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR): What is Sustainable and Just?

Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR): What is Sustainable and Just? By Duncan McLaren and Olaf Corry As atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations continue to rise apace and global temperatures and climate impacts accelerate due to insufficient global action, many are placing hopes and expectations in large scale anthropogenic ‘carbon dioxide removal’ (CDR) to balance the global carbon budget. CDR comprises a range of ideas and schemes that aim to draw down atmospheric carbon dioxide (which is already at harmful levels) and store it safely. In pursuing a maximum of a 1.5°C temperature rise at 2100, the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) Reports include many potentially unsustainable scenarios with removal of between 6 and 11 billion tonnes of CO2 (6-11 Gt-CO2) every year for 50 years. This would be a staggering amount of removal and storage and raises a host of challenging questions not only about feasibility and effectiveness, but also about safety, sustainability, legality, justice, ethics and geo-politics. Questions include: – Are such rates of removal even possible in the face of technical, economic and social limits? – Whose continued emissions would be counterbalanced with CDR? – What would a world of large-scale CDR look like in terms of human rights, […]

Trade Issues and the International Legally Binding Instrument on Plastic Pollution: A Legal Analysis

Authored by Dr. Alexandra Harrington, the report provides a critical examination of the intersection between international trade law and the proposed global treaty to end plastic pollution (ILBI), currently under negotiation. This analysis addresses key concerns raised in the ILBI negotiations regarding potential conflicts with existing World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements. It delves into the legal complexities surrounding subsidies, import and export licensing, and compliance provisions as outlined in the ILBI’s draft text, known as the Compilation Document. The analysis emphasizes that the ILBI’s proposals to limit, phase out, or ban subsidies related to plastic production would not conflict with WTO agreements, nor would its import or export provisions, labelling, and product design measures. This work fills an important gap in the ongoing Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) discussions by highlighting areas of potential convergence between the ILBI and the WTO's trade frameworks. It also draws parallels with the successful coexistence of other multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), such as the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions, within the WTO system. The analysis serves as a timely resource for INC delegates, policymakers, and stakeholders engaged in shaping the global treaty to address plastic pollution. It offers a path forward for harmonizing environmental objectives with […]

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