UN plastic talks start with call for states to 'deliver' treaty on global crisis | AFP

Nations must step up and resolve the global plastics crisis, the head of UN talks tells negotiators gathered in Geneva to forge a landmark binding treaty to curb plastic pollution. "It's one of the most urgent environmental priorities of our time," says Ecuadoran diplomat Luis Vayas Valdivieso, kicking off the 10-day negotiations. "We are here today to fulfil an international mandate. August 14 is not just a deadline for our work. It is a date by which we must deliver."