UNEA Votes for Marine Pollution as Delegates Debate Environmental Priorities

Rose Adjei Asamoah, BNC

The United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), in a coordinated caucus, adopted Topic A: Addressing Marine Pollution and Strengthening the Effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas as the topic for deliberation during committee sessions at LTMUN 2026.

The decision followed deliberations on two major topics: Topic A — Addressing Marine Pollution and Strengthening the Effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas, and Topic B — Addressing Accelerated Biodiversity Laws and Preventing a Sixth Mass Extinction Driven by Climate Change and Human Activities.

With 35 delegates voting in favour of Topic A and about eight against, while Mozambique abstained, the caucus decided to proceed with Topic A.

Gabon opened the case for Topic A, arguing that pollution has no limits unless countries work together to stop it.

“As oceans do not have borders, pollution also doesn’t have borders,”

she reiterated, emphasising the need to protect marine life.

France, however, argued for Topic B, stating that addressing biodiversity would also address the issues raised under Topic A.

“In addressing biodiversity laws, we address other issues of the environment,”

he stated. During an informal discussion to lobby for more votes, the French delegate promised to discuss marine pollution as a subtopic during the deliberations.

The position advanced by Gabon received support from delegates representing Nigeria, Chile, Australia, Morocco, Egypt, Sweden, Liberia, Bhutan, and China. Their argument was that the two topics required different resolutions and that neither should be treated as a subset of the other.

Sweden further challenged the idea of combining the topics, pointing out that if the LTMUN Bureau had proposed marine pollution as a topic, each country had a part to play in its resolution. The delegate therefore argued that the caucus should concentrate on solving a specific issue rather than merging the two topics.

A similar concern came from Liberia, which argued that generalised arguments did not lead to sovereignty while questioning the feasibility of Topic B if adopted.

Supporting France’s position, Indonesia argued that although marine life matters, the caucus should not focus only on marine life but also consider the lives of other species.

The broader implications of focusing on marine issues also emerged during an informal discussion. Rwanda asked other delegates, “As we are focusing on the marine, what happens to the land?”

The committee session concluded with delegates from various countries defending their positions on the subtopics they wanted considered for further deliberations. The Chair of the UNEA Committee, Hon. Fletcher Boateng-Antwi, subsequently moved for the adjournment of the committee meeting to Tuesday, 29 September 2026.