A new science-policy panel for chemicals, waste and pollution is currently being assembled by the United Nations Environment Programme. This paper discusses insights from participation in the process; examining which forms of knowledge (and knowers) have authority, and which come to be marginalised.
Long abstract:
A new science-policy panel for chemicals, waste and pollution is currently being assembled by member states of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). It is due to be established by the end of 2024. Intended to function much like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, it is an intergovernmental recognition of the ubiquity of pollution, and an attempt to (re)make pollution as an object of global governance. This moment invites a critical interrogation of both the process of assembling the panel and the broader work of rendering pollution global. Thinking with feminist and anticolonial scholarship, this paper discusses unfolding insights from participation in the panel-building process; it critically attunes to which forms of knowledge (and knowers) have authority, and which come to be marginalised. Furthermore, it considers how marginalised and dominant knowers alike navigate UNEP negotiations and intersessional processes, and what tactics they use to enable interventions. Taking care not to conflate ubiquity with globality, this paper ultimately considers the political implications of approaching pollution as a global problem - and opens up space for experimenting with alternatives.