PARIS, March 4, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A new round of negotiations for an international treaty on reducing global plastics pollution will be held in Geneva in August, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said Monday.

A previous round of negotiations -- tasked with hammering out a legally binding treaty -- ended without agreement in South Korea last year.

Plastic pollution is so ubiquitous that microplastics have been found on the highest mountain peaks, in the deepest ocean trenches, and scattered throughout almost every part of the human body.

The announcement on the UNEP website of the new talks comes in the wake of a last-ditch COP16 finance deal on biodiversity agreed in Rome last week by delegates from some 150 countries.

UNEP said the new plastics talks will be held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva from August 5 to 14.

December's South Korea talks broke down following opposition from a bloc of mainly oil-producing countries.

Delegates from nearly 200 nations debated for a week on how to stop millions of tonnes of plastic waste from entering the environment each year.

The talks were meant to end with the world's first accord on cutting plastics pollution after nearly two years of discussions, but concluded without an agreement -- except to extend talks.