India, April 30 -- Manyprovisions of substantive elements do not make it to textual negotiations; like-minded groupsdominate Closing Plenary

The zero draft presented during third meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-3) was expanded to encompass the perspectives of all Member States and carried forward for negotiations at INC-4 held under United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) aegis in Ottawa, Canada.

The final day of INC-4 began with subgroups tackling textual revisions for various provisions. Although the progress made by these subgroups and contact groups was initially considered satisfactory, textual negotiations only commenced during the final days of the meeting.

Some Member States were observed negotiat...