India, March 10 -- The United Nations Environment Programme has announced that the second part of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) to develop an international and legally binding instrument on plastic pollution will take place in August in Geneva.

The treaty, however, hangs in balance like most international agreements since the return of Donald Trump to the White House.

On February 10, US President Donald Trump issued executive orders aimed at encouraging purchase of plastic drinking straws, pushing back efforts by his predecessor to phase out single-use plastics and tackle waste.

"We're going back to plastic straws," Trump said as he signed the order, saying that paper straws "don't work". "I don...