India, June 13 -- Behind closed doors, in a domed conference pavilion steps away from the historic port of Nice, more than 40 ministers gathered on Tuesday to tackle one of the planet's fastest-growing environmental threats: plastic pollution.

Away from the cameras and fanfare of the Third UN Ocean Conference under way in the coastal French city, they voiced a shared determination to finalize this year a global treaty that could, for the first time, regulate plastics across their entire life cycle.

Hosted by Inger Andersen, the head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the informal gathering marked a quiet but significant diplomatic moment - a sign that after two years of deliberations, political momentum may finally be catching up w...