General Assembly Voting Chamber

Responsible Land Management A resolution to increase the quality of the world's environment, at the expense of industry.

Category: Environmental

Industry Affected: Agriculture

Proposed by: Refuge Isle

Understanding, although desertification and erosion have taken place for eons beyond remembrance, where the activities of sapient beings exacerbate those processes or cause the expansion of drylands to take place where they otherwise would not, far reaching negative consequences can result. Outlining the source of artificially caused desertification to include over-grazing, deforestation, the over-exploitation of soils from farming, and the loss of sufficient moisture in soils to prevent wind erosion after tillage or the removal of vegetation, Highlighting the effects of artificial desertification to include the destabilisation of the local biosphere, diminished habitability and food production in the affected areas, as well as climate changes in the larger scope of the region when water cannot be dispersed into the atmosphere through transpiration from plants, This General Assembly, in seeking to avoid such environmental repercussions, hereby: 1. Establishes the Environmental Survey of the World Assembly (ESWA) as a research and advisory department within the World Assembly Scientific Programme, employing an appropriate number of scientists and support staff, and paid for by the WA general fund with no external sources for financial contribution permitted; 2. Instructs the ESWA to:  Conduct ground, water, and atmospheric surveys of member nations' territories, as well as accessible international areas in order to collect data on their environmental situations.  Keep and publish records of survey findings, develop estimations to the cause of any changes in a survey area over time, and create predictions of future trends.  Alert member nations to at-risk areas of environmental degradation caused by their sapient inhabitants and issue recommendations for appropriate countermeasures.  Identify areas in member nations’ territories as candidates for reforestation, land reclamation, and rehabilitation, where environmental degradation has been artificially made.  Allow volunteer scientists with relevant expertise to assist with ESWA research under supervision.  3. Instructs member nations to develop and implement curricula as a comprehensive component of existing education in geological sciences for their nation’s youth in order to understand the causes, consequences, and solutions for artificial desertification; 4. Requires member nations to prohibit over-grazing and, instead, employ sustainable, targeted grazing practices, defined as the rotation of livestock between pastures with fallowing periods sufficient to allow plants to recover, unless the livestock is being used to maintain a controlled conservation area for the purposes of improving biodiversity, or unless the livestock is temporarily used to fertilise and prepare farmland; 5. Orders member nations to install or plant windbreaks around farm fields in areas designated by the ESWA to be “at-risk” of wind erosion, in sufficient intervals to be effective; 6. Requires member nations develop and implement legislation prohibiting the excessive removal or destruction of vegetation, defined as such removal or destruction resulting in exposed, unprotected soils creating a threat of artificial desertification or contributing to existing desertification in the local area; 7. Mandates that member nations implement water control measures on their landscapes made artificially vulnerable to ecologically damaging levels of water erosion, with such measures able to channel surface runoff into swales, contour trenches, or other systems that preserve water, soil, and vegetation fertility; 8. Recommends that member nations work in harmony to develop and contribute to reforestation projects in areas identified by the ESWA to be targets for rehabilitation.

Concrete Slab
Coral Guard Member
5x Local Councillor 
TSP Legislator and Citizen
Ambassador to the League 
Author of GAR #471, #479, and SCR #271
Co-author of SCR #300
Founded 1/25/18

(This post was last modified: 10-26-2019, 12:30 PM by Concrete Slab.)

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(This post was last modified: 10-22-2019, 08:29 AM by Concrete Slab.)

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The government of Concrete Slab is voting For  this resolution. This proposal is an excellent replacement to GA#432 Preventing Desertification, going much more in depth to address and counter the effects of desertification and other forms of environmental degradation.

Concrete Slab
Coral Guard Member
5x Local Councillor 
TSP Legislator and Citizen
Ambassador to the League 
Author of GAR #471, #479, and SCR #271
Co-author of SCR #300
Founded 1/25/18

(This post was last modified: 10-22-2019, 08:29 AM by Concrete Slab.)

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The Tecorogan Federation has voted against the resolution quoted, as the Environmental Survey of the World Assembly appears to have been given more powers to the detriment of our own national agencies. For example, the determination of which farm areas need to be protected by windbreaks rests on the ESWA, not on our own land planning entities.The ESWA should be purely advisory, this power gives them a too intrusive regulatory capacity.

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I'm going to wait a day or two to see how TSP's vote evens out, but I will likely be voting for.

~ Aumeltopia ~

Raccoons are bandits! First they steal your food . . . and then your heart/identity!

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Since this thread exists, I'll just point out that clause six is really quite bad.
The language would prohibit the following (among other things):
- Destruction of patches completely dominated by an invasive species (or similar) where a patch of desertification may be necessary to prevent more severe damage to the wider environment.
- Dirt paths in gardens, parks, forests, etc - requiring these paths to either be abandoned (potentially making it far harder to manage the environment, even for the sake of studying and protecting it as well as preventing healthy recreation) or be replaced with significantly more invasive, expensive and damaging paths

Even worse, a literal reading of that clause may also ban leaving areas temporarily exposed for some period of time for the sake of construction, something which is necessary - construction cannot be carried out all in one go (especially since it is quite weather dependent) and "partial" or "gradual" destruction is generally not possible or desired since it tends to significantly increase the length, effort and environmental impact (construction requires that heavy machines be able to access the area too).

And the very worst part is a big loophole allowing people to perhaps completely ignore this clause if they simply put a tarp over the area, thus leaving the soil no longer exposed.
Obviously, doing so would be hostile to the environment and the opposite of what is desired but it shows how flawed and unrefined this law is (just like pretty much every other GA law/proposal).
And this also yet another example of a law where "good faith" at best creates far more uncertainty and far worse results since the intent of clause 6 and the general law is simply not sufficiently clear.

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The proposal "Responsible Land Management" has been passed 11,351 votes (76.9%) to 3409 votes (23.1%) and is now World Assembly Law.

Concrete Slab
Coral Guard Member
5x Local Councillor 
TSP Legislator and Citizen
Ambassador to the League 
Author of GAR #471, #479, and SCR #271
Co-author of SCR #300
Founded 1/25/18

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