General Assembly

General Assembly Resolution #291 “Sustainable Forest Management” (Category: Environmental; Industry Affected: Logging) shall be struck out and rendered null and void.

The World Assembly,

Acknowledging the necessity of combating the disastrous ecological effects of unsustainable logging,

Applauding GA#291’s admirable intentions to address this international crisis,

Disheartened that GA#291’s noble aims are entirely voided by its meandering contents that accumulate into a bloated resolution with a preposterously vast jurisdiction used for bizarre ends,

Alarmed that the GA#291 imposes significant restrictions on the harvest of lumber for commercial use within member states, thereby forcing simple artisans, traders, and other craftsmen who may seek to profit from the fruits of their labor to choose between the following processes:

• Petitioning an international body to approve their wooden media, regardless of the scale of their logging operation,

• Paying for imported lumber that can be more efficiently harvested in non-member states, which may be subject to price-hiking tariffs,

• Paying for lumber that was harvested within member states by large enterprises which possess the administrative resources to comply with GA#291's parameters, thereby creating a exclusionary market that is disadvantageous to individuals who do not fell on behalf of said large enterprises (“EXEMPTS”),

Perplexed by GA#291’s inability to consistently declare its intentions and stipulations, such as its creation of two potentially overlapping types of protected forest zones which are sourced from different authorities within the World Assembly (“CREATES” d. i.; “URGES”),

Confused by GA#291’s endorsement of deforestation for urban development while also expressing concern for the expected consequences of developing previously forested areas ("REQUIRES" c. i.-ii., "BELIEVING" a.-d.),

Baffled by GA#291’s expressed scientific illiteracy, which enables environmentally destructive practices such as:

• Encouraging member states to reforest areas that are destroyed by natural disasters such as wildfires and inundation, thereby resulting in unsustainable ecosystems in which trees that typically germinate in the final phase of ecological succession are denied access to soil replenishment from undergrowth and pioneer microorganisms ("ENCOURAGES"),

• Granting member states and private entities unregulated logging rights to forests that are affected by blights, creating an opportunistic loophole that neuters any intention to contain blights ("ALLOWS"),

Concerned by GA#291's establishment of different standards for each member state ("CREATES" c.), as tailoring and enforcing over 18,000 varying regulatory policies would not only be a gargantuan task for the WAFC to handle, but also an astounding waste of World Assembly resources, and,

Confident that future resolutions will be able to address these concerns and other problems associated with internationally coordinated measures pertaining to foresting and logging,

Repeals GA#291 “Sustainable Forest Management”.

Co-authored by Syldis