[GA - PASSED] Regulating Desalination

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Regulating Desalination
Category: Environmental | Industry Affected: All Businesses - Mild
Proposed by: Honeydewistania | Onsite Topic​
The World Assembly,

Observing that desalination is used by several member nations as a method of obtaining fresh water for their people;

Acknowledging that when used in an environmentally-safe manner, desalination is a very effective method for providing potable water to freshwater deficient member nations with access to saltwater;

Aware that improperly managed desalination can lead to irreversible environmental damage, such as release of highly concentrated pollutants into the environment or possible contamination of natural freshwater sources with salt;

Hoping to prevent these negative environmental impacts, while continuing to enable the use of desalination as a way to obtain potable water;

Hereby:

1. Defines, for the purposes of this resolution, "desalination" as the process of obtaining freshwater from saltwater through one or more purification methods;

2. Requires member nations to dispose of any waste products from the desalination process in a manner that does not pose a significant degree of threat to any natural environment;

3. Encourages member nations to research and, when possible, utilize a combination of desalination and salt-recovery for industrial and commercial use;

4. Mandates that desalination plants and their operations must not cause irreversible damages to any ecosystem, and that effective environmental damage mitigation plans are in place to be enacted in the case of an accident;

5. Urges member nations with access to large quantities of saltwater to use desalination as a new source of water, instead of tapping into pristine freshwater reserves;

6. Encourages member nations to adopt energy-efficient strategies for desalination, and if possible, use renewable energy during the process of desalination;

7. Clarifies that nothing in this resolution discourages the use of other methods of alleviating water shortage, such as water use reduction policies.

Co-authored by Kenmoria
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Voting Instructions:
  • Vote For if you want the Delegate to vote For the resolution.
  • Vote Against if you want the Delegate to vote Against the resolution.
  • Vote Abstain if you want the Delegate to abstain from voting on this resolution.
  • Vote Present if you are personally abstaining from this vote.
Detailed opinions with your vote are appreciated and encouraged!
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Written with the goal of curbing the possible negative environmental effects of desalination, “Regulating Desalination” naturally legislates on a very narrow topic. However, this limited scope does the proposal more harm than good. For starters, the legislation’s clauses are quite weak, and do not take advantage of the proposal’s narrow topic to effectively regulate desalination. The issues posed by desalination are not limited to waste products harming ecosystems; rather, they include risks to human health, which are not covered by the proposal, and ocean-specific issues such as the intake and destruction of animals and eggs. Additionally, the proposal fails to address the potential commercial applications of waste products, nor does it effectively address the financial issues plaguing desalination in water-scarce areas or encourage water conservation measures. It is our belief that a proposal on such a narrow topic must take full advantage of its limited scope. Otherwise, it may as well be rewritten to regulate water treatment or land-based industry in general. For these reasons, the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs recommends voting Against the proposal, “Regulating Desalination”.
 
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Okay so clause 5 helps preserve freshwater reserves, which are rather precious. So by encouraging desalination amongst nations that have a lot of saltwater, there is less strain on freshwater reserves to provide clean water for the country.

For clause 6, one of the biggest peeves with desalination is that it’s energy consuming. So by making it energy efficient, less fossil fuels that pollute the environment are used. As well as that, renewable energy is encouraged, so even less fossil fuels are used.

As for Praetor, do you have a reason to vote against?
 
Sorry if this is not the right place to post this.

So, I contacted the resolution author about the concerns raised by the Ministry of WA Affairs through telegram and this was their response:

"Thank you for your telegram.

Firstly, I have not heard of risks to human health caused by desalination. If TNP can provide examples, I can concede to this argument.

Secondly, while it is true desalination can take in animal eggs, that’s not really possible to prevent. Also the amount of eggs in freshwater would be higher anyway.

Thirdly, the commercial thing is nonsense, since I am encouraging them to research. I’m not going to force nations hands to research into sea salt.

Lastly , I am not discouraging water conversation. Promoting it is for another legislation.

Yours,
Honeydewistania"

I'd like to hear what some of you think of this response.
Note: I did ask whether or not I could share this, by the way.
 
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