The World Assembly,
Worried that unregulated land reclamation can lead to ecological damages with long term economic damage, as well as dangers to the health of both people and the environment;
Acknowledging the use of land reclamation by member nations to increase their land area for necessary purposes such as halting urban spread into pristine terrestrial ecosystems, or extending port facilities of growing coastal cities;
Very concerned about the loss of biodiversity hotspots and areas vital for the reproduction of commercially important marine species, as an unintended consequence of land reclamation;
Especially aware of the vulnerability of shallow marine ecosystems and the coastal areas, yet understanding the occasional necessity for their development;
Searching for a way to balance ecological concerns with the necessities of urban development;
Hereby:
- Defines:
- “land reclamation” as the oceanic construction of new dry land in a nation’s territory;
- “impact study” as an independent survey conducted to determine the potential ecological impacts of land reclamation;
- Mandates thats a good faith effort to obtain and apply materials that cause as little environmental damage as possible for the physical stage of land reclamation must be made, unless obtaining those materials is incredibly infeasible or costly, in which case the best possible alternative must be used;
- Subject to clause 5 of this resolution, orders member nations to prevent a land reclamation project from proceeding if it is likely to cause environmental damage that will severely imperil the health of marine life or those that live nearby;
- Clarifies that if the potential damage caused can and will be mitigated to a reasonable level, the land reclamation project may proceed;
- Requires member nations to conduct impact studies to determine if proceeding with land reclamation will not violate this resolution;
- Requires that results of impact studies must be submitted to the Environmental Survey of the World Assembly (ESWA), and tasks the ESWA with:
- issuing special permits to land reclamation projects that would otherwise violate this resolution only if:
- not proceeding with land reclamation will severely imperil the health of a nation’s population; or
- not proceeding with land reclamation will cause greater environmental damage than doing so;
- issuing normal permits to land reclamation projects that will not violate this resolution;
- prohibiting land reclamation from taking place if it violates the restrictions laid out by this resolution;
- Mandates that land reclamation projects that are issued permits as a result of clause 5a must cause as little environmental damage as feasible, and prohibits land reclamation projects from proceeding if they are denied a permit by the ESWA.
Co-authored by
Honeydewistania.
