The World Assembly,
Recognizing the importance of high-quality habitats in the protection of ecosystems;
Perceiving that tall grass prairies play an important ecological function by filtering pesticides, nutrients, and bacteria from agricultural runoff, as well as preventing soil erosion by establishing deep root systems;
Noticing that tall grass prairies support a wide range of biodiversity, often including plant, insect, large mammal, and prominent keystone species that may not be present in other ecosystems;
Noting that tall grass prairies are often desirable for conversion to agricultural purposes, due to high nutrient levels in the soil, moderate levels of rainfall, and a lack of trees;
Lamenting that only a tiny fraction of tall grass prairies remain today;
Observing that, in many WA member nations, the conversion of land for agriculture has severely decreased the abundance of tall grass prairies, leading to a reduction in biodiversity among pollinators;
Troubled that a lack of biodiversity among pollinators may be detrimental to agriculture by creating, in many cases, an unstable 1 to 1 relationship between crop yield and a single pollinator species, potentially collapsing the agricultural industry of some nations, should the pollinator become extinct; and
Concerned that failing to protect native prairies will lead to the extinction of several currently endangered species, many of which rely heavily on tall grass prairies;
Hereby:
- Defines for the purposes of this resolution:
- ‘tall grass prairie’ as a biome featuring the dominance of tall grass species, averaging greater than 1.5 meters in height, moderate levels of annual rainfall, and the presence of periodic wildfires, with period between combustion exceeding 1 year, but not more than 20 years, to prevent the encroachment of saplings and invasive plant species;
- ‘pollinators’ as species that frequently spread pollen between the male and female components of a plant species, allowing said plants to fertilize the female ovules for reproduction; and
- ‘land development’ as any sapient activity which alters a landscape from its naturally occurring form and does not allow the landscape to recover to its naturally occurring form within a period of 5 years (e.g. does not include controlled burns);
- Tasks the World Assembly Science Program (WASP) with the following:
- researching the historical prevalence of tall grass prairies in all WA member nations;
- determining the impact that agriculture and land development has had on the decline of tall grass prairies and the loss of pollinators in all WA member nations;
- performing ecological surveys to assess the feasibility of restoring tall grass prairies in nations with significantly diminished tall grass prairie ranges;
- researching methods and creating guidelines for maintaining tall grass prairies in areas where periodic controlled burns have the potential to be ecologically damaging;
- communicating their findings with all WA member nations; and
- assisting member nations in conducting independent research into native tall grass prairies when adequate resources are lacking;
- Mandates that all member nations:
- determine areas where tall grass prairies currently exist within their borders;
- conduct environmental impact studies to determine the effect of any land development within 5 kilometers of areas recognized as containing tall grass prairies;
- share raw data on all research pertaining to tall grass prairies with the WASP;
- maintain current tall grass prairies by:
- performing periodic controlled burns when it is ecologically in the best interest of the prairie and the surrounding area and unlikely to lead to the development of a wildfire, or else following the guidance set forth by the WASP in clause 2d;
- preventing land development for any purpose in tall grass prairies;
- preventing human activities that have been found to be detrimental to the ecosystem, according to clause 3b, in the areas surrounding tall grass prairies; and
- record all native multicellular species found to exist within a tall grass prairie, and collect seed samples from all native prairie plants; and
- Strongly Recommends that member nations:
- work to restore and maintain tall grass prairies in all ecologically feasible areas, as determined by the findings of the WASP;
- create economic incentives for private entities to restore and maintain tall grass prairies when direct government action is infeasible; and
- research methods of reducing land use and pollution associated with agriculture.
