The World Assembly,
Believing in previous strides to maintain sustainability in our forests, and
Believing that the most effective way to create long-term sustainability actions within the forests of the World Assembly is to regulate the products which forests are generally deforested to produce, and
Hoping to institute additional actions to ensure that timber and lumber products are sustainably-sourced within all members of this Assembly, therefore enacts as follows:
- Every member must establish or otherwise maintain an agency responsible for ensuring any source of timber or timber products produced or sold in that member is sustainably-sourced. In the event of a multinational entity that accomplishes this goal exists, a member may defer or collaborate with that entity as opposed to creating their own agency (including, say, a comparable agency from another member). Each agency may determine specifics of what constitutes something being "sustainably sourced", but shall include at minimum the following:
- The timber is not sourced from an "old growth" forest, which has occurred naturally and developed over a sustained period of time, with minimal disturbance.
- Any logging operation did not cause habitat fragmentation, insofar as it introduces or exacerbates discontinuities in the natural habitat of any flora or fauna.
- Timber sourced near water have appropriate measures taken to minimize soil erosion, protect water quality, and not disturb water-based ecosystems.
- All areas where timber is sourced from must be subject to post-logging site rehabilitation, which may include activities such as soil restoration, removing any logging residue, and restoring (to the best of the nation's ability) the area to its previous ecological significance, and any other activities deemed necessary.
- No agency, as established in clause one of this resolution, shall approve any timber or timber product for sale which is not sourced sustainably, or in which they cannot track with confidence if it was sourced sustainably.
- No member, or entity therein, shall allow the sale of any timber or timber products within its borders which is not ensured for sale pursuant to clause one of this resolution by a relevant certification agency. Additionally, no member, or entity therein, shall allow the export or import of any timber or timber products from its borders of any timber which is not approved for sale pursuant to clause one of this resolution by a relevant certification agency.
- Agencies, as established in clause one of this resolution, must submit annual reports to the World Assembly Forest Commission (WAFC), detailing all timber approved and denied, in order to track general trends surrounding the timber and lumber industries. The WAFC may request additional information about the approval processes from agencies carrying out the provisions of this resolution and, if those approval processes constitute something which does not effectively and in good-faith ensure sustainability from timber and timber-based products, mandate that the agency change its criteria to increase efficacy.
- Timber or timber products produced before the passage of this resolution by the World Assembly, or prior to a member's initial entry into the World Assembly, shall not be subject to the provisions of this resolution.
