General Assembly Resolution #768 “Sustainable Timber Standards” (Category: Environmental; Industry Affected: Logging) shall be struck out and rendered null and void.
Recognizing the ethical duty to reduce the impact of industry and civilization on the environment,
Observing that forest ecosystems are a crucial element of many biospheres,
Worried that GAR #768, “Sustainable Timber Standards”, imposes counterproductive incentive structures that actually exacerbate the environmental impact of the timber industry,
Concerned in particular that section 2’s land clearing exception still effects a prohibition on the sale of cleared timber when not offset by artifical forestation elsewhere, thus significantly increasing the cost of land development in forested areas and reducing large amounts of valuable timber to waste,
Alarmed that this aggravates the issue of deforestation globally, as the demand of the international timber trade will offset this wasted timber with an increase in supply from non-member states with less wasteful regulatory schemes, the result being more trees cut down less responsibly,
Shocked that, as a consequence of these regulations, nations already consisting of entirely or almost entirely forested ecosystems are de facto banned from all land development outside their preexisting settlements and infrastructure,
Disappointed that the target fails to account for the disparity this framework reinforces between fully developed nations that have already completed the land clearing required to support their population and industry, and less developed nations that have yet to accomodate the land to their needs,
Devastated that the wide-reaching trade restrictions of section 3 have caused severe timber shortages in several member states, disrupting several other industries reliant on a steady timber supply,
Unconvinced that forests are in and of themselves more ecologically desirable than other ecosystems, such as wetlands, grasslands, and tundra, and thus questioning the value of pressuring member states or those under their jurisdiction to disrupt existing ecosystems by growing new forest to offset deforestation elsewhere,
The World Assembly hereby repeals GAR #768, “Sustainable Timber Standards”.