[Sciongrad]

[box]Category: Environment| Strength: Agriculture | Proposed by: Sciongrad[/box]

[box]The General Assembly,

Recognizing the transnational impact that desertification, drought, and land degradation pose, especially regarding regional food production,

Understanding that desertification often exacerbates existing problems such as poverty, poor nutrition, and displacement of peoples in affected areas,

Reaffirming its commitment promoting sustainable food production and mitigating environmental deterioration,

Believing that appropriate policy coordination by the international community is the only effective way of combating desertification and the consequences it entails,

1. Defines "desertification" as the degradation of productive land into increasingly arid, dry, and unusable terrain;

2. Requires member nations affected by desertification to make all efforts practical and necessary to adopt integrated sustainable land and water management techniques so as to mitigate the effects of drought and prevent desertification; such techniques shall include, but shall not be limited to, transhumance, regular crop rotation, rainwater capture, and sustainable irrigation such as surge irrigation;

3. Mandates that, where possible, member nation urge farmers to practice both pastoral and crop-based land use so as to reduce pressure on the land;

4. Establishes the World Assembly Committee for Sustainable Land Development (WACSLD) and charges it with the following:

1. Assisting member nations affected by desertification, upon their request, with adopting and implementing sustainable land and water management techniques,
   
   
2. Coordinating the transfer of relevant technology between member nations and helping member nations affected by desertification, upon their request, in implementing such technologies if it is determined that they're locally suitable and effective in preventing the process of desertification,
   
   
3. Evaluating the effectiveness of anti-desertification policy initiatives, formulating new ones that suit the needs of individual regions, and sharing such policies with the relevant parties;
   

5. Authorizes the WACSLD to liaise with the International Meteorological Organization in order to provide member nations and other regions affected by desertification with adequate warning prior to droughts and intensive rainfall, so as to allow them to make appropriate preparations;

6. Promotes the diversification of livelihoods in member nations and regions affected by desertification so as to reduce to pressure on the land and to mitigate the affects of droughts;

7. Urges member nations affected by desertification in a particular region to cooperate in adopting sustainable land and water management techniques, diversifying labor, and implementing policies supported by this resolution.[/box]

This is not the final draft I plan on working this. I'm not an expert in environmental science, so if anyone has any suggestions as to how I should divide this draft up, or any other general criticism, please feel free to share.

[The Dark Star Republic]

Ambitious, but interesting.

Initial observation is that most of this is concerned with states "affected by desertification", but presumably the real threat is to states that are not yet, but can be/could be/will be, affected by desertification, as those are much less likely to have mitigation measures in place already. So I would suggest supplementing the IMO's role with not just looking at areas where desertification is in effect, but where it could spread to.

[Separatist Peoples]

Quote: Defines "desertification" as the degradation of productive land into increasingly arid, dry, and unusable terrain;[/quote]
I would add a phrase or two in her that would specifically deal with the loss of arable land instead of simply productive land. Arable indicates productivity through agriculture, where productive could include other uses. I would also extrapolate on the ?how? of desertification, focusing on topsoil loss and loss of vegetation, as well. What really causes the significant and long-term damage to soils after desertification is the scouring of topsoil, which is almost impossible to quickly replace once it is gone.


Quote: 2. Requires member nations affected by desertification to make all efforts practical and necessary to adopt integrated sustainable land and water management techniques so as to mitigate the effects of drought and prevent desertification; such techniques shall include, but shall not be limited to, transhumance, regular crop rotation, rainwater capture, and sustainable irrigation such as surge irrigation;[/quote]
I would leave out the reference to surge irrigation. While effective at water conservation, it isn?t necessary to list, and isn?t always the best alternative in certain situations. In fact, I?d just list transhumance, crop rotation, and sustainable irrigation practices, since rainwater capture, be it through rainbarrels or geomorphic design, is part and parcel. It also may not be entirely necessary depending on the presence of aquifers or other groundwater stores.

Quote: 3. Mandates that, where possible, member nation urge farmers to practice both pastoral and crop-based land use so as to reduce pressure on the land;[/quote]

What kind of pressures are we reducing? Not that I can?t tell, but some readers may not. Is the demand on the vegetation or the hydrology? Or is the demand on the land through soil and nutrient loss? If it is all of those, perhaps quantify ?pressure? with ?environmental?. Since it's an action clause, people will likely want a little clarification. This way, you can indicate that the land can still be used in such a manner as to be productive, but with stronger focus on the land?s requirements rather than production quota.

Quote: 5. Authorizes the WACSLD to liaise with the International Meteorological Organization in order to provide member nations and other regions affected by desertification with adequate warning prior to droughts and intensive rainfall, so as to allow them to make appropriate preparations;[/quote]

I?d also have the WACSLD liaise with WASP on the environmental impacts of certain anti-desertification methods. The thought here is that, in the real world, prevention of topsoil loss and erosion is often combatted by planting a quick-growing grass to cover an exposed area and root it down. Generally, this is an annual grass that will die back and be easily succeeded, but not always. Kudzu, for example, was one such mistake?if it?s popular in Real Life, it will be in NS, so it stands to reason that allowing WASP a chance to poke their heads in when dealing with intentional trans-boundary species introduction will be a good idea.
That?s just the first of potentially many duties that WASP could serve, as it?s a game equivalent of a similar facet of my job. Obviously, space is at a premium, so an in-depth explanation is probably overkill, but an inclusion is always helpful.

Quote: 6. Promotes the diversification of livelihoods in member nations and regions affected by desertification so as to reduce to pressure on the land and to mitigate the affects of droughts;[/quote]

A feel-good clause, but in my experience, first and second hand, people are often unwilling to change what historically works for them, so I see the clause as mostly feel-good fluff that will likely not have any real effect. It seems to me that your next clause effectively covers this topic while providing more actual legislative substance. If you do decide to keep it, I think the word ?effects? is more appropriate than ?affects?.

All in all, it isn?t bad at all. It?s topical and broad enough that it narrowly avoids the issue of micromanaging while still addressing the issue comprehensively. I don?t think that splitting this into multiple resolutions will at all help this particular topic. I?ll admit, from a scientific point of view, it is a little oversimplified, but I know that it is necessary for WA resolutions, given the character count and the target audience.

[Bears Armed]

Interesting.

No detailed comments from me, yet, but provisional support for the idea.

:Bear:

[Sciongrad]

Re: SP,

So you don't think there would be any benefit from dividing this resolution into more specific components, like sustainable agriculture, sustainable water use, etc.?

[Separatist Peoples]

SciongradMay 10 2015, 05:20:40 PMRe: SP,

So you don't think there would be any benefit from dividing this resolution into more specific components, like sustainable agriculture, sustainable water use, etc.?[/quote]I think you may run afoul of some other resolutions on that front, such as Transboundary Waters Act. However, a more surgically applied resolution wouldn't be a bad thing. I just think that encouraging particular methods over other, equally viable alternatives gets risky.