[Replacement] Preventing Invasive Species

[Separatist Peoples]

Preventing Invasive Species
Environmental | All Business

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Noting previous inadequacies in international law regarding the protection of delicate ecosystems from invasive species,

Asserting that invasive species management is a large part of environmental stewardship, and

Believing that a well-managed environment is beneficial to the entire international community,

The World Assembly hereby declares the following:

Invasive species shall be defined as those animal, plant, or pathogenic agent harmful to native species, which are:

1. Nonnative
2. pest species that
3. outcompete native species or otherwise damage the native environment, and
4. have insufficient domestic predators to adequately integrate into an ecological niche.

Member states are prohibited from knowingly spreading identified or potential invasive species across international borders, and shall work to prevent intentional contamination by any means necessary, pursuant to extant international law.

Member states are required to create and publish a list of known and potential invasive species present within their borders, and make them accessible to foreign transportation entities, to ensure that foreign transportation is able to properly screen and prevent invasive species contamination.

Member states are required to screen and appropriately treat all possible contamination vectors in their outgoing international transit operations prior to exposure to a nonnative environment, specifically for those species that the destination nation has expressly warned against.

Member states are further required to enforce effective procedures to treat or reduce contamination vectors for incoming international transit, including but not limited to screening incoming agricultural products, requiring ballast water sterilization, inspection of goods at customs points for international travelers, and ecological surveying along at-risk international borders.

Member states are required to establish domestic policies that seek to combat the spread of invasive species domestically, with the intention of protecting native species from harm.

World Assembly Science Programme is re-tasked to collect and internationally promulgate data regarding invasive species identification, detection, contamination, and eradication, and liaise with member states to effectively coordinate domestic efforts.

"Playing around with a new format for some of this. Its always fun to format resolutions differently."

[Imperium Anglorum]

Passive voice!

[Separatist Peoples]

Passive voice!

"I love me some passive voice, ambassador."

[Imperium Anglorum]

Passive voice!

"I love me some passive voice, ambassador."

Can we please reduce the passive voice here? That's why I am a massive proponent of straight operative verbs...

Like all the instances here:

Member states are

Member states are

Member states are

Member states are

World Assembly Science Programme is

So. Many. Spacing. Errors.

[Separatist Peoples]

"I love me some passive voice, ambassador."

Can we please reduce the passive voice here? That's why I am a massive proponent of straight operative verbs...

"Does that have a beneficial effect on the proposal's efficacy, or is this another seizure over format? I'm not really interested in having to tolerate one such tantrum."

Like all the instances here:

Member states are

Member states are

Member states are

Member states are

World Assembly Science Programme is

So. Many. Spacing. Errors.

OOC: Which is odd, because Microsoft Word doesn't note any. I suppose there is a copy-past error, because I do all my drafting on Word then copy-paste it over. I'll have to comb through at some point.

[Sciongrad]

Passive voice!

"I love me some passive voice, ambassador."

"Free the passive voice! Split the infinitives! Forget about parallel constructions!" Natalia chanted as Ricardo tossed a torch onto a mound of copies of William Strunk Jr.'s Elements of Style.

[Tinfect]

"The Imperium sees no notable conflicts between this draft and Imperial policy, something rather unexpected for environmental legislation. Well done, Ambassador, we will provide support for this legislation."

[Separatist Peoples]

"I love me some passive voice, ambassador."

"Free the passive voice! Split the infinitives! Forget about parallel constructions!" Natalia chanted as Ricardo tossed a torch onto a mound of copies of William Strunk Jr.'s Elements of Style.

"Ambassador Parsons is right, unfortunately, but that's hardly the point at the moment. The point is that I don't much appreciate being beaten with a copy of Strunk & White when I'm looking for policy recommendations."

[Sierra Lyricalia]

Member states are required to establish domestic policies that seek to combat the spread of invasive species domestically, with the intention of protecting native species from harm.

"Here's the most open-ended free-for-all interpretation-wank magnet right here. 'Harm' is far too broad in an ecological context wherein every species theoretically has prey, predators, and parasites. We suggest the intent should be to protect native biomes or food/energy chains from radical or destructive change, oversimplification, or biodiversity failure. If species are to be the object of protection, then what they need protecting from is population collapse or some similar statistical (rather than individual) ill."

[Imperium Anglorum]

"Free the passive voice! Split the infinitives! Forget about parallel constructions!" Natalia chanted as Ricardo tossed a torch onto a mound of copies of William Strunk Jr.'s Elements of Style.

"Ambassador Parsons is right, unfortunately, but that's hardly the point at the moment. The point is that I don't much appreciate being beaten with a copy of Strunk & White when I'm looking for policy recommendations."

The current policy recommendations here are so broad, they really are more on the lines of 'solve it' than actually telling anyone to specifically do anything about the problem. There really isn't any kind of recommendation I could give. From the perspective of whether we really need this to be done, it moves the question from 'how do we solve invasive species' to rather, 'how would international action help to solve this problem', which should be the centre of the issue.

Now, how you've structured the regulations is rather cleanly. You say that the nation from which an invasive species emerges would deal with the problem. That's relatively clean. Similarly, everything else is rather clean as well. From a regulation standpoint, it should always be the person who creates the negative externality which deals with the externality. With that in mind, I would also support a system in which originating nations are able to deliver transfer payments to destination ports to deal with these issues collectively.

Member states are required to establish domestic policies that seek to combat the spread of invasive species domestically, with the intention of protecting native species from harm.

I don't see the purpose of this clause. It isn't an international issue. Also, nations are unable to terraform planets under this clause.

World Assembly Science Programme is re-tasked to collect and internationally promulgate data regarding invasive species identification, detection, contamination, and eradication, and liaise with member states to effectively coordinate domestic efforts.

Given that this clause gives assistance to those nations which are actually pursuing domestic efforts, I do not see a problem here either.

[Sciongrad]

"Free the passive voice! Split the infinitives! Forget about parallel constructions!" Natalia chanted as Ricardo tossed a torch onto a mound of copies of William Strunk Jr.'s Elements of Style.

"Ambassador Parsons is right, unfortunately, but that's hardly the point at the moment. The point is that I don't much appreciate being beaten with a copy of Strunk & White when I'm looking for policy recommendations."

OOC: Technically speaking, the rule against the passive voice is totally arbitrary. However, undeserved deference towards Elements of Style has caused it to stick (like the rule against splitting infinitives, which is perfectly fine in English but offends the sensibilities of those who think Latin is the One True Source of all that is right and noble in the world, like Strunk and White). Fight the power, man! [/rant]

That being said, I prefer the active voice in World Assembly resolutions.

[Imperium Anglorum]

That being said, I prefer the active voice in World Assembly resolutions.

Plus, it also makes these proposals much much shorter. You can remove all the 'declares the following', 'Invasive species shall be', 'Member states are prohibited', etc. Also, it makes it much easier to read.

[Bears Armed]

OOC: I had some ideas of my own for a proposal on this subject. I'll take a copy of your text away to read this evening, and let you know tomorrow whether i'm just going to make suggestions here or have decided to start an alternative draft (in a thread of its own, of course) instead.

[Araraukar]

1. Nonnative

Could that read non-native instead? (OOC: Getting flashbacks from grammar lessons for some reason...)

2. pest species that
3. outcompete native species or otherwise damage the native environment, and
4. have insufficient domestic predators to adequately integrate into an ecological niche.

Do these together mean that the species must fill all 4 requirements to be considered an invasive species? Personally I would think that definition should end at "non-native". Why should a nation wait for ecological damage to happen, before being able to declare they don't want that particular species on their soil?

Member states are prohibited from knowingly spreading identified or potential invasive species across international borders, and shall work to prevent intentional contamination by any means necessary, pursuant to extant international law.

Wouldn't that mean not being able to sell any organism to another nation, if that organism had any chance of surviving in the wild in that nation?

Member states are required to create and publish a list of known and potential invasive species present within their borders

Aka every single species within their borders, an undertaking which may be beyond the scientific capabilities of most nations. (OOC: In real life new species are discovered all the time.)

Member states are required to screen and appropriately treat all possible contamination vectors in their outgoing international transit operations prior to exposure to a nonnative environment, specifically for those species that the destination nation has expressly warned against.

Ooh, so spraying travelers with pesticides/sterilizing agents is allowed? Sounds good!

[Wallenburg]

"Free the passive voice! Split the infinitives! Forget about parallel constructions!" Natalia chanted as Ricardo tossed a torch onto a mound of copies of William Strunk Jr.'s Elements of Style.

"Ambassador Parsons is right, unfortunately, but that's hardly the point at the moment. The point is that I don't much appreciate being beaten with a copy of Strunk & White when I'm looking for policy recommendations."

"Ambassador, some delegations would assert that is all that I do," says Gerald as he puts a red pen to a copy of the draft.

Invasive species shall be defined as those animal, plant, or pathogenic agent harmful to native species,

"Subject-verb agreement, Ambassador."

1. Nonnative
2. pest species that
3. outcompete native species or otherwise damage the native environment, and
4. have insufficient domestic predators to adequately integrate into an ecological niche.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just have this as one sentence, considering its structure?"

Member states are required to create and publish a list of known and potential invasive species present within their borders, and make them accessible to foreign transportation entities, to ensure that foreign transportation is able to properly screen and prevent invasive species contamination.

"This currently reads as requiring member nations to make those potentially invasive species accessible to foreign transportation agencies. You should replace the underlined word with 'it'."

World Assembly Science Programme is re-tasked to collect and internationally promulgate data regarding invasive species identification, detection, contamination, and eradication, and liaise with member states to effectively coordinate domestic efforts.

"This clause really ought to begin with the word 'the'."