International Timber Trade
Category: Free Trade
Industry affected: Mild
Description: The World Assembly,
Aware that the sale of timber, and in some cases of various other products that may also be derived from woodland vegetation as well, is important to many nations’ economies,
Believing that it would be best both for the overall environment and for the economies of the nations concerned if the harvesting of those materials were to be carried out in ways that can be sustained on a long-term basis, and that many people would actively chose to buy materials that had been produced sustainably rather than ones produced in more destructive ways if they were to be given the choice,
Concerned that such preferential purchasing of sustainably produced materials is hindered by the lack of any internationally recognised and enforced standards for labelling those goods,
1. Asks the governments of all WA member nations to do what they can to promote the concept of sustainable forestry amongst both the producers and the consumers within their populations;
2. Starts up a new department within WASP, called the Forestry Advisory Bureau (or ‘FAB’), whose main duties shall be:
A. To collate the available information about woodland ecosystems, and about how these can best be managed for sustainable production in environment-friendly ways;
B. To conduct or sponsor studies to fill any gaps that they find within that existing knowledge;
C. To distribute this information to any nations that request it, as all WA members are urged to do should this seem potentially useful, and also to provide any nation that may request such help with the best possible advice about how to improve its woodland management policies;
D. To provide suitable experts to inspect any specific woodland-harvesting or woodland clearance projects for which this is requested, to assess and report on the likely effects of those activities, in exchange for reasonable fees (paid in advance);
E. To develop and publicise a set of symbols (to be called ‘FAB-marks’) that can be used to indicate that the timber or other woodland products to which they are attached came from operations that the FAB has inspected and certified as being sustainable in the long term, in the hope that this guarantee will encourage people to choose those materials over ones that were produced less sustainably;
3. Hereby requires that each WA member nation must:
A. Promote awareness of the FAB-marking system within its jurisdiction;
B. Prevent fraudulent use of FAB-marks and any other false claims to FAB approval within its jurisdiction, and also do what it can to prevent such deceits by anybody based within its jurisdiction who is operating elsewhere;
C. Refrain from imposing heavier tariffs or more restrictive quotas on sustainably produced goods than they do on other goods of the same types that were produced in less environmentally friendly ways.
