[SUBMITTED] Regulating Industrial Sand Mining

[New Bradfordsburg]

IC: New Bradfordsburg would like to present our first draft of 'Advocating for Sustainable Building Materials,' an issue that we see as one of utmost importance given the prevalence of sand mining for the furtherance of the construction industry. We submit this draft seeking feedback, in hopes that before long this matter can be decided by the member states at large in the affirmative.

OOC: This is my first serious attempt at submitting a GA proposal. I've researched other acts but couldn't find anything relevant to the legislation I'm proposing. If I'm wrong, I know I'll be corrected!

We're now on the 6th draft. See most current version below.

Operative clauses added after input from The Ice States (2nd draft). Significant edits made after input from Untecna - both formatting and content changes (3rd draft) - earns Untecna status as a co-author. Further edits made in response to comments from Bananaistan and The Ice States (4th draft).

The World Assembly,

Identifying the process of strategically removing sand from natural environments as sand mining,

Further noting that the removal of sand with mechanized construction equipment for industrial and commercial use shall be defined as industrial sand mining,

Recognizing the practice of industrial sand mining as responsible for widespread habitat destruction,

Distressed that industrial sand mining is oft the genesis of erosion,

Concerned about the effects industrial sand mining may have on crucial fisheries and coral reefs,

Alarmed that the threat industrial sand mining poses to biodiversity is unaddressed in prior legislation,

Troubled that the world's demand for sand is likely to increase,

Noting sand's crucial role as a key element in construction,

Hereby:

1. Establishes the Sustainable Aggregates Networking Department (SAND), which shall collaborate with accredited geologists, zoologists, biologists, and marine biologists, with the authority to
   
   1. Determine areas where industrial sand mining will be banned, under international law, based on the following criteria:
      
      • A severe likelihood for irreparable harm to local groundwater
      • A severe likelihood for irreparable harm to local species of flora or fauna
      • A severe likelihood for irreparable harm to local marine life
      • A severe likelihood for irreparable harm to local agriculture
   2. Publish an annual report naming member-states determined by SAND to be in non-compliance with this legislation
2. Mandates that member nations cease trade not involving medical supplies or professional medical personnel with member states determined by SAND to be in non-compliance with this legislation, as named in SAND's annual report

[The Ice States]

Ooc: Hello, welcome to the GA! A proposal (excluding repeals) should include an operative clause directly binding member nations; just establishing a committee and assigning it tasks is not enough.

[New Bradfordsburg]

Ooc: Hello, welcome to the GA! A proposal (excluding repeals) should include an operative clause directly binding member nations; just establishing a committee and assigning it tasks is not enough.

So noted, friend! Thank you for the helpful words. I'll have an operative clause added to this shortly. I'd ask others to reserve comments until that time (though I know I have zero authority to ask that lol)!

[The Ice States]

Ooc: Hello, welcome to the GA! A proposal (excluding repeals) should include an operative clause directly binding member nations; just establishing a committee and assigning it tasks is not enough.

So noted, friend! Thank you for the helpful words. I'll have an operative clause added to this shortly. I'd ask others to reserve comments until that time (though I know I have zero authority to ask that lol)!

No worries, I will try to give more comments hopefully this weekend :D

[New Bradfordsburg]

So noted, friend! Thank you for the helpful words. I'll have an operative clause added to this shortly. I'd ask others to reserve comments until that time (though I know I have zero authority to ask that lol)!

No worries, I will try to give more comments hopefully this weekend

Cool. Following your advice, I'm submitting the following operative clauses - which will be added to my initial post above.

Furthermore, member nations are compelled to:

i. Develop regulations to mitigate the adverse environmental impacts of sand mining.
ii. Report illegal sand mining activities to SAND.
iii. Support research to determine locally available alternative, eco-friendly aggregates.

[Lieutenant Columbo]

"Good evening, Ambassador. As it is right now, your proposed mandates require functionally nothing of member states, who are free to adopt minimally substantive regulations as to meet their compliance requirements while not actually producing systemic change. While you start your work on this, uh, proposal..." the lieutenant rummages through several pockets before his fingertips catch on the edge of his notepad. He withdraws it and reads from it. "Many different kinds of sand, found in different environs, are used in different ways. Mining can, indeed, adversely impact coastal environments. It is also necessary to restore beaches and other sand formations that have been damaged, whether by artificial activity or natural processes. Any regulation on sand mining will have to consider that it is a necessary component to several important commodities, and the mass production of biomass solely to be turned into aggregate presents its own ecological and economic complications, so sand mining must be done somewhere at industrial scale. Any proposal that might couple these mining regulations with beach and reef reclamation efforts would further require acceptance that the sand used to replenish those areas will not appear out of thin air."

[New Bradfordsburg]

"Good evening, Ambassador. As it is right now, your proposed mandates require functionally nothing of member states, who are free to adopt minimally substantive regulations as to meet their compliance requirements while not actually producing systemic change. While you start your work on this, uh, proposal..." the lieutenant rummages through several pockets before his fingertips catch on the edge of his notepad. He withdraws it and reads from it. "Many different kinds of sand, found in different environs, are used in different ways. Mining can, indeed, adversely impact coastal environments. It is also necessary to restore beaches and other sand formations that have been damaged, whether by artificial activity or natural processes. Any regulation on sand mining will have to consider that it is a necessary component to several important commodities, and the mass production of biomass solely to be turned into aggregate presents its own ecological and economic complications, so sand mining must be done somewhere at industrial scale. Any proposal that might couple these mining regulations with beach and reef reclamation efforts would further require acceptance that the sand used to replenish those areas will not appear out of thin air."

"Good evening - you may say this, and maybe indeed it is true. Member states may adopt minimally substantive regulations to meet their compliance requirements. However, this would be against the spirit of the proposed law, which compels *not advises* nations to develop, and I quote, regulations to mitigate the adverse environmental impacts of sand mining. Or would it be against the spirit of the law? Perhaps not. We here in New Bradfordsburg would gladly accept minimally substantive regulations, as you put it, over no regulations whatsoever. So long as the spirit of the law is applied, progress shall be made. And thus, that's where our comments end. The latter part of your statement, requiring restoration, is indeed beyond the spirit of this law and may place undue burdens on states - let alone the matter of replenishing beaches, which - we imagine - would require even more sand mining to accomplish. We are happy with the legislation as it is currently worded I believe, though of course, we are not so set in our ways to say that this proposal is perfect! Indeed, few things are!"

[Untecna]

As it seems to have become my main concern with proposals over the last week, here's a thing about formatting:

The World Assembly,

Recognizing the practice of sand mining as responsible for widespread habitat destruction,

Distressed that sand mining is oft the genesis of erosion,

Concerned about the effect sand mining may have on crucial fisheries and coral reefs,

Alarmed that the threat sand mining poses to biodiversity is unaddressed in prior legislation,

Troubled that the world's demand for sand is likely to increase,

Noting sand's crucial role as a key element in construction,

Hereby:

1. Defines sand mining as any industrial process to extract sand,
   
   
2. Establishes the creation of the Sustainable Aggregates Networking Department (SAND), with the mission of:
   
   1. Educating member nations to the environmental dangers sand mining poses,
      
   2. Promoting the use of sustainable construction materials, such as so-called 'green concrete,' which can utilize an array of waste materials as aggregate, thereby reducing dependency on sand, and
      
   3. Documenting the scale of sand mining among member-states, thus providing the information necessary for targeted outreach.
   
   
3. Mandates that member nations:
   
   1. Develop regulations to mitigate the adverse environmental impacts of sand mining.
      
   2. Report illegal sand mining activities to SAND.
      
   3. Support research to determine locally available alternative, eco-friendly aggregates.

Any additional changes are marked in beautiful blue font for your convenience. Suggestions for removal are marked in raving red font.

[New Bradfordsburg]

As it seems to have become my main concern with proposals over the last week, here's a thing about formatting:

The World Assembly,

Recognizing the practice of sand mining as responsible for widespread habitat destruction,

Distressed that sand mining is oft the genesis of erosion,

Concerned about the effect sand mining may have on crucial fisheries and coral reefs,

Alarmed that the threat sand mining poses to biodiversity is unaddressed in prior legislation,

Troubled that the world's demand for sand is likely to increase,

Noting sand's crucial role as a key element in construction,

Hereby:

1. Defines sand mining as any industrial process to extract sand,
   
   
2. Establishes the creation of the Sustainable Aggregates Networking Department (SAND), with the mission of:
   
   1. Educating member nations to the environmental dangers sand mining poses,
      
   2. Promoting the use of sustainable construction materials, such as so-called 'green concrete,' which can utilize an array of waste materials as aggregate, thereby reducing dependency on sand, and
      
   3. Documenting the scale of sand mining among member-states, thus providing the information necessary for targeted outreach.
   
   
3. Mandates that member nations:
   
   1. Develop regulations to mitigate the adverse environmental impacts of sand mining.
      
   2. Report illegal sand mining activities to SAND.
      
   3. Support research to determine locally available alternative, eco-friendly aggregates.

Any additional changes are marked in beautiful blue font for your convenience. Suggestions for removal are marked in raving red font.

"We thank Untecna for these fantastic edits. As this nation is now responsible for some key content changes in this proposed legislation, we believe they should be listed as a co-author to this proposal. If this passes, we will not have been able to accomplish this without their key edits, which add brevity and clarity. We've updated the master version of this proposed legislation to reflect the edits that have been fully incorporated into this proposal (with our own minor stylistic addition - the pluralizing of the word "effects" - marked in blue in the master version)."

[Untecna]

I'd suggest a title change, too - the resolution focuses heavily on the impacts of sand mining, so referring to "sustainable building materials" seems a tad bit outdated at this point.

[Bananaistan]

"What is an industrial process? Is it only something that involves a factory or heavy machinery? Does it include 1000 men with shovels and wheelbarrows removing sand from a beach?

"The committee's tasks a and b are vague and woolly. Where does education and promotion start and finish? EG would a single A4 flyer sent to the head of state of each member state completely exhaust these requirements? Or maybe every resident of every member state needs to be dragged into the WAHQ for an intensive course lasting n number of weeks/months/years.

"3a is also woolly and vague and covers a whole world of policy options from doing virtually nothing to a complete ban.

"3b - why and what does SAND do with these reports?

"3c is also a completely open non-requirement"

[New Bradfordsburg]

"What is an industrial process? Is it only something that involves a factory or heavy machinery? Does it include 1000 men with shovels and wheelbarrows removing sand from a beach?

"The committee's tasks a and b are vague and woolly. Where does education and promotion start and finish? EG would a single A4 flyer sent to the head of state of each member state completely exhaust these requirements? Or maybe every resident of every member state needs to be dragged into the WAHQ for an intensive course lasting n number of weeks/months/years.

"3a is also woolly and vague and covers a whole world of policy options from doing virtually nothing to a complete ban.

"3b - why and what does SAND do with these reports?

"3c is also a completely open non-requirement"

"Thank you. The next draft will address all of these issues."

"We have also renamed the proposal to Regulating Sand Mining for clarity of intent. Thank you once again to Untecna for the request to rename this proposal - which was a very appropriate request given where the discussion has gone."

[The Ice States]

"With the updated draft, our recommendation would be to add more detail on each of the provisions, towards both the committee and member nations. For example -- in Subsections 2a and 2b, how will the Sand do this? What regulations should be implemented under Subsection 3a? How must membber nations support research in Subsection 3c? Answer these questions by elaborating in the draft as to the specific measures which must be taken by both subjects; this will improve how effective this resolution would be at fulfilling its goals."

"Secondarily, requiring illegal activities to be reported centrally to an international agency, and then acted on by that agency, strikes us as bureaucratic and heavy-handed; if anything, there is no particular need to specify that member nations must act against illegal sand mining inasmuch as it is implied by the prohibition of such activities, in addition to the good faith mandate in The Civil Charter of the World Assembly and the compliance penalties in the Administrative Compliance Act."

"We hope that this commentary manifests itself in an improved draft, and wish the best of luck to both of your missions in this endeavour."

~Claudia Lindner,
Deputy World Assembly Ambassador,
The Eternal Union of Devonia and the Ice States.

[New Bradfordsburg]

My additions marked in blue bold. Removals marked in red with strikethrough.

Title change also with this... shall now be called "Regulating Industrial Sand Mining."

Thank you for the feedback The Ice States. I hope I hit closer to the mark this time.

The World Assembly,

Identifying the process of strategically removing sand from natural environments as sand mining,

Further noting that the removal of sand with mechanized construction equipment for industrial and commercial use shall be defined as industrial sand mining,

Recognizing the practice of industrial sand mining as responsible for widespread habitat destruction,

Distressed that industrial sand mining is oft the genesis of erosion,

Concerned about the effects industrial sand mining may have on crucial fisheries and coral reefs,

Alarmed that the threat industrial sand mining poses to biodiversity is unaddressed in prior legislation,

Troubled that the world's demand for sand is likely to increase,

Noting sand's crucial role as a key element in construction,

Hereby:

1. Defines sand mining as any industrial process to extract sand,Establishes the Sustainable Aggregates Networking Department (SAND), a committee of accredited geologists, zoologists, biologists, and marine biologists, with the mission ofauthority to
   
   1. Determine areas where industrial sand mining will be banned, under international law, based on the following criteria:
      
      • A severe likelihood for irreparable harm to local groundwater
      • A severe likelihood for irreparable harm to local species of flora or fauna
      • A severe likelihood for irreparable harm to local marine life
      • A severe likelihood for irreparable harm to local agriculture
   2. Publish an annual report naming member-states determined by SAND to be in non-compliance with this legislation
2. Establishes the Sustainable Aggregates Networking Department (SAND), with the mission of:Mandates that member nations cease trade with member states determined by SAND to be in non-compliance with this legislation, as named in SAND's annual report
   
   1. Educating member nations to the environmental dangers sand mining poses,
      
   2. Promoting the use of sustainable construction materials, and
   3. Documenting the scale of sand mining among member-states, thus providing the information necessary for targeted outreach.
3. Mandates that member nations:
   
   1. Develop regulations to mitigate the adverse environmental impacts of sand mining.
   2. Report illegal sand mining activities to SAND.
   3. Support research to determine locally available alternative, eco-friendly aggregates.

[New Bradfordsburg]

Alright, this has been submitted in the 4th draft version after hearing no additional feedback to my posted edits. Seeking approvals!

[Tinhampton]

Illegal as submitted for contradicting GA#186 "Medical Provisions in Blockade": "PROHIBITS the blocking of any transport that is conveying medical supplies and/or professional medical personnel..."

[The Ice States]

Regardless of the Contradiction claim I don't see how the wording in Section 2 complies with the Committees rule either, which prohibits defining membership of a committee (see [2024] GAS 6 for a practical example).

[Bisofeyr]

Regardless of the Contradiction claim I don't see how the wording in Section 2 complies with the Committees rule either, which prohibits defining membership of a committee (see [2024] GAS 6 for a practical example).

Agree. This issue could be fixed by simply changing the phrasing to "Establishes the Sustainable Aggregates Networking Department (SAND), which shall collaborate with accredited geologists, zoologists, biologists, and marine biologists..."

[New Bradfordsburg]

I'll just withdraw it. I'll be honest, I really don't have motivation to do this following the election in the USA. Could not care less. Maybe I'll feel different in a few days.

[The Ice States]

I'll just withdraw it. I'll be honest, I really don't have motivation to do this following the election in the USA. Could not care less. Maybe I'll feel different in a few days.

Ooc: My advice would be to leave this up a bit longer; this hasn't even been up for two weeks when generally a month or so is encouraged, possibly more if there isn't a lot of feedback. I honestly hadn't looked at this draft between the edits on November 4 and today while going through the queue (and thus missed the illegality to point it out earlier).

[New Bradfordsburg]

I'll just withdraw it. I'll be honest, I really don't have motivation to do this following the election in the USA. Could not care less. Maybe I'll feel different in a few days.

Ooc: My advice would be to leave this up a bit longer; this hasn't even been up for two weeks when generally a month or so is encouraged, possibly more if there isn't a lot of feedback. I honestly hadn't looked at this draft between the edits on November 4 and today while going through the queue (and thus missed the illegality to point it out earlier).

No worries. I'm just feeling a tad defeated by the world at the moment. I'll come back to it later.

[New Bradfordsburg]

Alright, I'm back for a 5th Draft. Climbing back up on that horse as they say. Additions to the 4th Draft are bolded. Subtractions are stricken through. The most recent version of the legislation proposal (with no track changes) can be viewed here. Incorporates edits suggested by Tinhampton, Bisofeyr, and The Ice States.

The World Assembly,

Identifying the process of strategically removing sand from natural environments as sand mining,

Further noting that the removal of sand with mechanized construction equipment for industrial and commercial use shall be defined as industrial sand mining,

Recognizing the practice of industrial sand mining as responsible for widespread habitat destruction,

Distressed that industrial sand mining is oft the genesis of erosion,

Concerned about the effects industrial sand mining may have on crucial fisheries and coral reefs,

Alarmed that the threat industrial sand mining poses to biodiversity is unaddressed in prior legislation,

Troubled that the world's demand for sand is likely to increase,

Noting sand's crucial role as a key element in construction,

Hereby:

1. Establishes the Sustainable Aggregates Networking Department (SAND), a committee of which shall collaborate with accredited geologists, zoologists, biologists, and marine biologists, with the authority to
   
   1. Determine areas where industrial sand mining will be banned, under international law, based on the following criteria:
      
      • A severe likelihood for irreparable harm to local groundwater
      • A severe likelihood for irreparable harm to local species of flora or fauna
      • A severe likelihood for irreparable harm to local marine life
      • A severe likelihood for irreparable harm to local agriculture
   2. Publish an annual report naming member-states determined by SAND to be in non-compliance with this legislation
2. Mandates that member nations cease trade not involving medical supplies or professional medical personnel, as defined in GAR 186, with member states determined by SAND to be in non-compliance with this legislation, as named in SAND's annual report

[The Ice States]

Ooc: Could you change [SUBMITTED] to [DRAFT] in the thread title? I thought this had been resubmitted already before seeing in the queue that it hadn't

[New Bradfordsburg]

Ooc: Could you change [SUBMITTED] to [DRAFT] in the thread title? I thought this had been resubmitted already before seeing in the queue that it hadn't

Oh my bad! Sure thing.

[New Bradfordsburg]

Thinking of submitting this soon. Would appreciate any additional constructive feedback if any exists. Thanks.