Deforestation Act

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Deforestation Act is a Liberalian Law.

[edit] The Bill

Preamble: Believing that mass deforestation for short term commercial gain has massive negative impact in the long term on the environment, which in turn affects medicine, global warming, and other pressing long term issues; the Parliament of Liberalia hereby resolves:

Article I: Sustainable Logging

Clause 1: All timber taken from large areas of forest in Liberalia must be taken in such a manner to prevent as much damage as possible to the environment, and must be taken from sustainable forests.

Section a: For the purposes of this bill, a large area of forest is defined as an area or areas of forest owned by one landowner in excess of 100km².

Clause 2: As excess logging can permanently damage the environment, strict quotas are to be implemented to ensure that forests can naturally re-grow.

Clause 3: For every tree that is cut down, another sapling must be planted to ensure that reforestation occurs.

Article II: Prohibited Activites

Clause 1: "Slash-and-burn" agriculture, where large areas of the rainforest are burned to give increased short term yields but that is extremely detrimental in the long term, is hereby prohibited in all nations.

Clause 2: Activities such as mining, petroleum extraction, cattle grazing, etc, are to be scaled down to keep in line with Article I.

Article III: Fines and Tax Breaks

Clause 1: Any entity found to be in breach of Articles I and/or II are to be fined according to the severity of the breach. These fines will be severe enough to counterbalance the short term margin for profit that can be gained by these destructive methods of deforestation.

Clause 2: It is to be left up to individual nations to decide whether or not to issue tax breaks to companies or entities which are especially environmentally aware.