Essay
IGT
SCOLAR
Com. Gov.
FET
IPT
CT
CPACT
EPT
FPT
HRT
PST
SUDAPT
PADOHR
SCT
Membership
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I. Environmental Protection
To the extent that this treaty allows it, the environmental protection and services listed herein will operate in the same manner as similar environmental protection authorities and services in the Ecolorium of Poliverium, which will be used as the default model, though, of course, anyone may provide their own environmental protection and services which are operated in their own way.
1. Pollution
(A) Persons and entities who are treaty members may sue other treaty members,
individuals, entities and governments for harm done to them by pollution. In a liability
suit, the claimant must prove that harm was done to one's physical health or damage to
one's property; to buildings, land, water, crops or other valuables or the damage was done
to one's business. Then the claimant must prove the cause of the damage was pollution that
can be identified and traced to a particular factory, industry or other source; once that
is established, all contributors to pollution in that industry may be held liable for
damages in proportion to the pollution that an individual entity emits. The claimant may
only claim damages that restores the claimant to wholeness.
(B) Persons may sue to stop or alter any practice which is shown to be interfering with
their liberty or use of private property in way that may not be causing harm, but is
trespassing on their rights. In this case the suit will only be to change the practice so
as to no longer be intrusive. When no real harm has been done, then there can be no
damages claimed.
The examples of these trespasses are; mild pollution, noxious odors and prolonged,
continuous loud noise.
(C) Smoking in the same building as a child is prohibited.
2. Transport of Alien Species
(A) The EPT Wildlife Committee has the authority to prevent the transport of
alien species of flora and fauna into areas that will cause probable damage to the local
ecosystem.
(B) Persons and entities who are treaty members may sue other treaty members, individuals, entities and governments for transporting species of flora or fauna into an area where the species does not belong and as a result of it, cause damage to the local ecosystem. A person or entity may sue for damage done to one's self, property or business; but in addition to these, a Claimant may claim that the alien species has harmed the local ecosystem to a degree that it has robbed the person of the enjoyment of their natural habitat. The guilty party will be responsible for repairing the damage to the ecosystem to make whole once again.
3. Preventing the Spread of Contagious Disease
(A) The EPT Health Committee has the authority to inspect an area or property
that is suspected, with probable cause and with a warrant from the sovereign government
within which the property is located, of being a source or breeding ground for pathogens,
and then to take action through the sovereign government who is bound by this Treaty to
take action to stop any action or process, and/or to remove what is contributing to the
condition and oversee the clean up of the site.
(B) Persons and entities who are treaty members may sue other treaty members, individuals, entities and governments for creating the conditions for or contributing to the spread of contagious disease by failing to take reasonable measures to clean up breading grounds for contagions or the vermin who carry them. The Claimant must show that physical harm came to one as a result of a disease that was spread through the carelessness of the Respondent. In this case, unlike the others, the Claimant need not prove that the pathogens that originated directly from the Respondent's carelessness, but that the Respondent contributed to the general spread of pathogens, some of which may have infected the Claimant. The Claimant may also sue for harm to domestic or wild animals or plants that are infected by pathogens contributed to by the Respondent.
4. Resources
Persons and entities who are treaty members may sue other treaty members,
individuals, entities and governments for damaging resources in an area where many people,
governments and entities openly use and depend on the resources. A person or entity may
sue for damage done to one's self, property or business; but in addition to these, a
Claimant may claim that the damage has harmed the local resources to a degree that it has
robbed the person of the enjoyment of their natural habitat. The guilty party will be
responsible for repairing the damage to restore the resources to their prior level or
compensate fully for their loss.
Examples; over fishing, over mining that causes damage to land or resources beyond a
legal claim, drying up a public water supply, stripping the land of vegetation that causes
the loss of vegetation beyond one's boundary, over hunting or in other ways causing the
drastic reduction in the numbers of species that is important to the ecosystem or to other
people.
5. Endangered Habitats
Private property owners may destroy habitats that are exclusively on their
property. But, if a property owner destroys a habitat on one's own property in a way that
directly effects the habitats outside of one's property to a degree that the damage is
irreparable and cause the general ecosystem to become disordered, then the one responsible
may be sued by anyone harmed or robbed of the enjoyment of their habitat or the
significant loss of plant or animal species.
6. Endangered Species
(A) Members of this treaty agree not to harm or kill species that are designated
as endangered Anyone who harms or kills one of these species intentionally may be
sued for robbing others of the enjoyment of the completeness of the general environment.
(B) (aa) The Claimant must show that the Respondent intentionally harmed an individual
species. A property owner may destroy one's own habitats, if an endangered species is
known to dwell there, then the property owner should have been notified by someone and
when the property owner is ready to destroy one's habitat, other people should be given
the opportunity to either; pay the property owner to consent to maintain the habitat or
the people may relocate the endangered species. (bb) A person may not be sued for killing
and endangered species in defense of one's self, another person or one's domestic animals
or property.
7. Hunting and Fishing
(A) The regulation of hunting and fishing that has been established by civil
governments must be reconciled under this treaty. Civil authorities have sovereign control
over their own property and the use of wildlife on it if the wildlife does not range into
other jurisdictions. At the point where wildlife crosses jurisdictions, those
jurisdictions are under an obligation to meet with EPT Wildlife Committee officials to
create corresponding regulations that protect the wildlife sufficiently and allow fair use
of the wildlife according to each jurisdiction.
(B) Different methods used in hunting and fishing and limits placed on harvesting must be
negotiated under EPT Wildlife Committee officials who will have the final determination.
If either side disputes the decision they have the recourse of filing a appeal in the IGO
Courts.
(C) If one jurisdiction doesn't allow any killing of wildlife on their property and
doesn't want that wildlife killed when it travels onto other jurisdictions, then a study
will have to be made to determine which individuals, herds, flocks, etc. are primarily
residents of the jurisdiction opposed to killing. Once the wildlife has been identified,
individual animals must be tagged so as to identify them. People of other jurisdictions
who who wish to capture or kill wildlife in areas where it has been determined that the
tagged wildlife ranges must first identify the individual animals that one intends to kill
and make sure that it is not a tagged prohibited animal.
Identification can be made by sight or by sonic ID or an infrared mark or some other ID
that can be detected at a distance. It may be assumed that any animal that is not tagged
is allowed to be harvested.
(D) Licenses for the harvesting of wildlife may be issued in each jurisdiction separately,
although the different authorities may offer a joint license under EPT Wildlife Committee
standardized terms.
8. Minerals
Persons, entities or governments may be sued for damaging the general mineral
resources of an area that is outside of the owner's mineral rights claim.
9. Fuels
Persons, entities or governments may be sued for damaging the general supply of
natural fuels of an area that is outside of the owner's claim.
10. Water
Persons, entities or governments may be sued for damaging, contaminating or
restricting access by others to the general water supply of an area that is outside of the
owners property. A property owner may not dam up or divert the flow of water running
through one's property without the prior permission of all property owner who have the
water supply running through their property.
11. Natural Preserve Areas
(A) Natural Park areas may be preserved in the EPTreaty
Organization by special contracts; a unique form of cooperative where each person who buys
a share will have one vote, the shares may vary in price and only one person may buy one
share, a rich person may offer a million ekwhes for one share, but may not buy more
shares, this means that each person's vote will be equal and the rich people and
corporations won't be able to buy up large amounts of shares to take over a natural area.
The share holders will vote with majority rule, they may choose to change the way the
parks are managed, assign different uses for the land, develop part of it or sell off part
or all of it.
When a person buys a share and signs the contract agreeing to resell the share only
through a government authority broker, which they don't have to do, the broker will make
sure that the share is kept within the organization and indeed all shares for this land
will only be sold through official brokers; of course this doesn't mean that others can't
by natural property and form their own parks, indeed they can, when the shares are
contractually formed they will be locked into an obligation to preserve a natural area in
a certain condition, so the shareholders voting will be limited to making decisions within
a narrowly defined condition, that they can't vote to develop the property until the share
is resold under a new contract that allows for certain development.
(B) Natural trust cooperatives don't earn dividends; they are all reinvested; one who buys
a share may get one's money back when one sells it, the profit will be kept in the trust.
But, people should be guaranteed their principal back.
One can buy stock in an individual park, area, ecosystem, region, continent by paying
more, one can convert one's stock into a higher stock, up to an earth stock.
12. Development
(A) Development may be controlled in environmentally sensitive areas
through voluntary zoning authorities, where those who are concerned with the local
ecosystem may pay or otherwise convince owners of the territory or those using it to
regulate the development and use of the land and water so as to preserve the integrity and
quality of the ecosystem. (B) For those who refuse to cooperate and show an irresponsible
attitude toward the environment, people may pursue several courses of action, among them
are; restricting access to surrounding properties for those being irresponsible. A private
property owner may do what one wants with one's own land, and, that works both ways, other
property owners, both private and civic public, may close off access to their property.
That means that they may not allow environmentally irresponsible people or commercial
entities to travel on their civic public roads, use the civic public communications
system, they may be denied civic public utilities, i.e. water, electricity, etc. The owner
of the land and others who use and exploit it must realize that just as their
irresponsibility diminishes the quality of the larger environment, the larger society may
deny access and services to them because of their lack of responsibility.
(C) If a land or water owner or user's conduct causes damage to the ecosystem that
directly effects the larger ecosystem on other people's property, then those persons who
are effected may sue or take other legal action to stop or at least regulate the conduct
that is effecting them.
(D) Voluntary action must be pursued if the development is merely distracting from the
beauty or serenity of an area, though denial of access to civic public or private property
may be used to influence responsible conduct.
1. EPT Superviser - Executive
(A) The sovereign governments will determine the term by vote.
(B) EPT Council - (aa) a council to the Committees, composed of
10 persons elected by the sovereign governments by vote.
(bb) The Council members are to choose a line of succession to the Superviser in the case
of the Superviser not being able to carry on one's duties.
(cc) Voting
(C) Committees - Managers, head each committee and
are to be chosen by being nominated by the Superviser and confirmed by a
majority vote of the EPT Council.
Health
Sanitation
Water
Natural Areas
Wildlife
Pollution
Resources
III. Litigation
1. Insurance
Trust
(A) Member signatories will put an amount, determined through negotiation, of
their total assets into an insurance trust, to cover potential liabilities.
(B) Liability suits will be handled in the FSUTO-IGT Litigation Courts, unless the
Litigants consent to handle the case in another court or manner, such as mediation or
arbitration.
by Libercratus
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