1.1                             A resolution
  1.2             memorializing the President and the Congress of the 
  1.3             United States to oppose ratification of the 
  1.4             Biodiversity Treaty.  
  1.5      
  1.6      WHEREAS, the United Nations has promoted a Biosphere 
  1.7   Program throughout the world; and 
  1.8      WHEREAS, the Biosphere Program threatens to place millions 
  1.9   of acres of land under the control of the United Nations via 
  1.10  agreements and/or executive orders; and 
  1.11     WHEREAS, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and 
  1.12  Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has created a worldwide system of 
  1.13  328 Biosphere Reserves in 82 nations; and 
  1.14     WHEREAS, 47 United Nations-designated Biosphere Reserves 
  1.15  are within the sovereign borders of the United States; and 
  1.16     WHEREAS, these designations require strict land use 
  1.17  management procedures as set forth in the 1994 Strategic Plan 
  1.18  for the United States Man and the Biosphere Program, as 
  1.19  published by the United States State Department, and further 
  1.20  described in the Global Biodiversity Assessment, published by 
  1.21  the United Nations Environment Program, expressly for the 
  1.22  Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological 
  1.23  Diversity; and 
  1.24     WHEREAS, Biosphere Reserves are, by definition, designed to 
  1.25  continually expand each of the three zones:  core protected 
  2.1   zone, buffer zone, and zone of cooperation; and 
  2.2      WHEREAS, Biosphere Reserves are expected to be the nucleus 
  2.3   of the system of protected areas required by Article 8 of the 
  2.4   Convention on Biological Diversity, as expressed in the minutes 
  2.5   of the first meeting of the Conference of the Parties; and 
  2.6      WHEREAS, no landowner within reach or potential reach of 
  2.7   the Biosphere Reserves has input or recourse to land use 
  2.8   management policies of UNESCO or the Conference of the Parties 
  2.9   to the Convention on Biological Diversity; and 
  2.10     WHEREAS, no body of elected officials, whether local, 
  2.11  state, or federal, has input, recourse, or veto power over such 
  2.12  land use management policies that may be prescribed by either 
  2.13  UNESCO or the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on 
  2.14  Biological Diversity; and 
  2.15     WHEREAS, even though the Convention on Biological Diversity 
  2.16  has not been ratified by the United States Senate, the very 
  2.17  presence of United Nations Biosphere Reserves on American soil 
  2.18  demonstrates the compliance with an international treaty that 
  2.19  has not been ratified; and 
  2.20     WHEREAS the use of land in biosphere areas for ordinary 
  2.21  commercial or agricultural purposes may be severely restricted 
  2.22  or eliminated; and 
  2.23     WHEREAS, the areas encompassed by these reserves include 
  2.24  not only public, but private, lands; and 
  2.25     WHEREAS, the placing of environmental or other restrictions 
  2.26  upon the use of private lands has been held by a number of 
  2.27  recent United States Supreme Court decisions to constitute an 
  2.28  unlawful taking of the land for public purposes; and 
  2.29     WHEREAS, the proposed Biodiversity Treaty, if ratified by 
  2.30  the United States, would ultimately lead to the reality that 
  2.31  Americans could not use their private and public lands in the 
  2.32  manner to which they have been accustomed; and 
  2.33     WHEREAS, there are no proposals to purchase the private 
  2.34  lands either by the United States or the United Nations; and 
  2.35     WHEREAS, the restrictions contemplated, together with the 
  2.36  outside control of the land encompassed by a Biosphere Reserve, 
  3.1   constitute an unlawful taking of that land in violation of the 
  3.2   Constitution of the United States, to wit:  
  3.3      Article I, Section 8, Clause 17, before any state lands can 
  3.4      be purchased, the consent of the state legislature and not 
  3.5      the state executive branch, must be obtained.  
  3.6      Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2, "[N]othing in this 
  3.7      Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any 
  3.8      Claims of the United States, or of any particular state."  
  3.9      Article IV, Section 4, "The United States shall guarantee 
  3.10     to every State in this Union a Republican Form of 
  3.11     Government."  
  3.12     Amendment V of the Constitution of the United States "nor 
  3.13     [shall any person] be deprived of life, liberty, or 
  3.14     property, without due process of law; nor shall private 
  3.15     property be taken for public use, without just 
  3.16     compensation"; and 
  3.17     WHEREAS, the virtual ceding of these lands to the United 
  3.18  Nations leaves the residents who own the land, local 
  3.19  governments, and states without any legitimate form for redress 
  3.20  of grievances for input into any decision-making process 
  3.21  relating to the Biosphere Reserve; and 
  3.22     WHEREAS, under Article VI of the Constitution of the United 
  3.23  States, this treaty would be given equal footing with the 
  3.24  Constitution of the United States, thus effectively precluding 
  3.25  any legal means of redress; and 
  3.26     WHEREAS, the State of Minnesota does not wish to have 
  3.27  portions of the land area of the United States controlled by 
  3.28  foreign minions over which it has no control and who are not 
  3.29  subject to its laws; NOW, THEREFORE, 
  3.30     BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
  3.31  that it urges the President and the Congress of the United 
  3.32  States to oppose ratification of the Biodiversity Treaty and the 
  3.33  inclusion of any land within the sovereign borders of the United 
  3.34  States in any biosphere program of the United Nations. 
  3.35     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
  3.36  State of Minnesota is directed to prepare copies of this 
  4.1   memorial and transmit them to the President of the United 
  4.2   States, the President and the Secretary of the United States 
  4.3   Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the United States House of 
  4.4   Representatives, the chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and 
  4.5   Natural Resources, the chair of the House Committee on 
  4.6   Resources, and Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in 
  4.7   Congress.