Recommendations

= **Recommendations** = toc

**Locations for Settlements:**
1. Close to water - lake, 50 metres above sea level to protect from flooding, space for crops or livestock, fertile soil for certain crops (cotton, rice, etc), already cleared land.
 * Reasons:**

2. **Most preferred:** 50 metres above sea level to protect from flooding, sheltered from wind and other weather, close to fresh drinking water - river, already cleared land, close to rainforest, close to the shoreline/sea

3. 100 metres above sea level to protect from flooding, good area for growing crops, further inland to protect from offshore winds

4. Close to coastline for sea access for fishing/travelling, cleared land, protected from winds because of distance from southshore

5. Close to coastline for sea access for fishing/travelling, sheltered port in the bay, close to eastern rainforest, cleared land

6. **Most preferred:** Close to fresh drinking water - river, cleared land, 100 metres above sea level to protect from flooding, protected from elements by land mass, good area for growing crops. Supplies could travel up/down the river.

**Food**
Initially food supply would be mostly tropical fruits such as breadfruit, banana, coconut, papaya and yams as well as fresh seafood such as Narwee, White fish, Moa, Papa, Deep water Snapper, Big eye and cod. To suppliment this diet, flood plains or swamp areas can be used to grow introduced species such as rice, sugarcane and cotton. Sandy soils, such as those found around the coastline, best for coconut, cashews, passionfruit and guava. One farming technique that could be used in the fertile vallies is layed farming. This involves planting a variety of crops in the same area at different height layers, providing a greater variety of produce in a smaller space. Some combinations can assist in weed control such as coconut and cocoa species being planted together. We would consider introducing sheep, cows and chickens. These could be used for dual purposes: sheep for wool and meat, cows for milk and meat and chickens for eggs and meat. They would be grazed on local grassland and vegetation. Grazing lands would be regularly rotated to protect land from overgrazing. Livestock numbers would be kept to a minimum to sustain the population.

**Communication**
Communication on the Island is important between people in our settlement, between different settlements and other nations. People from our settlement could carry walkie talkies to communicate with each other when away and between settlements we could use short wave radios to communicate. Radios have two parts: a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter makes the sounds (e.g. someone’s voice) encodes it and transmits it with radio waves. The receiver then receives the radio waves and decodes the message so another person can hear it. Radio towers can be built at a high point near our settlement to receive radio waves. To other nations the most effective communication would be internet, which includes email and VoIP (Skype). Once these modes of communication are set up, they will be relatively sustainable to maintain and use. One alternative method of communication that we researched was pigeon post. This uses homing pigeons which carry messages and fly between locations.

** Transport **
Transport is necessary to carry people and goods across the large distances of our Island. Initial transport will be people powered - such as walking and biking. We plan to have access to 2 vehicles for our settlement, preferably a 4WD car which is able to carry or even pull a trailer of goods and resources. We may not need roads if the car is capable of driving over rough tracks. We also think that small boats would be useful for us in fishing and traveling on the rivers and around the coast of the Island. To transport goods into and out of the Island we will require larger boats but these would most likely berth in the port and not near our settlement. It would be preferable if all vehicles would be able to run on bioethanol or green diesel, which is more environmentally friendly and sustainable.

**Energy**
We need energy for personal and industrial uses as well as powering our transport and communication. We plan to use a combination of renewable energy sources for our many power needs. The first of these is solar, which would be mainly for household use. Solar panels can be set up on the roofs of buildings in our settlement to power individual houses and solar-powered hot water systems can be installed where necessary. Hydroenergy has many different forms and could be useful in providing additional energy for industrial uses. We would explore the possibility of using tidal and wave power as alternatives to damming as the rivers near our settlement could be used for this. Biofuels such as bioethanol and green diesel could be used to power our vehicles. These biofuels can be made from plant-based materials which could grow quite easily near our settlement and can also be used for food for both human and livestock. We decided that large scale wind farms would not be very effective for our settlement, given the location, however, windmills mays be used to help meet some personal/household energy needs.

**Economy**
For the first few years of establishing our society, the UN will be funding our resources and assisting us to set up the essentials for our settlements. We will use it to establish: medical facilities, waste disposal system, food production (eg. planting), energy production, shelters, transport methods, communication methods, education facilities. Initially we will need to import materials for building, transport (eg. cars) and communication (eg. radios, sattelite internet) and people as a commodity that have special skills needed to establish and maintain our community.

Between settlements and individuals we believe that bartering/trading goods and services would be sufficient, without the need for a currency. We are aiming to limit our reliance on currency to prevent the issues that come with it, eg. conflict between settlements because of imbalance of funds distributed. To generate income, we could be exporting sugar cane or products made from it for example biofuel. This income would be used to meet the needs of settlements rather than simply provide money. We could import foods to ensure our population is eating a balanced diet.

We would base our society on a socialism system, where basic services and means of production are owned and controlled by the comunity in a cooperative way. We would elect a council featuring members from each settlement to decide how funds and goods were distributed.

**//Population//:**
We would recommend a total population of 2500 for the island based on sustainable population densities from around the region, with each settlement being able to accommodate 300 - 500 people. This would mean that our immigration regulations would be quite tight and restricted to migrants whose skills are in high demand. We also discussed the possibility of capping the number of children each family was allowed.

**//Government type://**
There are many types of democracies, but given our population calculations, a direct democracy could work for each of the settlements on the island. This would involve each settlement discussing issues that arise at town meetings or via internet forums. From these discussions agreements could be made abouts laws, sentencing etc. Three- five representatives from each settlement could meet with other settlement representatives to pass laws. The second process involves the representatives meeting to set laws and pass ideas, however, the whole community is expected to take turns at being their settlements representatives (similar to jury duty) to allow greater representation of the people and iliminate the chance of polital parties of alliances forming. Direct Democracy also ensures majority groups are looked after and minority groups do not end up with all the power as can happen in a Representative Government. The purpose of the government is to assist in the management and running of society, making decisions about issues that concern them.


 * What are the values of democracy, and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship??**
 * What are the key tasks of a member of parliament or councillor?**

//** Law and Justice **:// Making new laws will involve the people as much as possible. If a person in the community has a law they think might work, they propose it to the current settlement representative. This proposed law will then be discussed at a settlement forum to be voted on. If it affects the whole island, it can be taken to island representative meetings, to also be discussed and voted on. A majority of votes must be for the proposed law for it to be passed and enforced. The laws required by the island include, but are not limited to, governing:
 * human rights
 * land rights
 * births, deaths and marriages
 * distribution of income and goods

We hope that the way that we have built up our society promotes a feeling of community and that each person will treat each other and the environment with respect. However, if issues to do with lack of respect for others or the environment do arise, our island representatives would decide on sentences and punishments for law breakers. Community service sentences would be favoured in our settlement.

**//Services//**:
The repesentatives from each settlement will meet to decide on issues surrounding and provide the people with law and justice, healthcare, education, welfare, immigration approval and economic issues such as taxes, imports and exports.

**//Health Care//:**
The government would be responsible for health care. They will be in charge of importing medical supplies and disturbing them to each settlement. Each settlement will have a doctor/nurse with the main hospital being at the port which each settlement is able to use.

//**Education:**//
Each settlement will be responsible for educating the children of their own settlement. The government will decide what the curriculum will be. The education will include a pre school/ kinder, primary school and a high school with education finishing at age 18. Due to settlement being small, their will have to be multi-age classrooms with only one or two teachers per school. The curriculum will be decided by the settlement and include both academic and practical learning subjects.

//**Jobs:**// **﻿**
One job that will be needed is emergency services such as SES and ambulance services. These services will be based at the central settlement and will be sent out to the others when needed for example if one settlement is damaged by high winds/floods they will be sent to that settlement to help out.