The Figorian Wildlife Commission wants to protect wildlife from the kind of wetland loss that has endangered species in industrialized nations. Its plan is to regulate development so that any future wetland development is offset by building replacement wetland habitats. From this, it concludes that development would cause no net reduction of wetlands and would pose no threat to the species living in them.

The Figorian Development Commission argues the other way, and it argues on different ground. Rather than disputing the Wildlife Commission's habitat plan, it makes a case from growth and fairness. Other nations developed their wetlands freely at wildlife's expense while Figoria held back and conserved, so Figoria should now be allowed to develop too. The argument relies on two pieces of support: Figorian development "might not" affect wildlife and is necessary for growth, and Figoria has as much right to use its own resources as the nations that already commercialized theirs.