Topic Basic principles of environmental protection and environmental management.

The main principles of caring for natural resources are set out in the international document "The concept of sustainable economic development”, adopted at the second UN World Conference on Environmental Protection in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

In Art. 3 of the Law of the RSFSR "On the Protection of the Environment" formulated the basic principles of its protection, the priority of protecting human life and health, ensuring favorable environmental conditions for life, work and recreation of the population; science-based combination of environmental and economic interests of society, providing real guarantees of human rights to a healthy and favorable environment for life.

Nature management and environmental protection are two sides of one human activity. In Art. 42 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation enshrines the right of citizens to a favorable environment, in the Law of the RSFSR "On the protection of the natural environment" in section 2 "The right of citizens to a healthy and favorable environment" for the first time formulated the environmental rights of citizens.

The Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of February 4, 1994 "Basic Provisions of the State Strategy for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development" provides for a balanced solution to the problems of socio-economic development in the future and the preservation of a favorable state of the environment and natural resource potential in order to meet the vital needs of the population.

The problems of environmental protection are not limited to individual countries or regions - they have acquired a global character. The need to solve them on a planetary scale presupposes the unification of the efforts of the international community, the development of international cooperation in order to protect the environment.

Rational use of resources assumes as a basis for studying all aspects of nature management. Engineering and environmental studies provide for the identification and study in order to develop environmental measures to ensure: rational use of mineral resources and protection of subsoil for the mining industry and processing enterprises; protection of land resources; protection of water resources; protection of the atmosphere; organization of control over the state of the natural environment for all types of industry.

Scientists provide for integrated monitoring, which is understood as a system of continuous observations and control over the state of the natural environment, which consists of three stages: observation, assessment of the state and forecast of possible changes. Monitoring carries out observations of anthropogenic changes, as well as the natural state of nature, so that there are objects for comparison when assessing anthropogenic changes. Local sanitary-toxicological, regional and global environmental monitoring are proposed. Background monitoring stations are divided into two types: regional and basic. Regional stations are designed to monitor the situation in large regions, such as Europe or North America where the overall background pollution level is very high. On the base stations observations are being made of the slowest processes, the consequences of which can be the most dangerous, since they are more difficult to distinguish due to their inertia, but they cover the entire planet. Space monitoring makes it possible to very effectively monitor atmospheric pollution and the state of the earth's surface. Multi-channel spectral zonal imaging makes it possible to record changes in optical density, clearly highlighting cities, industrial centers and their environs, since the atmosphere here contains much more various particles and gases, and the snow cover is darker. The transport of particles over very long distances during dust storms on the African continent has been repeatedly noted, in Central Asia and in other parts of the earth. Dust emissions from volcanic eruptions are clearly recorded.

A special place belongs to the economic evaluation natural resources, i.e., the determination of their monetary or commodity value in absolute or relative terms.

This problem arose relatively recently, about two decades ago. Initially to replace natural indicators quantitative and qualitative characteristics of natural resources (volumes of reserves, productivity, reservoir thickness, depth of occurrence, etc.) received a score (production, technological). It is aimed at comparing homogeneous natural resources in terms of the favorable use of them for a particular purpose. Its indicators are points, categories, degrees (forests of 1-5 quality classes, lands of 1-10 categories).

One of the most important tasks of economic evaluation is to determine the material damage caused to society during the withdrawal from economic circulation natural resources. Economic evaluation underlies the payment for nature management, which creates a material interest of enterprises in the rational use of natural resources, the improvement of technological processes in order to reduce waste released into the environment.

One of the elements of the economic mechanism of rational management in the field of nature management and environmental protection is the planning of nature management.

The main goal of planning is to ensure economical and integrated use, and possibly also to increase the resource potential of the country.

The cost of environmental degradation or environmental protection cannot be considered statically. Pollutants accumulate over time, and it is only after this time that the full damage can be revealed.

Not only the damage, but also the cost of protecting the environment must be considered in perspective. Environmental activities are very capital intensive. It takes several years for the accumulation of capital (for example, the construction of water treatment plants and sewerage). Adaptation of production processes, changes in industry structure, relocation of firms require one to two decades. Therefore, environmental policy should be carried out constantly.

In addition, control over the use of natural resources and the level of environmental pollution is envisaged. For example, the Sanitary and Epidemiological Service monitors compliance with the maximum allowable biological pollution standards. It has the right to issue mandatory orders to suspend or close enterprises, laboratories and other facilities if they violate established standards and rules for the protection of the natural environment from harmful biological effects.

Security

With regard to renewable resources, it is required that they be exploited at least within the framework of simple reproduction, and their total amount does not decrease over time. In Russia, over the past 15 years, felling volumes have increased many times over (timber is one of the revenue items of the budget), and afforestation during this period was not carried out at all. At the same time, for the restoration of forests after felling, two or three forest plantations in terms of area are required: forests grow slowly, for the full reproduction of overmature, i.e. forest suitable for industrial use takes 35-40 years.

Land resources also require careful treatment and protection. More than half of Russia's land fund is located in the permafrost zone; agricultural land in the Russian Federation occupies only about 13% of the area, and annually these areas are reduced as a result of erosion (destruction of the fertile layer), misuse (for example, for the construction of cottages), swamping, mining (industrial deserts appear on the site of agricultural land ). To protect against erosion, use:

Forest protection belts;

Plowing without turning over the layer;

In hilly areas - plowing across the slopes and tinning the land;

Regulation of livestock grazing.

Disturbed, polluted lands can be restored, this process is called reclamation. Such restored lands can be used in four directions: for agricultural use, for forest plantations, for artificial reservoirs and for housing or capital construction.

One of the most important environmental problems of our time is the protection of water resources. It is difficult to overestimate the role of the ocean in the life of the biosphere, which carries out the process of self-purification of water in nature with the help of the plankton living in it; stabilizing the planet's climate, being in constant dynamic equilibrium with the atmosphere; producing huge biomass. But for life and economic activity, a person needs fresh water. The rapid growth of the world's population and the rapid development of the world economy have led to a shortage of fresh water not only in traditionally dry countries, but also in those that were recently considered quite water-rich.

Finally, one of the most important problems of our time is the pollution of both the World Ocean and freshwater sources. Currently, wastewater pollutes more than a third of the world's river flow. There is only one conclusion from all that has been said: strict economy of fresh water and prevention of its pollution are necessary.

Development

In the modern world, one of the main tasks is the task of scientific development of the most efficient use and consumption of natural resources and the application of economically viable and rational methods for preventing and eliminating pollution and environmental destruction. These two sides, expressing the ecological and economic nature and essence, contain a wide and complex system measures that ensure economy directly in the process of nature management. That is, the consumption of a smaller amount of natural raw materials per unit final product, and also suggest scientifically substantiated minimization of costs for nature protection and improvement of the ecological quality of the human environment. Thus, the efficiency of environmental management is the effectiveness of the socio-economic and environmental performance of the use of natural resources and the exploitation of the natural environment.

In this regard, it is necessary to create and introduce new technologies to increase the share of extracted oil, coal, ores, metals and other resources. Naturally, this requires a lot of money. This can be seen most clearly in the mining industry. In our country, the number of “unpromising” flooded mines is multiplying, which, with skillful operation, could well still produce products, oil wells and drilling rigs abandoned in the tundra (it’s cheaper to drill new ones in order to quickly recoup the costs and pump, pump, so that later they can be abandoned, leaving them in the bowels more than 30% of fossils).

The task of a more complete extraction from the bowels is adjacent to another one - the integrated use of mineral raw materials. Generally, no metal occurs alone in nature. An analysis of some Ural ores showed that in addition to the main metal mined (for example, copper), they contain a large number of rare and trace elements, and their cost often exceeds the cost of the main material. However, this valuable raw material very often remains in dumps due to the lack of technology for its extraction.

transformation

Issues of conservation of natural resources and their compensation are directly related to cultural land use. are being explored existing methods rational transformation of the natural habitat of man, promising forms of intraspecific and regional changes are distinguished. Rationalization of nature transformation is associated with such new forms of protection and use of ecosystems as National parks and natural parks. Analyzing the significance of these forms, the recreational use of forest areas is distinguished, taking into account not only pragmatic tasks, but also their aesthetic values. A special place in rational nature management is given to the optimization of relations between man and the natural world as an area for improving the technology of cultural-transformative activities for the use and processing of biosphere resources. Attention is also paid to the technique of organizing national parks as aesthetically valuable objects.

Although the traditional definition of conservation refers to a certain permanence in the natural environment, achieved by purposeful cultural activities, however, in objective reality both the laws of nature itself and the influence of people who transform the natural environment in practical processes exclude the possibility of conserving what has been achieved, denying development, movement within the "society - nature" system.

In all areas of activity related to the transformation of wildlife, landscape according to the laws of beauty, from the breeding of new varieties of decorative flora, the aesthetic organization of agricultural areas to the chamber forms of garden art, the principle of spatial unity is manifested as an important condition for preserving the natural human habitat.

Society, being a part of the global system, has a significant impact on the quality side of the system as a whole. The entire history of mankind is an instructive description of its activity in the transformation of living nature in the conditions of its development.

There are new forms of creatively transformed, artificially designed nature. Separate forms of landscape gardening art become an independent part of the urban landscape, showing a trend towards further evolution based on a different functional meaning. There is a formation of a special dendro-decorative genre in the system of nature-creating activities, which later has a strong influence on the design of rural regions.

A qualitative leap in the art of nature creation is associated with the emergence of landscape thinking. Along with it, the practice of transforming nature according to the laws of beauty receives a new impetus for development.

Planning of nature-transforming activities on the scale of the whole society and reasonable control by society open up boundless prospects for nature conservation.

Today it is already possible to speak of a system that has formed in nature management, consisting of three intricately connected components: an industry that is part of the production; the arenas of action are nature; creative activity of people. Society is creating conditions on a national scale to overcome the negative impact of industrialization on nature, to increase the role of production as an accelerator of natural processes, a decisive nature-preserving force. The creativity of the broad masses in these conditions is aimed both at optimizing the process of using natural and technical resources, and at artificial aestheticization of the natural environment.

Optimization of ties with nature is becoming an important principle in the nature-transforming activities of society. Here, the methods of functioning of the "society - nature" system are formed, which provide, at the least expenditure of funds, useful results in terms of both the preservation of the natural environment and the satisfaction of social interests, a scientifically based optimal strategy is developed that allows you to choose from many options that contribute to the gradual development of the natural environment. systems as a whole. National parks, sanctuaries, nature reserves can serve as an example, where practical, scientific and recreational tasks do not conflict, and measures to solve them complement each other.

Consequently, the time has come to radically change the very approach to the concept of profitability when it comes to nature management.

From the National Environmental Action Plan Russian Federation for 1999-2001, which were considered at a meeting of the Government of the Russian Federation on November 12, 1998 and recommended to executive authorities for use in practical activities environmental protection

atmospheric air

The largest group of the population (15 million people) is exposed to suspended solids, the second place in terms of impact is occupied by benzo (a) pyrene - 14 million people. More than 5 million people live in areas with a high content of nitrogen dioxide, hydrogen fluoride, carbon disulfide in the air, more than 4 million people - formaldehyde and carbon monoxide, more than 3 million people - ammonia, styrene.

A significant part of the population (more than 1 million people) is exposed to elevated concentrations of benzene, nitric oxide, hydrogen sulfide, methyl mercaptan.

In 1996, 44 cities were included in the list of cities with the highest level of air pollution (their pollution index - IZ A is at least 14): Moscow, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Omsk, Chelyabinsk, Rostov-on-Don, Saratov, Krasnoyarsk , Tolyatti, Krasnodar, Irkutsk, Khabarovsk, Novokuznetsk, Ulyanovsk, Kemerovo, Lipetsk, Magnitogorsk, Nizhny Tagil, Kurgan, Ulan-Ude, Vladimir, Makhachkala, Stavropol, Angarsk, Volzhsky, Bratsk, Biysk, Blagoveshchensk, Norilsk, Novorossiysk, Syzran, Solikamsk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Ussuriysk, Abakan, Birobidzhan, Kyzyl, Novomoskovsk, Cheremkhovo, Novodvinsk, Zima, Shelikhov.

Water resources

Almost all surface water sources have been polluted in recent years. Especially unfavorable is the situation with providing the population with benign drinking water developed in Buryatia, Dagestan, Kalmykia, Primorsky Krai, Arkhangelsk, Kaliningrad, Kemerovo, Kurgan, Tomsk, Yaroslavl regions.

Among the main rivers of Russia, the Volga, Don, Kuban, Ob, Yenisei are characterized by the greatest environmental problems. They are rated as "contaminated". Their major tributaries - Oka, Kama, Tom, Irtysh, Tobol, Miass, Iset, Tura - are assessed as "heavily polluted".

Soils and land use

As part of the agricultural land in Russia, soils that are erosive and prone to water and wind erosion occupy more than 125 million hectares, including eroded soils - 54.1 million hectares. Every third hectare of arable land and pastures is eroded and needs to be protected from degradation.

Pollution and littering of lands are noted on 54% of the country's territory. The area under landfills for neutralization and disposal of waste is about 6.5 thousand hectares, under sanctioned landfills - about 35 thousand hectares. The area of ​​land disturbed during the extraction and processing of minerals, geological exploration, peat extraction and construction in 1996 amounted to about 1 million hectares.

Cities are changing the ecological situation not only within their own borders. The zones of influence of cities stretch for tens of kilometers, and large industrial agglomerations - for hundreds, for example, Sredneuralskaya - for 300 km, Kemerovo and Moscow - for 200 km, Tula - for 120 km.

Over 90% of accidental oil spills cause severe and largely irreversible damage to complexes.

vegetable and animal world

In relation to the level of 1995, the total volume of reforestation in Russia as a whole decreased by 344 thousand hectares. In the Caspian region, there is a real threat of the spread of the desertification process, especially in the territory of Kalmykia, in the Stavropol Territory and the Rostov Region. The problems of preserving the vegetation of the tundra, which occupies about a third of the territory of the Russian Federation, are not being solved.

In cities, the level of provision with green spaces per capita does not meet the accepted standards.

In 1997, the list of animals listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation increased by 1.6 times.

Subsoil use

In the mining sector, environmental protection measures are practically not recorded. More than 35,000 accidents occurred in the oil fields in 1996, associated with a violation of the tightness of pipeline systems. The decrease in reliability and the increase in the accident rate of pipeline systems in 3-4 years may become landslide.

I would like to draw the reader's attention to the fact that the city of Magnitogorsk is included in the official list of cities in the Russian Federation with the highest level of air pollution; the Miass River flows through the territory adjacent to the city, is characterized in the National Plan by the greatest environmental problems; the zone of influence of a large industrial agglomeration extends for 300 km. The environmental problems of Russia entail general hygienic problems that highlight the need for a comprehensive study of the aspects of "Environmental hygiene - health".

The principles of law, as follows from the theory of law, are the basic, initial provisions that legally fix the objective laws of social life.

The principles of law play an important role in legal regulation: they determine the basic principles in the regulation of legal relations; when there are no specific rules of law, the principles of law make it possible to regulate specific legal relations.

All principles of law are divided into: general, intersectoral and sectoral.

The principles of environmental law are divided into: general legal (constitutional), principles of the General part of environmental law, principles of the Special part of environmental law.

I. General legal principles of environmental law(mostly) are enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation and therefore represent normative prescriptions with the highest legal force. These are the principles of democracy, humanism, legality, internationalism, the unity of rights and obligations of subjects of environmental legal relations, publicity.

II. Principles of the General Part of Environmental Law These are the six most important principles:

1. The priority of the interests of the peoples living in the respective territory, and the protection of the rights of the individual.

Features of this principle:

Land and other natural resources are used and protected in the Russian Federation as the basis for the life and activities of the peoples living in the respective territory (Part 1, Article 9 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation);

Natural objects cannot be alienated from Russia in favor of another state, except for the cases specified in the law;

Management in the field of use and protection of natural objects is carried out under the control of management bodies of general competence;

The state has the right to intervene in relations on the use of natural objects, incl. seize them for state and municipal needs and forcibly redeem them;

The protection of the rights of an individual is ensured by the fact that in the Russian Federation everyone has the right to a favorable environment (Article 42 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation) in accordance with the generally recognized principles and norms of international law and international treaties of the Russian Federation;

Every citizen has the right to health protection from the adverse effects of the natural environment caused by economic or other activities, accidents, catastrophes, natural disasters (Article 11 of the Law of the RSFSR "On Environmental Protection"). This right is ensured by the protection of the natural environment, the creation of favorable conditions for work, life, recreation, education and training of citizens, the production and sale of high-quality food products, and the provision of high-quality medical care to the population.

2. The principle of targeted use of natural objects:

Obliges each user of natural resources to use natural objects in strict accordance with their intended purpose. For example, the use of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes is not allowed, except as permitted by law;

The intended purpose of natural objects is determined both when they are provided, and by conferring a certain legal status;

The will of the state fixed in the projects of economic organization of natural objects is obligatory for execution by the nature user.

3. The principle of rational and efficient use of natural objects:

It reflects the economic side of nature management erected into law, which is expressed in the desire to minimal cost to obtain the greatest effect from the economic exploitation of natural objects, without causing economic and environmental harm;

Assumes economic and environmental aspects;

With economic side, the principle of rational use of natural objects implies the maximum achievement of a positive effect in the use of natural objects with optimal cost allocation;

On the ecological side, the principle involves ensuring maximum environmental safety in the course of nature management and protecting the natural environment.

4. The principle of priority of protective measures in the use of natural objects:

Due to the fact that all natural objects are not insured against the negative consequences of economic exploitation;

Any action for the operation of a particular natural object must be accompanied by the development and implementation of certain measures for its protection for the life, work and recreation of the population;

At the same time, if there is a conflict of economic and environmental interests in nature management, that is, a beneficial way of using nature turns out to be harmful to the exploited natural object, then priority should be given to the ecological interest, the way of nature management must either change, or the use of the object must be stopped.

5. The principle of an integrated approach to nature management:

It is expressed in the fact that when using this natural object, it is necessary to take into account all its ecological connections with others. natural objects and with the natural environment as a whole;

It is due to the natural diversity of any ecological system, and therefore deviation from it leads to irrational and wasteful use of natural resources.

6. The principle of paid use of natural resources and natural objects:

Article 20 of the Law of the RSFSR "On the Protection of the Environment" establishes payment for the use of all natural resources (land, water, forests, etc.), in addition, payment is established for pollution of the environment and for other types of impact;

Payment for the use of certain types of resources is charged for the right to use certain types of natural resources within the established limits for the use (withdrawal) of natural resources and in excess of the established limits;

The environmental impact fee is charged for emissions, discharges of pollutants into the environment, waste disposal on the terrain and other types of impact (noise, sound ...) within the established limits and in excess of them;

Funds formed from payments for the use of natural resources and environmental impact are directed by users of natural resources to the budget and to the relevant environmental funds. The procedure for the formation of environmental funds is established by the legislation of the Russian Federation.

III. Principles of the Special Part of Environmental Law

The legal principles of the Special Part of Environmental Law are expressed in the presence of certain priorities in the use of certain natural resources:

The priority of agricultural land is expressed in the fact that all land suitable for its properties for use in agriculture should (first of all) be provided for agricultural production. For non-agricultural purposes, the worst lands unsuitable for Agriculture. The use of any land should be accompanied by work to improve soil fertility. When performing work related to damage to the fertile layer of the earth, the latter must be removed, stored and used to restore soil fertility;

Priority of drinking and household waters. water bodies provided primarily to meet the drinking and domestic needs of the population. It is enshrined in Art. 133 of the Water Code of the Russian Federation;

Priority of subsoil use for the development of minerals. The law prohibits the development of mineral deposits, with the exception of special cases in agreement with the state mining supervision authorities, provided that measures are taken to ensure the possibility of extracting minerals (Articles 11, 19 of the Federal Law "On Subsoil");

Protective forest priority. Forests that have water protection, protective, climate-forming significance belong to the forests of the first group, that is, they have the legal status of increased protection. Illegal felling of trees in these forests entails higher liability than in other forest groups;

The priority of the conditions for the existence of animals in a state of natural freedom (Article 1 of the Federal Law "On the Animal World"). It is not allowed to use the animal world for scientific, cultural and educational purposes, if this involves the removal of animals from the natural environment or harms the habitat, as well as the use of wildlife objects with removal from the habitat or violation of this environment.

The concept and classification of sources of environmental law

Sources of environmental law are legal acts that contain legal norms governing environmental public relations.

In the theory of law, there are several grounds on which the classification of sources of law is carried out. For example, all sources of law are divided according to legal force acts on: acts of federal bodies; acts of subjects of the Russian Federation; acts of local governments; international acts.

All acts are divided into laws and by-laws (acts of the Russian Federation, subjects of the Russian Federation, local governments).

The laws are divided into: the Constitution of the Russian Federation (Basic Law of the Russian Federation), federal laws of the Russian Federation, laws of the Russian Federation, laws of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, laws of local governments, the same applies to by-laws.

All these approaches are acceptable for environmental law. But we will carry out a slightly different classification of sources - in accordance with the division of environmental law into three areas (according to the forms of interaction between society and nature): the use of nature, nature conservation, and environmental safety. This is how the actual environmental legislation of the Russian Federation is developing today, where it is possible to single out legal acts regulating the use of natural resources (natural resource direction), nature protection (environmental protection direction) and ensuring environmental safety.

But, first of all, one should refer to the articles of the Basic Law of the Russian Federation - the Constitution of the Russian Federation (1993). It lays the constitutional foundations for nature management, environmental protection, and ensuring the environmental safety of the Russian Federation.

The Constitution of the Russian Federation contains many norms, moreover, direct action norms that regulate environmental relations. In fact, these are articles 8 part 2, 9 part 1, 9 part 2. 36 hours 1, 36 hours 2, 36 hours 3, 42, 58 and others.

Let's consider some of them in more detail:

Art. 8 part 2.- In the Russian Federation, private, state, municipal and other forms of ownership are recognized and protected in the same way.

Article introduces various forms ownership of natural resources, and for the first time all forms of ownership are equal and equally subject to protection. A complete list of forms of ownership is not given in the article (other forms of ownership), which indicates the possibility of developing (improving) this issue.

Art. 9 part 1. - Land and other natural resources are used and protected in the Russian Federation as the basis of life and activity of the peoples living in the respective territory.

Art. 9 hours 2. – Land and other natural resources may be in private, state, municipal and other forms of ownership.

State ownership of natural resources is subdivided into federal property and the property of the subjects of the Federation.

Municipal property, proclaimed by the Constitution, is regulated by the Law of the Russian Federation of August 12, 1995 No. "About general principles local self-government" and other normative acts.

Art. 36 h.1. – Citizens and their associations have the right to own land in private ownership.

Art. 36 part 2. – Possession, use and disposal of land and other natural resources is carried out by their owners freely, if this does not damage the environment and does not violate the rights and legitimate interests of other persons.

Art. 36 h.3. - The conditions and procedure for the use of land are determined on the basis of federal law.

Article 36 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation proclaims the right of citizens and their associations to own land in private ownership. This principle allows citizens to have land plots for various needs, which gives them economic freedom.

The Constitution of the Russian Federation also establishes the parameters for restricting the freedom to exercise the powers of the owner of natural resources (clause 2, article 36). This is due to compliance with environmental requirements; the need to protect the rights and legitimate interests of other persons and the fact that land and other natural resources are the basis of life and activity of peoples living on their territory (Article 9). Ownership land plot proclaims its rational use, otherwise the owner is subject to a fine (Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of December 16, 1993 "On strengthening state control over the use and protection of land during land reform").

The restriction on the right to use is expressed in a clear definition of the rights and obligations for the use of sites and measures of responsibility for non-compliance with the requirements for the rational use and protection of land.

By exercising the right of disposal, the owners can sell, transfer, donate, etc. land.

The requirement of rational use implies the targeted use of land resources.

Art. 42 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation states: "Everyone has the right to a favorable environment, reliable information about its condition, to compensation for damage caused to his health or property by an environmental offense."

The article actually enshrines three independent rights, although they are closely related. These are the ecological rights of a person and a citizen to: 1) a favorable environment; 2) reliable information about her condition; 3) compensation for damage caused to health or property by an environmental offence.

The protection of environmental interests and the protection of environmental rights is the most important task of the Russian state. Article 45 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation guarantees state protection and gives everyone the right to protect their rights by all means that are not prohibited by law.

Art. 58 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation establishes - Everyone is obliged to preserve nature and the environment, take care of natural resources.

This article contains a very important principle, solving the issue of a subject obliged to preserve nature and the environment, to take care of natural resources.

The subject can be every person and citizen who comes into contact with nature and the environment, as a resident locality as an employee (including an official).

The obligation to preserve these objects is assigned by the Constitution to everyone whose labor activity is associated with environmental impact and nature management. It is on these subjects that it depends: whether a favorable state of the environment will be ensured when making environmentally significant decisions and performing work duties.

The constitutional obligations of this article are developed by the current environmental and natural resource law, the Federal Law "On Environmental Protection", as well as land, forestry, and subsoil legislation.

Violation of the established obligations entails the application of legal liability measures.

The conceptual provisions of the ecological doctrine on the interaction of society and nature, which serve as the basis for determining the basic principles of nature protection, were accepted by the Russian Federation, put into the Basic Law of the country and became the constitutional basis (principles) of nature protection in the Russian Federation. These principles were developed and summarized in the Law of the RSFSR dated December 19, 1991 "On Environmental Protection" - the main environmental act of the Russian Federation until 2002.

In 2002 adopted new law which significantly changed approaches to nature, to its protection. The law in many ways worsened the position of man in the world around him, the position of nature itself.

The law is valid, is basic, and should be studied in detail.

The next law environmental block is the Federal Law of March 14, 1995. No. 33-FZ "On Specially Protected Natural Territories", which regulates relations between specially protected natural areas(reserves, sanctuaries, national parks, etc.), establishing their legal regimes. The law regulates relations in the field of organization, protection and use of specially protected natural areas in order to preserve unique and typical natural complexes and objects, natural landmarks, objects of flora and fauna, their genetic fund, study natural processes in the biosphere and control changes in its state , environmental education population.

Federal Law of February 23, 1995. No. 26-FZ "On natural healing resources, health-improving areas and resorts" defines the status of natural healing resources, health-improving areas and resorts, principles public policy and regulates relations in the field of study, use and protection of natural medicinal resources, medical and health-improving areas and resorts on the territory of the Russian Federation.

The Law of the Russian Federation “On the Protection of Atmospheric Air”, adopted on April 2, 1999, establishes the legal basis for the protection of atmospheric air and is aimed at realizing the constitutional rights of citizens to a favorable environment and reliable information about its condition.

The natural resource direction of sources of environmental law is represented by such laws of the Russian Federation as: the Land Code of the Russian Federation of 2001, the Federal Law of April 2, 1999. "On the Protection of Atmospheric Air", Federal Law of March 03, 1995 No. "On the Subsoil", Federal Law of April 24, 1995 No. 52-FZ "On the Wildlife", Federal Law of December 16, 1995 No. 167-FZ "Water Code of the Russian Federation", Federal Law of January 29, 1997 No. 22-FZ "Forest Code of the Russian Federation", Federal Law of November 30, 1995 No. 187-FZ "On the continental shelf of the Russian Federation", etc., which we will get acquainted with in detail when studying further topics of the course.

The third area of ​​environmental law is ensuring environmental safety. This direction is formed by sources: Federal Laws of the Russian Federation: “On the sanitary and epidemiological well-being of the population” dated April 30, 1999, “On the protection of the population and territories from natural and man-made emergencies” dated December 21, 1994 No. 68-FZ, “On the fire security" dated December 21, 1994. No. 69-FZ (as amended and supplemented); "About using atomic energy"On January 21, 1995 No. 170-FZ (as amended and supplemented); "On Radiation Safety of the Population" dated January 09, 1996 No. 3-FZ; "On the Safe Handling of Pesticides and Agrochemicals" dated July 19, 1997. No. 109-FZ "On the industrial safety of hazardous production facilities" of July 21, 1997 No. 116-FZ "On the safety of hydraulic structures" of July 21, 1997 No. 117-FZ "On the social protection of citizens exposed to radiation due to nuclear tests on the Semipalatinsk test site" dated August 19, 1995 No. 149-FZ; "On the social protection of citizens of the Russian Federation exposed to radiation as a result of the accident in 1957 at the Mayak production association and the discharge of radioactive waste into the Techa River" dated December 26, 1998. No. 175-FZ; Laws of the Russian Federation: “On the social protection of citizens exposed to radiation as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster” of May 15, 1991 (as amended by the Law of the Russian Federation of June 18, 1992. No. 3061-1, as amended. and additional); "On Security" dated March 05, 1992 No. 244 6-1 (with last rev. etc.) and others.

We will give a detailed analysis of the sources of environmental law when studying specific topics of the course, but you will have to familiarize yourself with these sources in official publications, which are: Collection of Legislation of the Russian Federation, Collection of Acts of the President and Government of the Russian Federation, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Krasnoyarsky Rabochiy newspaper, City News ".

Regulatory legal acts of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and local governments are an integral part of the legislation of the Russian Federation and, at the same time, independent systems that regulate environmental legal relations on the territory of a particular constituent entity of the Russian Federation.

Acts of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation can be in the form of: laws of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation (constitutions, charters, laws) and by-laws (decrees, orders, resolutions, orders).

Acts of the subjects of the Russian Federation are normative legal acts that are valid only on the territory of a particular subject of the Russian Federation, local governments. They cannot contradict the Constitution of the Russian Federation and other regulatory legal acts.

When studying the course, you need to study the regulatory legal acts of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the city of Krasnoyarsk and, if possible, other subjects of the Russian Federation in order to have an idea: how the detailing of the all-Russian environmental legislation is carried out in the subjects of the Russian Federation.

Among the normative acts, one should study the Laws of the Krasnoyarsk Territory: "On the powers of the bodies state power and local self-government bodies of the Krasnoyarsk Territory in the field of use, protection, protection of the forest fund and reforestation" dated July 12, 2000 No. 11-858; "On Local Self-Government in the Krasnoyarsk Territory" dated January 10, 1996 No. 8-209; "On Expertise materials for licensing the use of subsoil on the territory of the Krasnoyarsk Territory" dated December 23, 1994 No. 4-79; "Agreement on the delimitation of jurisdiction and powers between the Russian Federation, the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenetsky) and Evenk Autonomous Okrugs" dated November 11, 1997; " On approval of the agreement on the basics of relations between state authorities of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Evenk Autonomous Okrug "dated June 24, 1997 No. 14-500; "Charter of the city of Krasnoyarsk" - Law of the city of Krasnoyarsk dated December 24, 1997 No. B-62; "On specially protected natural areas in the Krasnoyarsk Territory" dated September 28, 1995 No. 7-174; "On natural healing resources and health-improving areas of the Krasnoyarsk Territory" dated September 28, 1995 No. 7-1 75 etc.

Departmental regulatory legal acts occupy a prominent place in the legal regulation of the sphere of nature management and environmental protection. Since 1992 introduced state registration normative acts of ministries, committees and departments affecting the rights and legitimate interests of citizens or of an interdepartmental nature, which should become an important measure in regulating departmental rule-making. A particularly important role in the departmental regulation of environmental legal relations belongs to the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia, as a body specially authorized to regulate relations in this area.

The activities of judicial and arbitration bodies play a very significant role in the legal regulation of environmental legal relations. Especially importance have decisions of the highest judicial and arbitration bodies, which contain generalized judicial and arbitration practice and guidelines on the application of the current legislation. Such, for example, is the Decree of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation of October 21, 1993 No. 22 "On some issues of application of the Law of the RSFSR "On the Protection of the Environment"", which states that when resolving disputes related to the application of this Law, it must be borne in mind that the establishment of differentiated rates of payment for environmental pollution in accordance with subparagraph "a" of paragraph 4 of the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of August 28, 1992 No. 632 "On Approval of the Procedure for Determining Payments and Its Limits for Environmental Pollution, Waste Disposal, Other Harmful Effects" is referred to the competence of executive authorities in the composition of territories, regions, etc., however, these authorities have not been granted the right to introduce additional payments for the use of natural resources, environmental pollution, waste disposal, other types of harmful effects not provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation.

Standards (GOSTs, OSTs) play a certain role in improving law enforcement activities. These include:

GOST 17.5.1781 - 78. Nature protection. Land reclamation;

GOST 17.2.1.04 - 77. Nature protection. atmospheric air. Standards, as such, do not establish rights and obligations for subjects, do not provide for the rights to use and protect natural resources, but provide a "decoding" of the content of regulatory legal acts, warning against possible errors in law enforcement practice.

The guiding resolutions of the Plenums of the Supreme and Supreme Arbitration Courts, standards are not sources of law, but play an important role in the legal regulation of environmental and legal relations, playing a supporting role.

International acts in the field of nature management and nature protection have the following features:

The generally recognized principles and norms of international law and international treaties of the Russian Federation, ratified by Russia, are an integral part of its legal system;

If an international treaty of the Russian Federation establishes other rules than those provided for by law, then the rules of the international treaty (part 4 of article 15 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation) are applied.

The international acts regulating environmental legal relations include the following:

1. Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, Principally as Habitats for Waterfowl (Ramsar, Iran, 1971);

2. Treaty on the Prohibition of the Deployment of Nuclear Weapons of Mass Destruction at the Bottom of the Seas and Oceans and in Its Subsoil (1971);

3. Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Materials (London Dumping Convention) (London, 1972);

4. Agreement on the protection of polar bears (Oslo, 1973) and others.

Test questions/

1. What is the subject of environmental law?

2. The method of legal regulation in environmental law.

3. On what principles is nature protection activity based in the Russian Federation?

4. Basic legal acts in natural resource law.

5. Main sources of law in environmental law.

6. What is the classification of sources of law in environmental law?

7. Name the general legal and special principles of environmental law.

8. What is the method of greening in environmental law?

9. What is the essence of the principle “Priority of the interests of the peoples living in the respective territory and protection of the rights of the individual”?

10. What is the content of the principle of targeted use of natural resources?

11. What is the essence of the principle of an integrated approach to the use of nature?

12. What is the content of the principle "Priority of the use of subsoil for the extraction of minerals", its social significance?

13. General characteristics of the federal law "On Environmental Protection", its social significance.

14. Describe the sources of law to ensure environmental safety in Russia.

15. What is the role of local legislation in regulating environmental legal relations?

Bibliography

Regulations:

1. The Constitution of the Russian Federation, adopted by popular vote on December 12, 1993. - M .: Jurid. lit., 1998.

2. Law of the RSFSR “On the Protection of the Environment” of December 19, 1991, as amended. dated June 2, 1993 // Gazette of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation and the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation. 1992. No. 10. Art. 457; Art. 459;1993. No. 29 Art. 1111.

3. Federal Law “On Environmental Protection” of January 10, 2002 No. 7-FZ//Parliamentary newspaper. Jan 12, 2002

3. On natural healing resources, health-improving areas and resorts: Federal Law of 23.02.95. No. 26-FZ // SZRF. 1995. No. 9. Art. 713.

4. On specially protected natural areas: Federal Law of 14.03.95. No. 33-FZ // SZRF. 1995. No. 12. Art. 1024.

5. Land Code of the RSFSR of 25.04.91. // VSND RSFSR 1991. No. 22. Art. 768; 1993. No. 52. Art. 5085.

6. Law of the Russian Federation “On the Protection of Atmospheric Air”: Adopted Supreme Council 2.04.99. // SZ RF. 1999., No. 18. Art. 2222.

7. On subsoil: Law of the Russian Federation dated 21.02.92. No. 2395-1 (as amended by the Federal Law. 03.03.95. No. 27-FZ) // SZRF. 1995. No. 10. Art. 823.

8. About the animal world: Federal Law of 24.04.95. No. 52-FZ // SZRF. 1995. No. 17. Art. 1462.

9. Water Code of the Russian Federation dated 11/16/95. No. 167-FZ // SZRF. 1995. No. 47. Art. 4471.

10. Forest Code of the Russian Federation dated 29.01.97. No. 22-FZ // SZRF. 1997. No. 5. Art. 610.

11. On the continental shelf of the Russian Federation: Federal Law of 30.11.95. No. 187-FZ // SZRF. 1995. No. 49. Art. 4694.

12. On security: Law of the Russian Federation dated 05.03.92 No. 2446-1. From the last rev. and additional // VSND. 1992. No. 15. Art. 769; 1993. No. 2. Art. 77; SAPP. 1993, No. 52. Art. 5086.

13. On fire safety: Federal Law of 21.12.94. No. 69-FZ. From the last rev. and add.// SZRF. 1994. No. 35. Art. 3649; 1995. No. 35. Art. 3503; 1996. No. 17. Art. 1911; 1998. No. 4. Art. 430.

14. On the use of atomic energy: Federal Law of 21.1.95. No. 170-FZ. From the last rev. and additional // SZRF. 1995. No. 48. Art. 4552; 1997. No. 7. Art. 808.

15. On radiation safety of the population: Federal Law of 09.01.96. No. 3-FZ // SZRF. 1996. No. 3. Art. 141.

16. On the safe handling of pesticides and agrochemicals: Federal Law of 19.07.97. No. 109-FZ // SZRF. 1997. No. 29. Art. 3510.

17. On industrial safety of hazardous production facilities: Federal Law of 21.07.97. No. 116-FZ // SZRF. 1997. No. 30. Art. 3588.

19. On the safety of hydraulic structures: Federal Law of 21.07.97. No. 117-FZ // SZRF. 1997. No. 30. Art. 3589.

21. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation of 01.01.97. - M.: Law and Law, UNITI, 1997.

22. On the structure of federal executive bodies: Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of 17.05.2000. // SZRF. No. 21. 2000. Art. 2168.

23. On federal natural resources: Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of 12/16/93. No. 2144. // SAPP.1993. No. 51. St. 4932.

24. On the general principles of the organization of local self-government in the Russian Federation: Federal Law of 28.08.95. No. 154-FZ. From the last rev. and additional // SZRF. 1995. No. 35. Art. 3506; 1996. No. 49. Art. 5500; 1997. No. 12. Art. 1378.

25. On the protection of natural resources of territorial waters, the continental shelf and the economic zone of the Russian Federation: Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of 05.05.92. No. 436 // VSND. 1992. No. 19. Art. 1048.

26. Regulations on the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation: Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of September 25, 2000 // Rossiyskaya Gazeta. -2000. -5 Oct.

27. Regulations on the Federal Land Cadastre Service of Russia: Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of January 11, 2001 No. 22 // Russian newspaper. - 2001. - January 24.

28. On the state strategy of the Russian Federation for environmental protection and sustainable development: Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of 04.02.94. No. 236. // SAPP. 1994. No. 6. Art. 436.

29. On the concept of the transition of the Russian Federation to sustainable development: Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of 01.04.96. No. 440. // SZRF. 1996. No. 15. St. 1572.

Special literature

1. Brinchuk M.M. Environmental law (environmental law): Textbook for universities. - M.: Lawyer, 1998. - 688 p.

2. Erofeev B.M. Environmental Law: A Textbook for High Schools. - M.: New Lawyer, 1998. - 668 p.

3. Krassov O.I. Environmental Law: Textbook. - M.: Delo, 2001. - 768s.

4. Petrov V.V. Environmental Law: A Textbook for High Schools. - M.: BEK, 1995. - 557 p.

The principles of environmental legislation enshrined in Article 3 of the Federal Law “On Environmental Protection” are its main principles, guiding ideas and provisions that determine the general direction and specific content of legal regulation in this area. Principles extend their action to a wider area of ​​public life than legal norms. As a rule, one principle is reflected and embodied in a number of separate norms. In combination with the sphere of life, methods, sources and legal regimes, the principles inherent in a particular branch of law create special treatment legal regulation, which is the most complex characteristic this industry. The principles of the branch of law most clearly express its specificity: it is quite enough to get acquainted with these principles in order, without knowing anything else about this branch, to form an adequate idea of ​​its system, social purpose, goals and objectives, and means of their solution.

The principles of legislation serve as a guideline for the law-making and law enforcement activities of state authorities and local self-government. Compliance with the principles of legislation ensures the normal and uniform development and functioning of the entire Russian legal system as a whole. The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation in their decisions often recall the need to use the principles of law, since the latter can be a source of law if gaps are found in it.

The first principle in Article 3 is the observance of the human right to a favorable environment. This principle is by no means accidentally put in the first place in the law. In accordance with Art. 2 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, "a person, his rights and freedoms are the highest value." Consequently, in the context of environmental legislation, it is the right to a favorable environment that has the highest value.

The Law (Article 1) defines a favorable environment as "the environment, the quality of which ensures the sustainable functioning of natural ecological systems, natural and natural-anthropogenic objects." Thus, the right to a favorable environment has a rather broad content: it is not limited to a person's right to environmental well-being in the places where his daily life takes place. Everyone has the right to demand the observance of ecological balance not only in the area of ​​their immediate residence, but also in other, even distant points of the planet. The right to a favorable environment as a subjective legal right is provided by judicial protection. Violations of this principle may be challenged in a judicial or administrative manner.

Ensuring favorable conditions for human life. This principle differs in content from the previous one. It involves the creation of the most comfortable living environment for each person, not only in the ecological sense, but also in all other respects. Compliance with this principle means that the commission of any action should be evaluated in terms of how this action affects the life of other people. The behavior of one or another subject - an individual, social group, social organization, including the state - one way or another is reflected in others. From this point of view, those acts that interfere with the existence and activities of other social actors are socially unjustified. Let's pay attention: in the legislative wording, we are talking about the life of a person, and not society. Thus, the interests of an individual are taken as a criterion, which are always more concrete and tangible than the interests of society. In addition, we mean all conditions of life, including social, economic, cultural, etc.

A scientifically based combination of environmental, economic and social interests of a person, society and the state in order to ensure sustainable development and a favorable environment. Here, for the first time, the principle of sustainable development is enshrined at the legislative level. The idea of ​​sustainable development is often given a purely ecological content, which is not entirely correct. In fact, sustainable development and a favorable environment are far from the same thing, which is also reflected in the text of this principle. Sustainable development as a certain social ideal has a pronounced systemic, integrative character. At the same time, the environmental component comes to the fore because it was in the concept of sustainable development that for the first time due attention was paid to the problem of human interaction with nature.

Sustainable development presupposes harmonious, synchronous and coordinated progress in all areas of social life. None of the directions of development should go to the detriment of other directions. For a long time, this truth was obviously insufficiently realized, as a result of which a sharp disharmony of individual spheres of social development ensued, when technical progress broke far ahead, overtaking cultural and social dynamics and completely ignoring natural factors.

Sustainable development does not mean at all that it is now necessary to devote all efforts to protecting the environment, sacrificing all technical and economic achievements for this. On the contrary, it is necessary to look for such ways of further development of society, in which it would be possible to achieve equal success in all these areas, moreover, so that they support and mutually stimulate each other. Therefore, the law speaks of the optimal combination of environmental, economic and social interests, as well as the interests of the individual, society and the state (in this case, the interests of the individual, as mentioned above, are primary). The difficulty of realizing this social ideal is obvious, as well as the fact that this goal can be achieved only by scientific means.

Protection, reproduction and rational use of natural resources as the necessary conditions ensuring a favorable environment and environmental safety. Natural resources, according to Art. 1 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Protection" - these are such components of the natural environment, natural and natural-anthropogenic objects that are used or can be used in the implementation of economic or other activities as energy sources, production products and consumer goods and have customer value. The concept of natural resources, therefore, contains an assessment of natural phenomena from the point of view of their exploitation by man.

The protection of natural resources is the activity of protecting them from negative impacts, preventing such impacts and eliminating their consequences. Reproduction - activities to replenish lost, expended resources. The rational use of natural resources is their consumption, which does not exceed the limits of what is necessary, does not lead to irreversible depletion of resources, and leaves an opportunity for their restoration and enhancement.

All this is a condition for achieving environmental safety, which is a state of protection of the natural environment and vital human interests from the possible negative impact of economic and other activities, natural and man-made emergencies, and their consequences. In the legislative definition of environmental security, the tendencies that have already been mentioned above are manifested: the first of them is that the interest of the individual, and not the social community, is put at the forefront. The second trend is to give environmental categories a broader meaning than usual; in this case, for example, environmental safety actually refers to the protection of any vital human interests from any negative consequences of any type of activity.

Responsibility of state authorities of the Russian Federation, state authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local governments for ensuring a favorable environment and environmental safety in the respective territories. Here we are talking not so much about the legal responsibility for the offense, but about the social responsibility of the authorities to society. There is a distribution of powers between different levels of environmental protection authorities. Each of these levels is responsible for the proper exercise of its powers.

Thus, responsibility is distributed according to the subjects of jurisdiction, as well as on a territorial scale ("in the respective territories"): local governments are responsible for the state of the environment on the territory of the municipality, regional authorities - at the level of the subject of the federation, federal authorities - on the territory of the entire countries. Thus, a triple system of environmental authorities should operate on any separate section of the Russian territory. But for this it is necessary that all three levels of government exercise their powers in a mode of mutual support and cooperation. Instead, in practice, their relationship is observed high degree conflicts and the desire to shift the implementation of environmental functions on each other.

Payment for nature use and compensation for environmental damage. Nature management is any economic and other activity related to the use of natural resources or influencing the state of the environment. In the future, the law mainly talks about paying for the negative impact on the environment. Thus, the negative impact on the environment is not completely prohibited, which would be unrealistic - it is allowed, but within strictly defined boundaries and on a reimbursable basis. The payment of this fee does not exempt the subjects from carrying out environmental protection measures and from compensation for damage to the environment. Compensation for damage caused to the environment is regulated in articles 77-78 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Protection".

Independence of control in the field of environmental protection. Environmental control in the legislation is understood as a system of measures aimed at preventing, detecting and suppressing violations of legislation in the field of environmental protection, ensuring compliance by business entities and other activities regulatory requirements in the field of environmental protection.

Thus, control activity in its content is of a law enforcement nature; the emphasis is on the control over the implementation of legal acts. With regard to the principle of independence of control, we are talking primarily about the fact that the controlling entities should be independent of the controlled, not be subordinate to them and not be subjected to pressure from them.

Presumption of environmental hazard of planned economic and other activities. There is a presumption special reception legal technique, when something is considered legally recognized until the opposite is proved. In this case, it means that any economic activity should be considered as a potential threat to the environment until there is confidence in the opposite. But here, too, the scope of the principle is unjustifiably expanded due to the fact that the environmental danger is declared not only for economic, but also for "other" activities. In fact, there are a huge number of activities that initially cannot cause damage to the environment (for example, conducting sociological surveys, lecturing, writing literary works, etc.). Naturally, there can be no question of the presumption of environmental danger of such activities. Therefore, this principle needs a restrictive interpretation.

Mandatory environmental impact assessment (EIA) when making decisions on the implementation of economic and other activities. EIA is an activity to identify, analyze and take into account direct, indirect and other consequences of the impact on the environment of a planned economic and other activity in order to make a decision on the possibility or impossibility of its implementation. However, a literal interpretation of this principle also leads to the conclusion that an environmental impact assessment should precede the start of any human activity, which is neither practical nor feasible. This, apparently, should only be about such activities that, at least theoretically, can have any impact on the environment.

Mandatory verification of projects and other documentation substantiating economic and other activities that may have a negative impact on the environment, pose a threat to the life, health and property of citizens, for compliance with the requirements of technical regulations in the field of environmental protection. In 2006, this principle replaced the principle of mandatory state environmental review of project documentation justifying economic and other activities. Since January 1, 2007, design documentation for capital construction projects has been the subject of a comprehensive state expertise carried out in accordance with the legislation on urban planning. Article 3 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Protection" indicates cases of mandatory verification of projects and other documentation - when the projected activity may have a negative impact on the environment, as well as harm the life, health or property of citizens. At present, this principle cannot yet be implemented, because all technical regulations in the field of environmental protection have not yet been developed and adopted.

Accounting for the natural and socio-economic characteristics of territories in the planning and implementation of economic and other activities. We are talking about the fact that each part of the Russian territory is unique in its own way and in some way differs from others. Differences may lie in the nature of the area, the level of its population, climatic conditions, soil fertility, the state of the environment, the presence of certain natural objects, the composition of flora and fauna, etc. Economic and other activities subject to environmental and legal assessment should not ignore the specifics of the territories where it is planned to be carried out. Environmental legislation obliges the organization of economic activity to take into account not only its own interests, but also the interests of the natural and social environment where this activity is carried out.

Priority of conservation of natural ecological systems, natural landscapes and natural complexes. According to Article 1 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Protection", a natural ecological system is an objectively existing part of the natural environment, which has spatial and territorial boundaries and in which living (plants, animals and other organisms) and its inanimate elements interact as a single functional whole and interconnected by exchange of matter and energy.

A natural complex is a complex of functionally and naturally interconnected natural objects, united by geographical and other relevant features.

Natural landscape - a territory that has not been changed as a result of economic and other activities and is characterized by a combination of certain types of terrain, soils, vegetation, formed in uniform climatic conditions.

As can be seen from the above definitions, the general hallmarks natural ecological systems, natural landscapes and natural complexes are their natural character and consistency. They are formed and function in nature objectively, regardless of the will of man, and at the same time they represent a special inseparable connection of natural phenomena, from which not a single component can be removed. Hence the special importance of caring for ecosystems, natural landscapes and complexes: sometimes one awkward intervention is enough to disrupt the complex interaction of elements and initiate an irreversible process with the most severe environmental consequences. Therefore, the priority of preserving natural ecosystems, natural landscapes and natural complexes has been legally established, which means the need to maintain their functioning in a mode as close to natural as possible, and a ban on actions that could adversely affect their condition.

The admissibility of the impact of economic and other activities on the natural environment based on the requirements in the field of environmental protection. This is a general rule according to which any human activity associated with environmental impact. Such an impact is inevitable, because social life humanity is inseparable from the natural environment; just as inevitable is the impact of nature on the activities of society. Society is not able to completely protect nature from its influence, but it can reasonably limit this influence, which is dictated at least by the interests of self-preservation - after all, the back reaction of nature will not be long in coming.

Thus, the impact on the environment is legally permitted, but only within certain limits, which are established by regulations and other generally binding environmental requirements.

Ensuring the reduction of the negative impact of economic and other activities in accordance with the standards in the field of environmental protection, which can be achieved through the use of the best available technologies, taking into account economic and social factors. This principle requires not only to comply with the existing standards in the field of environmental protection, but also something more - to constantly strive to reduce the negative anthropogenic impact on the environment. In other words, if there is an opportunity to improve an activity in the direction of reducing its impact on the environment, this opportunity should be used.

Under "best existing technology" in Art. 1 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Protection" refers to a technology based on the latest achievements of science and technology, aimed at reducing the impact on the environment and having a specified period of practical application, taking into account economic and social factors. The reference to socio-economic factors means that the best available technology must be optimal not only from the point of view of ecology, but also in terms of its economic feasibility and practical feasibility, otherwise such technology simply cannot be implemented and will not show its useful qualities.

Mandatory participation in environmental protection activities of state authorities of the Russian Federation, constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local governments, public and other non-profit organizations, legal entities and individuals. The legislative formulation of this principle is extremely unfortunate.

Firstly, all possible subjects of legal relations are listed, which raises the question: in whose activities for the protection of the environment should they participate? Apparently, in each other's activities.

Secondly, for whom is this participation obligatory? As far as is known, there are no legal mechanisms for the forced involvement of individuals or public organizations in environmental activities.

Apparently, in this principle we are talking about the need to unite the efforts of all subjects of public life in order to jointly solve environmental problems. However, the imperfection of legislative expression deprives this principle of legal certainty and makes its successful operation problematic.

Conservation of biological diversity. We must not forget that life on Earth is represented by an almost infinite variety of forms and carriers. The greatest mistake of a person is to attribute independent value only to himself from all these carriers. Any biological species for nature has the same unconditional significance as humanity. However, it is on man that there is an increased responsibility for the fate of all other biological species, since none of the living beings is capable of such a destructive effect on nature as man. None of the living beings can independently protect themselves from this impact. Therefore, it is necessary to protect other biological species from degradation and extinction, create decent living conditions for them, and take measures to support rare and endangered species.

Ensuring an integrated and individual approach to the establishment of requirements in the field of environmental protection for economic and other entities that carry out such activities or plan to carry out such activities. This principle reflects a certain variability of environmental and legal regulation. Of course, there should be strict and uniform rules for nature management and environmental protection, but a differentiated approach to individual situations is also necessary. In each specific case, when an environmental and legal qualification is required, one should not only perform General requirements in the field of environmental protection, but also take into account the features inherent in a particular territory, specific natural objects, specific types of activities, business entities, etc. There can be no absolute unification in legal assessment - it depends on an individual combination of environmentally and legally significant factors. But in any case, a differentiated approach should correspond to an integrated one, developing and concretizing, but not replacing it.

Prohibition of economic and other activities, the consequences of which are unpredictable for the environment, as well as the implementation of projects that can lead to the degradation of natural ecological systems, change and (or) destruction of the genetic fund of plants, animals and other organisms, depletion of natural resources and other negative changes environment. This provision sets out a general rule on what kind of actions in relation to the environment are legally unacceptable. Unfortunately, this time too the flaws in the legislative technique hinder the effective operation of the legal principle. First of all, any activity, the results of which are unpredictable for the environment, has been declared prohibited. But unpredictability is largely a subjective concept: as you know, there can be no absolutely accurate forecast, all the more it is impossible to assess its reliability before the predicted event occurs.

On the other hand, there is no activity in relation to which the forecast would be impossible at all. Therefore, everything is to some extent predictable and to some extent unpredictable. Several types of consequences are more or less clearly indicated, the possibility of the occurrence of which the legislator considers the basis for a ban on the relevant activity. This is a gross violation of the system and integrity of the functioning of natural objects, a significant deterioration in their condition, a serious quantitative decrease. However, "other negative changes in the environment" are added to this. It turns out that any negative impact on the environment is completely prohibited. This prohibition is not only impracticable, but also contradicts other principles of environmental law, in particular, the principle of paid nature use (negative impact on the environment is prohibited, and at the same time, in accordance with Article 16 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Protection" is paid) .

Observance of the right of citizens to receive reliable information about the state of the environment, as well as the participation of citizens in decision-making regarding their rights to a favorable environment, in accordance with the law. The right to reliable information about the environment is specifically enshrined in Article 42 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. In addition, in accordance with Part 2 of Article 24 of the Constitution of Russia, state authorities and local self-government bodies, their officials are obliged to provide everyone with the opportunity to familiarize themselves with documents and materials that directly affect their rights and freedoms, unless otherwise provided by law. This serves as a sufficient legal basis for any citizen to request and receive from the authorities their data on the state of the environment, since this information most directly affects one of the constitutional human rights - the right to a favorable environment. An exception is information constituting a state secret. However, the very practice of mass classification of materials on the state of the environment should be recognized as a violation of constitutional human rights and the principles of environmental law.

In addition to receiving information, citizens also have the right to participate in decision-making regarding their rights to a healthy environment. The legal possibilities for such participation are quite diverse - these are elections to state and municipal bodies, initiation of a referendum and participation in it, gatherings and meetings of citizens, the right to appeal to authorities with complaints, comments and suggestions, conducting a public environmental review, etc.

Responsibility for violation of environmental protection legislation. In accordance with the general legal principle of the inevitability of legal liability, a legal sanction (coercive measure) must be applied in all cases when it is established as a mandatory consequence of an offense. Environmental law is no exception. At the same time, responsibility for environmental offenses is provided not only by environmental legislation: it is also regulated by the norms of civil, administrative and criminal law. Each of the types of legal liability has its own goals, its own scope, its own offenses, its own grounds for application and types of sanctions imposed.

Organization and development of the system of environmental education, education and formation of environmental culture. Environmental education is an activity aimed at shaping the population's knowledge, skills and value orientations in the field of environmental protection. This activity is carried out both through the existing system of educational institutions, the curricula of which include disciplines of an environmental orientation, and in the form of educational events - seminars, open actions, publications in the media of materials of environmental content, production and distribution of popular literature on ecology, promotion of environmental knowledge and values ​​in works of art and in many other ways. The result of effective environmental education and upbringing should be the formation of an ecological culture - a certain high level of knowledge and attitude towards the environment, meaningful experience of interaction with the environment, ensuring environmental well-being and sustainable development.

In essence, this principle is not and cannot be of a legally imperative nature, but represents only a certain wish of the state, a certain program of action, a "declaration of intent." It is disclosed in more detail in Chapter XIII of the Federal Law "On Environmental Protection", which is called "Fundamentals of the Formation of Ecological Culture".

Participation of citizens, public and other non-profit associations in solving problems of environmental protection. In fact, this is the third principle that consolidates the same thing - the possibility of citizens' participation in environmental activities (previously it was formulated as "the obligation to participate in environmental protection activities of state authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local governments, public and other non-profit organizations , legal entities and individuals", as well as "the participation of citizens in decision-making regarding their rights to a healthy environment".

As for public and other non-profit associations, Article 12 of the Federal Law “On Environmental Protection” is devoted to their environmental protection activities. Among the most important forms of such activities are the development, promotion and implementation of environmental programs, the organization of the protection of citizens' rights, the involvement of citizens in environmental activities, the organization of meetings, rallies, demonstrations, marches and other public events, the organization of public environmental expertise, the holding of public hearings on environmentally significant projects, etc.

International cooperation in the field of environmental protection. Such cooperation is carried out in the form of the implementation of joint projects aimed at protecting specific territories and other natural objects; in the form of financial support for certain environmental measures from abroad; in the form of joint environmental research and exchange of results of scientific research in the field of environmental protection methods, etc. the most important legal form international cooperation is the conclusion of bilateral and multilateral international treaties in the field of environmental protection, as well as Russia's participation in the activities of international environmental organizations. In Art. 82 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Protection" contains a rule based on Part 4 of Art. 15 of the Constitution of Russia, which recognizes the priority of Russia's international obligations over its internal regulations. According to Part 2 of Article 82 of the Federal Law “On Environmental Protection”, if an international agreement provides otherwise than Russian environmental legislation, then the norms of the international agreement are applied. At the same time, part 1 of the same article of the Federal Law “On Environmental Protection” provides for two forms of operation of international treaties in the field of environmental protection: if such an agreement does not require the adoption of special regulations, then its provisions are applied directly, otherwise, in addition to the agreement, the relevant legal act that develops its provisions and applies along with it.

Article 3. Basic principles of environmental protection

1. The principles of environmental legislation enshrined in the commented article are its main principles, guiding ideas and provisions that determine the general direction and specific content of legal regulation in this area. Principles extend their action to a wider area of ​​public life than legal norms. As a rule, one principle is reflected and embodied in a number of separate norms. In combination with the sphere of life, methods, sources and legal regimes, the principles inherent in a particular branch of law create a special regime of legal regulation, which is the most comprehensive characteristic of this branch. The principles of the branch of law most clearly express its specificity: it is quite enough to get acquainted with these principles in order, without knowing anything else about this branch, to form an adequate idea of ​​its system, social purpose, goals and objectives, and means of their solution.

The principles of legislation serve as a guideline for the law-making and law enforcement activities of state authorities and local self-government. Compliance with the principles of legislation ensures the normal and uniform development and functioning of the entire Russian legal system as a whole. The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation in their decisions often recall the need to use the principles of law, since the latter can be a source of law if gaps are found in it.

The first in the commented article is the principle of observance of the human right to a favorable environment. This principle is by no means accidentally put in the first place in the law. In accordance with Art. 2 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, "a person, his rights and freedoms are the highest value." Consequently, in the context of environmental legislation, it is the right to a favorable environment that has the highest value.

The Law (Article 1) defines a favorable environment as "the environment, the quality of which ensures the sustainable functioning of natural ecological systems, natural and natural-anthropogenic objects." Thus, the right to a favorable environment has a rather broad content: it is not limited to a person's right to environmental well-being in the places where his daily life takes place. Everyone has the right to demand the observance of ecological balance not only in the area of ​​their immediate residence, but also in other, even distant points of the planet. The right to a favorable environment as a subjective legal right is provided by judicial protection. Violations of this principle may be challenged in a judicial or administrative manner.

2. Ensuring favorable conditions for human life. This principle differs in content from the previous one. It involves the creation of the most comfortable living environment for each person, not only in the ecological sense, but also in all other respects. Compliance with this principle means that the commission of any action should be evaluated in terms of how this action affects the life of other people. The behavior of a particular subject - an individual, a social group, a social organization, including the state - in one way or another is reflected in others. From this point of view, those acts that interfere with the existence and activities of other social actors are socially unjustified. Let's pay attention: in the legislative wording, we are talking about the life of a person, and not society. Thus, the interests of an individual are taken as a criterion, which are always more concrete and tangible than the interests of society. In addition, we mean all conditions of life, including social, economic, cultural, etc.

3. Scientifically substantiated combination of environmental, economic and social interests of a person, society and the state in order to ensure sustainable development and a favorable environment. Here, for the first time, the principle of sustainable development is enshrined at the legislative level. The idea of ​​sustainable development is often given a purely ecological content, which is not entirely correct. In fact, sustainable development and a favorable environment are far from the same thing, which is also reflected in the text of this principle. Sustainable development as a certain social ideal has a pronounced systemic, integrative character. At the same time, the environmental component comes to the fore because it was in the concept of sustainable development that for the first time due attention was paid to the problem of human interaction with nature.

Sustainable development presupposes harmonious, synchronous and coordinated progress in all areas of social life. None of the directions of development should go to the detriment of other directions. For a long time, this truth was obviously insufficiently realized, as a result of which a sharp disharmony of individual spheres of social development ensued, when technical progress broke far ahead, overtaking cultural and social dynamics and completely ignoring natural factors.

Sustainable development does not mean at all that it is now necessary to devote all efforts to protecting the environment, sacrificing all technical and economic achievements for this. On the contrary, it is necessary to look for such ways of further development of society, in which it would be possible to achieve equal success in all these areas, moreover, so that they support and mutually stimulate each other. Therefore, the law speaks of the optimal combination of environmental, economic and social interests, as well as the interests of the individual, society and the state (in this case, the interests of the individual, as mentioned above, are primary). The difficulty of realizing this social ideal is obvious, as well as the fact that this goal can be achieved only by scientific means.

4. Protection, reproduction and rational use of natural resources as necessary conditions for ensuring a favorable environment and ecological safety. Natural resources, according to Art. 1 of the commented law are such components of the natural environment, natural and natural-anthropogenic objects that are used or can be used in the implementation of economic or other activities as sources of energy, products of production and consumer goods and have consumer value. The concept of natural resources, therefore, contains an assessment of natural phenomena from the point of view of their exploitation by man. The protection of natural resources is the activity of protecting them from negative impacts, preventing such impacts and eliminating their consequences. Reproduction - activities to replenish lost, expended resources. The rational use of natural resources is their consumption, which does not exceed the limits of what is necessary, does not lead to irreversible depletion of resources, and leaves an opportunity for their restoration and enhancement.

All this is a condition for achieving environmental safety, which is a state of protection of the natural environment and vital human interests from the possible negative impact of economic and other activities, natural and man-made emergencies, and their consequences. In the legislative definition of environmental security, the tendencies that have already been mentioned above are manifested: the first of them is that the interest of the individual, and not the social community, is put at the forefront. The second trend is to give environmental categories a broader meaning than usual; in this case, for example, environmental safety actually refers to the protection of any vital human interests from any negative consequences of any type of activity.

5. Responsibility of state authorities of the Russian Federation, state authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local governments for ensuring a favorable environment and environmental safety in the respective territories. Here we are talking not so much about the legal responsibility for the offense, but about the social responsibility of the authorities to society. There is a distribution of powers between different levels of environmental protection authorities. Each of these levels is responsible for the proper exercise of its powers. Thus, responsibility is distributed according to the subjects of jurisdiction, as well as on a territorial scale ("in the respective territories"): local governments are responsible for the state of the environment on the territory of the municipality, regional authorities - at the level of the subject of the federation, federal authorities - on the territory of the entire countries. Thus, a triple system of environmental authorities should operate on any separate section of the Russian territory. But for this it is necessary that all three levels of government exercise their powers in a mode of mutual support and cooperation. Instead, in practice, in their relations there is a high degree of conflict and a desire to shift the implementation of environmental functions to each other.

6. Payment for nature use and compensation for environmental damage. Nature management is any economic and other activity related to the use of natural resources or influencing the state of the environment. In the future, the law mainly talks about paying for the negative impact on the environment. Thus, the negative impact on the environment is not completely prohibited, which would be unrealistic - it is allowed, but within strictly defined limits and on a reimbursable basis (for more details, see the commentary on Article 16). The payment of this fee does not exempt the subjects from carrying out environmental protection measures and from compensation for damage to the environment. Compensation for damage caused to the environment is regulated in articles 77-78 of the commented law.

7. Independence of control in the field of environmental protection. Environmental control in the legislation is understood as a system of measures aimed at preventing, detecting and suppressing violations of legislation in the field of environmental protection, ensuring compliance by economic and other entities with regulatory requirements in the field of environmental protection. Thus, control activity in its content is of a law enforcement nature; the emphasis is on the control over the implementation of legal acts. With regard to the principle of independence of control, we are talking primarily about the fact that the controlling entities should be independent of the controlled, not be subordinate to them and not be subjected to pressure from them.

8. Presumption of ecological danger of the planned economic and other activities. A presumption is a special technique of legal technique, when something is considered legally recognized until the opposite is proved. In this case, it means that any economic activity should be considered as a potential threat to the environment until there is confidence in the opposite. But here, too, the scope of the principle is unjustifiably expanded due to the fact that the environmental danger is declared not only for economic, but also for "other" activities. In fact, there are a huge number of activities that initially cannot cause damage to the environment (for example, conducting sociological surveys, lecturing, writing literary works, etc.). Naturally, there can be no question of the presumption of environmental danger of such activities. Therefore, this principle needs a restrictive interpretation.

9. Mandatory environmental impact assessment (EIA) when making decisions on the implementation of economic and other activities. EIA is an activity to identify, analyze and take into account direct, indirect and other consequences of the impact on the environment of a planned economic and other activity in order to make a decision on the possibility or impossibility of its implementation. However, a literal interpretation of this principle also leads to the conclusion that an environmental impact assessment should precede the start of any human activity, which is neither practical nor feasible. This, apparently, should only be about such activities that, at least theoretically, can have any impact on the environment.

10. Mandatory verification of projects and other documentation substantiating economic and other activities that may have a negative impact on the environment, pose a threat to the life, health and property of citizens, for compliance with the requirements of technical regulations in the field of environmental protection. In 2006, this principle replaced the principle of mandatory state environmental review of project documentation justifying economic and other activities. Since January 1, 2007, design documentation for capital construction projects has been the subject of a comprehensive state expertise carried out in accordance with the legislation on urban planning. The commented article indicates cases of mandatory verification of projects and other documentation - when the projected activity may have a negative impact on the environment, as well as harm the life, health or property of citizens. At present, this principle cannot yet be implemented, because all technical regulations in the field of environmental protection have not yet been developed and adopted.

11. Accounting for the natural and socio-economic characteristics of the territories in the planning and implementation of economic and other activities. We are talking about the fact that each part of the Russian territory is unique in its own way and in some way differs from others. Differences may lie in the nature of the area, the level of its population, climatic conditions, soil fertility, the state of the environment, the presence of certain natural objects, the composition of flora and fauna, etc. Economic and other activities subject to environmental and legal assessment should not ignore the specifics of the territories where it is planned to be carried out. Environmental legislation obliges the organization of economic activity to take into account not only its own interests, but also the interests of the natural and social environment where this activity is carried out.

12. Priority of conservation of natural ecological systems, natural landscapes and natural complexes. According to article 1 of the commented law, a natural ecological system is an objectively existing part of the natural environment, which has spatial and territorial boundaries and in which living (plants, animals and other organisms) and its non-living elements interact as a single functional whole and are interconnected by metabolism and energy. A natural complex is a complex of functionally and naturally interconnected natural objects, united by geographical and other relevant features. Natural landscape - a territory that has not been changed as a result of economic and other activities and is characterized by a combination of certain types of terrain, soils, vegetation, formed in uniform climatic conditions.

As can be seen from the above legal definitions, the common distinguishing features of natural ecological systems, natural landscapes and natural complexes are their natural character and consistency. They are formed and function in nature objectively, regardless of the will of man, and at the same time they represent a special inseparable connection of natural phenomena, from which not a single component can be removed. Hence the special importance of caring for ecosystems, natural landscapes and complexes: sometimes one awkward intervention is enough to disrupt the complex interaction of elements and initiate an irreversible process with the most severe environmental consequences. Therefore, the priority of preserving natural ecosystems, natural landscapes and natural complexes has been legally established, which means the need to maintain their functioning in a mode as close to natural as possible, and a ban on actions that could adversely affect their condition.

13. The admissibility of the impact of economic and other activities on the natural environment based on the requirement in the field of environmental protection. This is a general rule in accordance with which any human activity related to the impact on the environment should be carried out. Such an impact is inevitable, because the social life of mankind is inseparable from the natural environment; just as inevitable is the impact of nature on the activities of society. Society is not able to completely protect nature from its influence, but it can reasonably limit this influence, which is dictated at least by the interests of self-preservation - after all, the back reaction of nature will not be long in coming. Thus, the impact on the environment is legally permitted, but only within certain limits, which are established by regulations and other generally binding environmental requirements.

14. Ensuring the reduction of the negative impact of economic and other activities in accordance with the standards in the field of environmental protection, which can be achieved through the use of the best available technologies, taking into account economic and social factors. This principle requires not only to comply with the existing standards in the field of environmental protection, but also something more - to constantly strive to reduce the negative anthropogenic impact on the environment. In other words, if there is an opportunity to improve an activity in the direction of reducing its impact on the environment, this opportunity should be used.

Under "best existing technology" in Art. 1 refers to a technology based on the latest achievements of science and technology, aimed at reducing environmental impact and having a specified period of practical application, taking into account economic and social factors. The reference to socio-economic factors means that the best available technology must be optimal not only from the point of view of ecology, but also in terms of its economic feasibility and practical feasibility, otherwise such technology simply cannot be implemented and will not show its useful qualities.

15. Mandatory participation in environmental protection activities of state authorities of the Russian Federation, constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local governments, public and other non-profit organizations, legal entities and individuals. The legislative formulation of this principle is extremely unfortunate. Firstly, all possible subjects of legal relations are listed, which raises the question: in whose activities for the protection of the environment should they participate? Apparently, in each other's activities. Secondly, for whom is this participation obligatory? As far as is known, there are no legal mechanisms for the forced involvement of individuals or public organizations in environmental activities.

Apparently, in this principle we are talking about the need to unite the efforts of all subjects of public life in order to jointly solve environmental problems. However, the imperfection of legislative expression deprives this principle of legal certainty and makes its successful operation problematic.

16. Conservation of biological diversity. We must not forget that life on Earth is represented by an almost infinite variety of forms and carriers. The greatest mistake of a person is to attribute independent value only to himself from all these carriers. Any biological species for nature has the same unconditional significance as humanity. However, it is on man that there is an increased responsibility for the fate of all other biological species, since none of the living beings is capable of such a destructive effect on nature as man. None of the living beings can independently protect themselves from this impact. Therefore, it is necessary to protect other biological species from degradation and extinction, create decent living conditions for them, and take measures to support rare and endangered species.

17. Ensuring integrated and individual approaches to the establishment of requirements in the field of environmental protection for economic and other entities that carry out such activities or plan to carry out such activities. This principle reflects a certain variability of environmental and legal regulation. Of course, there should be strict and uniform rules for nature management and environmental protection, but a differentiated approach to individual situations is also necessary. In each specific case, when an environmental and legal qualification is required, one should not only comply with the general requirements in the field of environmental protection, but also take into account the features inherent in a particular territory, specific natural objects, specific types of activities, business entities, etc. There can be no absolute unification in legal assessment - it depends on an individual combination of environmentally and legally significant factors. But in any case, a differentiated approach should correspond to an integrated one, developing and concretizing, but not replacing it.

18. Prohibition of economic and other activities, the consequences of which are unpredictable for the environment, as well as the implementation of projects that may lead to the degradation of natural ecological systems, change and (or) destruction of the genetic fund of plants, animals and other organisms, depletion of natural resources and other negative environmental changes. This provision sets out a general rule on what kind of actions in relation to the environment are legally unacceptable. Unfortunately, this time too the flaws in the legislative technique hinder the effective operation of the legal principle. First of all, any activity, the results of which are unpredictable for the environment, has been declared prohibited. But unpredictability is largely a subjective concept: as you know, there can be no absolutely accurate forecast, all the more it is impossible to assess its reliability before the predicted event occurs.

On the other hand, there is no activity in relation to which the forecast would be impossible at all. Therefore, everything is to some extent predictable and to some extent unpredictable. Several types of consequences are more or less clearly indicated, the possibility of the occurrence of which the legislator considers the basis for a ban on the relevant activity. This is a gross violation of the system and integrity of the functioning of natural objects, a significant deterioration in their condition, a serious quantitative decrease. However, "other negative changes in the environment" are added to this. It turns out that any negative impact on the environment is completely prohibited. This prohibition is not only impracticable, but also contradicts other principles of environmental law, in particular, the principle of paying for nature use (negative impact on the environment is prohibited, and at the same time, in accordance with Article 16 of the commented law, it is paid).

19. Respect for the right of citizens to receive reliable information about the state of the environment, as well as the participation of citizens in decision-making regarding their rights to a favorable environment, in accordance with the law. The right to reliable information about the environment is specifically enshrined in Article 42 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. In addition, in accordance with Part 2 of Article 24 of the Constitution of Russia, state authorities and local self-government bodies, their officials are obliged to provide everyone with the opportunity to familiarize themselves with documents and materials that directly affect their rights and freedoms, unless otherwise provided by law. This serves as a sufficient legal basis for any citizen to request and receive from the authorities their data on the state of the environment, since this information most directly affects one of the constitutional human rights - the right to a favorable environment. An exception is information constituting a state secret. However, the very practice of mass classification of materials on the state of the environment should be recognized as a violation of constitutional human rights and the principles of environmental law.

In addition to receiving information, citizens also have the right to participate in decision-making regarding their rights to a healthy environment. The legal possibilities for such participation are quite diverse - these are elections to state and municipal bodies, initiation of a referendum and participation in it, gatherings and meetings of citizens, the right to appeal to authorities with complaints, comments and suggestions, conducting a public environmental review, etc.

20. Responsibility for violation of the legislation on environmental protection. In accordance with the general legal principle of the inevitability of legal liability, a legal sanction (coercive measure) must be applied in all cases when it is established as a mandatory consequence of an offense. Environmental law is no exception. At the same time, responsibility for environmental offenses is provided not only by environmental legislation: it is also regulated by the norms of civil, administrative and criminal law. Each of the types of legal liability has its own goals, its own scope, its own offenses, its own grounds for application and types of sanctions imposed.

21. Organization and development of the system of environmental education, education and formation of environmental culture. Environmental education is an activity to form the population's knowledge, skills and value orientations in the field of environmental protection. This activity is carried out both through the existing system of educational institutions, the curricula of which include disciplines of an environmental orientation, and in the form of educational events - seminars, open actions, publications in the media of materials of environmental content, production and distribution of popular literature on ecology, promotion of environmental knowledge and values ​​in works of art and in many other ways. The result of effective environmental education and upbringing should be the formation of an ecological culture - a certain high level of knowledge and attitude towards the environment, meaningful experience of interaction with the environment, ensuring environmental well-being and sustainable development.

In essence, this principle is not and cannot be of a legally imperative nature, but represents only a certain wish of the state, a certain program of action, a "declaration of intent." It is disclosed in more detail in chapter XIII of the commented law, which bears the title "Foundations for the Formation of Ecological Culture".

22. Participation of citizens, public and other non-profit associations in solving problems of environmental protection. In fact, this is the third principle that consolidates the same thing - the possibility of citizens' participation in environmental activities (previously it was formulated as "the obligation to participate in environmental protection activities of state authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local governments, public and other non-profit organizations , legal entities and individuals", as well as "the participation of citizens in decision-making regarding their rights to a favorable environment". In essence, there is an unnecessary duplication of legal information, especially since the relevant rights of citizens are subsequently regulated in more detail in Article 11 of this law. .

As for public and other non-profit associations, Article 12 is devoted to their environmental protection activities. demonstrations, marches and other public events, organization of public environmental expertise, holding public hearings on environmentally significant projects, etc.

23. International cooperation in the field of environmental protection. Such cooperation is carried out in the form of the implementation of joint projects aimed at protecting specific territories and other natural objects; in the form of financial support for certain environmental measures from abroad; in the form of joint environmental research and exchange of results of scientific research in the field of environmental protection methods, etc. The most important legal form of international cooperation is the conclusion of bilateral and multilateral international agreements in the field of environmental protection, as well as Russia's participation in the activities of international environmental organizations. In Art. 82 of the commented law contains a rule based on Part 4 of Art. 15 of the Constitution of Russia, which recognizes the priority of Russia's international obligations over its internal regulations. According to part 2 of article 82 of the commented law, if an international treaty provides otherwise than Russian environmental legislation, then the norms of the international treaty are applied. At the same time, part 1 of the same article provides for two forms of operation of international treaties in the field of environmental protection: if such an agreement does not require the adoption of special regulations, then its provisions are applied directly, otherwise, in addition to the agreement, an appropriate legal act is issued that develops it provisions and apply in conjunction with it.

There is a strong relationship between overall economic growth and environmental change. In this regard, consideration of issues of social development without taking into account environmental factors and laws governing the relationship of society with nature, can lead to undesirable economic and social consequences.

State regulation of nature management, environmental protection is caused by the unfavorable environmental situation throughout Russia. 33% of emissions come from the enterprises of the metallurgical complex; 30% - for energy, 7-8% - for the chemical, coal industry, in cities more than 50% of emissions into the atmosphere come from transport (in some cities - about 70%). City treatment facilities are not working satisfactorily; more than 25% of agricultural land is subject to erosion; 15% are waterlogged; more than 20% of agricultural products contain nitrates. When mining, the following is lost: 15% of coal, 30% of iron ore; oil recovery from reservoirs does not exceed 30%

Causes environmental crises are: state monopoly and private ownership of natural resources; the dominance of the military-industrial complex; the predominance of consumer psychology of citizens and heads of enterprises and organizations; lack of economic, administrative and legal measures that would encourage users of natural resources and other economic entities to comply with environmental requirements.

Basic principles in the field of state regulation of the environment:

the priority of protecting human life and health;

· scientifically substantiated combination of ecological and economic interests of the society;

· rational use of natural resources;

Compliance with the requirements of legislation in the field of environmental protection and responsibility for environmental offenses;

· publicity in work and close connection in solving environmental problems.

The listed principles are determined by international and national legislation in the field of environmental protection, the requirements of greening the economy and are aimed at developing an economic mechanism for ensuring environmentally sustainable development.

Strategic tasks and goals of the government in the field of environmental protection:

Preservation of natural resources, natural human habitat;

Maintaining a favorable safe environment to ensure the physical, social, psychological well-being of the population;
- ensuring rational nature management;

Preservation of the genetic fund, species and landscape diversity of nature;

Maintaining the balance of the biosphere at the local, regional, global levels;

Prevention of environmentally harmful impact of economic activity.

The essence of environmental protection is to find the optimal balance between the environmental interests of society and economic interests. These interests are contradictory. Three ways out of the created contradictions can be singled out: ecological utopianism; economic extremism, i.e. when it is supposed to develop the economy without regard to the environment; a combination of economic and environmental needs, taking into account the priority of protecting human life and health.

Principles of environmental protection:

Compliance with all requirements of environmental legislation;

rational use of natural resources, taking into account the laws of nature, the potential of the natural environment;

· the priority of human life and health, ensuring environmental conditions for life, work, recreation of the population;

· international cooperation in the field of ecology and environmental protection.

12.2. The main directions of environmental protection

Objects to be protected: natural ecological systems and ozone layer atmosphere; land, subsoil, surface and ground waters, atmospheric air, forests, flora and fauna; state natural reserves, national parks, natural monuments, rare species animals, etc.

At present, there are more than 100 nature reserves in Russia, with an area of ​​more than 25 million hectares. Economic and recreational activities, berry picking, extraction of natural resources, overflight of aircraft below 2 km, travel, passage of unauthorized persons outside special roads are prohibited on the territory of the reserves.

There are more than 1,500 state natural reserves in Russia, with an area of ​​about 60 million hectares. Reserves can be landscape, geological, biological, etc. In them, you can partially pick berries, mushrooms, hunt, if this does not interfere with the main purpose of this reserve. There are about 30 national natural parks in Russia, with an area of ​​more than 5 million hectares.

The main tasks of national parks are as follows: creating conditions for ecological tourism; preservation of natural monuments of history and culture; organization of environmental education.

The competence of the government in the field of environmental protection:

Carries out the implementation of the state environmental policy;
- prepares an annual report on the state of environmental protection;

Coordinates the activities of ministries and departments;

Approves environmental standards for pollutant emissions;

Decides to terminate the activities of enterprises, regardless of the form of ownership;

Provides the population with the necessary environmental information;
- provides organization of ecological service.

The most important federal laws in this area are: the Law "On Environmental Protection"; Law "On Subsoil"; Law "On Animals"; Law "On Ecological Expertise"; Law "On Radiation Safety"; Law "On Specially Protected Natural Territories".

The main areas of environmental protection include:
- protection of atmospheric air - first of all, it is necessary to reduce the amount of emissions of harmful substances from stationary and mobile sources of pollution;

Protection of water resources - it is necessary to reduce the discharge of polluted wastewater, the intake of pollutants to the maximum permissible values;

Protection of land, soil, subsoil - it is necessary to combat water and wind erosion, reduce the use of pesticides;

Protection of flora and fauna, i.e. organization of new reserves, sanctuaries, maintenance of the Red Book;

Bringing specially protected natural areas up to international standards;

Solving interregional environmental problems in areas with an unfavorable environmental situation (Arctic, Black Sea, Kuzbass, Baikal.).

The economic mechanism of environmental protection includes: a mechanism for regulating economic relations; a system of economic incentives for nature protection and rational use of natural resources; measures of administrative and criminal punishment.

The main elements of the economic mechanism for environmental protection:

accounting and socio-economic assessment of natural resources;

· planning, development and financing of environmental protection programs;

· licenses, limits, benefits for users of natural resources;

· formation of a market for environmental services, represented by environmental information, a certification system, services for assessing and compensating damages, environmental insurance, and servicing national parks.

Tasks of the economic mechanism of environmental protection:

· organization of financing of nature protection measures;

· setting limits on the use of natural resources, emissions of pollutants and waste disposal;

Establishment of payment standards and amounts of payments for the use of resources;

Compensation for damage caused to the environment and human health;

· provision of various benefits, loans for the introduction of low-waste and non-waste, resource-saving technologies, industries.

Financing of environmental programs is carried out at the expense of:

budgets of all levels of government (federal budgets, budgets of subjects, funds of enterprises of organizations);

· means of obligatory ecological funds of all levels;

· resources of environmental insurance funds;

· voluntary contributions;

loans and other sources.

Environmental funds are created to solve urgent environmental problems and compensate for the harm caused. The main directions of spending the funds of these funds:

For the reproduction of natural resources;

On the introduction of environmentally friendly technologies;

For the construction of treatment facilities;

For the development of environmental education;

For the implementation of programs for the protection of the environment;

To prevent and eliminate the consequences of accidents (environmental insurance funds are used);

Economic stimulation of environmental protection.

Standards, norms and rules also play an important role in environmental regulation. Environmental standards are the maximum permissible norms, the observance of which is mandatory.

In a number of countries, environmental quality standards are used to protect the environment, which are the maximum levels of pollution and impacts that should not be exceeded in a given environment or its components, as well as product standards. , limiting levels of contaminants or adverse effects.

The environmental quality standards are based on three groups of indicators:

Medical, i.e. threshold levels of threat to human health;

Technological - the ability of the economy to ensure the implementation of the established limits of human impact;

Scientific and technical, i.e. the ability of scientific and technical means to monitor compliance with exposure limits for all parameters.

Elements of the economic mechanism of environmental protection:

Accounting and socio-economic assessment of natural resources;

Planning, financing programs for the protection of the environment;

Licenses, limits. payments, benefits and other regulatory mechanisms;

Ecological services market (environmental information, environmental certification, services for assessing and compensating environmental damage, environmental insurance, legal services, service in the field of specially protected natural areas and objects).

Knowledge control

3.1 Security questions

1.Economic role and functions of the state in a modern mixed economy.

2. Modern schools of economic thought on the role of the state

3. Models of state intervention in the economy.

4. Features of state regulation of the economy in Russia.

5. The system of state regulation of the economy, its participants, goals and principles.

6. Spheres and boundaries of state intervention in the economy.

7.Basic methods and tools of the GRE.

8. Objects and subjects of the GRE.

9. Forms of SRE.

10. Administrative and legislative regulation of the economy.

11. Interaction of state bodies of various levels.

12. Functions of federal, regional and local executive authorities.

13. Monopoly in the economy: essence, characteristics.

14. The role of the state in the formation of an effective market environment.

15. Antimonopoly legislation and antimonopoly policy of the state.

16. Demonopolization in Russia: main aspects and directions.

17. State support for small business.

18. State budget and public debt.

19. Internal and external public debt.

20. The problem of balancing the state budget.

21. Taxes as an economic base and an instrument of financial policy.

22.Fiscal policy of the state and its role in the state regulation of economic processes.

23. The role of public procurement for the development of a market economy.

24. Methods of public procurement, the conditions for their choice.

25. Russian legal framework for competitive procurement of products for state needs.

26. The essence of public investment, their structure and significance.

27. Conditions for the implementation of investment activities, forms and methods of its state regulation.

28. Guarantees of the rights of subjects of investment activity.

29. Features of the legal regulation of foreign investment.

30. Monetary policy as a component of the GRE.

31. The mechanism of state regulation of monetary relations.

32. Types and importance of monetary methods of regulation.

33. The need and ways to improve the monetary policy of Russia.

34. Essence, structure and importance of the public sector in the economy.

35. Economic efficiency of the public sector.

36. Place and role of state property in reforming the economy.

37. Denationalization of property: economic content and Thomas.

38. Privatization: concept, social entity, reasons for holding, legal basis.

39. Forms and methods of privatization of state and municipal enterprises.

40. The impact of privatization on the efficiency of the economy.

41. Management of state property.

42. Essence and main directions social policy states.

42. Social insurance system: characteristics, structure, organizational, legal and financial bases.

43. State regulation of employment.

44. State support for the education and healthcare system.

45. Main goals and priorities of social reforms in Russia.

46. ​​Essence, content, principles of foreign economic policy of the state.

47. Protection national interests in the system of world economic relations.

48. The place of the region in the national economy.

49. Objective foundations and content of regional economic policy.

50. Economic contradictions and relationships between the center and the region.

52. The system of state regulation of nature management and environmental protection in Russia.