Subject and methods of legal regulation of environmental law. The subject and tasks of ecology The subject of environmental law public relations in the field
Ecology in the system of sciences
Currently, ecology is a branched system of sciences, the subject of which is to study the diversity and structure of relationships between organisms, their communities and habitats, as well as the composition and functioning of communities of organisms: populations, biogeocenoses and the biosphere as a whole.
For a better understanding of the subject and tasks of ecology, according to the American ecologist Y. Odum, it is very important to consider the relationship of this science to other branches of biology.
Today, in the era of specialization of human activity, the connections between various scientific disciplines are disappearing from our field of vision due to the huge flow of information within the boundaries of each discipline. However, ecology as a science was more fortunate, the interest in which, especially in recent decades, opened to it the so-called boundaries to related scientific disciplines, and to them, in turn, the boundaries of ecology.
To determine the subject of ecology, the primary task is to determine its position in the system of biological sciences. To do this, the structure of ecology can be represented as Odum's "layer cake":
If we imagine this "pie" as a conglomerate of biological sciences and cut it horizontally, then we can single out fundamental sciences that study the main ones - fundamental properties life. These include molecular biology, embryology, genetics, ecology, etc. The vertical section displays taxonomic sections: bacteriology, ornithology, etc.
The subject of ecology
It is known that communities, populations, organisms, organs, tissues, cells, organelles and genes are the main levels of life organization. Their placement is presented in a hierarchical order - from large systems to small ones. Interaction with the physical environment at each level ensures the existence of certain functional systems - ordered interacting and interconnected components that form a single whole.
Thus, the subject of study of ecology is mainly represented by systems hierarchically located above the level of organisms - communities and populations.
Tasks of ecology
One of the central places in ecology is occupied by the problem of the dynamics and number of populations and the mechanisms of their regulation. Based on this, the following tasks of ecology are distinguished:
- study of the features of the organization of life, including with anthropogenic, which is the result of human activity, the impact on natural systems;
- study of the structure and functioning of communities of organisms;
- creation of a scientific basis for the rational exploitation of bioresources;
- predicting changes in natural systems under the influence of human activity;
- preservation of the human environment.
In addition, an important task of ecology is the study higher levels integration of living matter and in the process of cognition moves from the study of populations of one species to the biosphere as a whole.
Ecology, being a fundamental science, is integral part each taxonomic subdivision of the biological sciences, deals with the study, for example, of the ecology of a fungus, a bird, or a mosquito. This approach is useful, if only because it allows one to develop
In the theory of law, the subject of legal regulation is considered the basis for the allocation of legal norms to a certain branch of law.<15>. The subject plays the role of a backbone factor in the branch of law. Under subject of legal regulation is understood as a strictly defined area of social relations that are qualitatively different from other social relations that form the subject of another branch of law. Since the object of legal regulation in the area we are considering is nature (environment) and its individual elements - land, subsoil, water, etc. and the human interests associated with them, we can say that the subject is public relations about nature or the environment. environment.
A common mistake when answering a question about the subject of environmental law is the assertion that this right regulates the relationship of people, society to nature. However, law regulates social relations, that is, relations between people about a specific object. In our situation, this is water, atmospheric air, subsoil resources, etc., or nature.
Behind the category of "public attitude towards nature" are a variety of environmental interests of man, his needs, satisfied at the expense of natural resources. Previously, we identified the main ones - environmental, economic, aesthetic, recreational, scientific, cultural. These needs are realized in the constant and active interaction of a person with the outside world - nature and society.
What more specific social relations are regulated by environmental law? In the scientific and educational literature on environmental law, two groups of public relations are traditionally distinguished as its subject - on the use of natural resources and on environmental protection (protection of natural resources)<16>.
Indeed, these two groups of relations are generally recognized, and above all they form the subject of environmental law. But as a reaction to a social need, the emerging environmental law in Russia regulates some other relations that go beyond the traditional ones. These are relations of ownership of natural objects and resources and relations for the protection of environmental rights and legitimate interests of a person and a citizen.
Thus, taking into account the interests and needs of man and citizen in the field of interaction between society and nature, mediated in law, subject of modern Russian environmental law form a relationship:
Ownership of natural objects and resources;
on nature management;
On environmental protection from various forms of degradation;
To protect the environmental rights and legitimate interests of individuals and legal entities.
In the doctrine of environmental law, the relations regulated by it are called environmental.
The above classification of the types of environmental relations is fundamental, the most important, expedient and scientifically substantiated. Its expediency lies in the interconnected, simultaneous solution in law of a complex of problems related to the ownership of natural resources, their disposal, ensuring the rational use of natural resources, protecting nature from various forms of degradation, protecting environmental rights and legitimate human interests. The scientific validity of such a classification is confirmed by natural resource legislation (land, water, mining, etc.), which regulates the ownership of the relevant natural resource, its use and protection, as well as the doctrine of land, water, mining and other natural resource law.
With this approach to the legal regulation of social relations in the sphere of interaction between society and nature, the interests of both nature and man are taken into account, which manifests the biosocial essence of man.
In the context of relationships ownership of natural resources <17>in environmental law, socially significant problems of owning natural resources and disposing of them are solved. When regulating property rights, the special, public nature of the object of ownership is taken into account, and therefore state rather than private ownership of natural resources dominates in environmental law. Owning them, the state disposes of natural resources in the public interest by providing them for use by legal entities and individuals.
<17>Let us pay attention to the fact that the legislation establishes the right of ownership of natural resources, and not natural objects. So, according to Art. 9 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, land and other natural resources may be in private, state, municipal and other forms of ownership. The concept of a natural object is broader, it includes the corresponding natural resource. Under current legislation, property relations extend to the part of nature that is used or can be used by man.
Regarding property relations in the context of the subject of water legislation, O.S. Kolbasov wrote: "To the extent that water management relations are essentially relations for the use and protection of waters, they are the subject of water legislation. These include relations of exclusive state ownership of waters ..."
Taking into account the legal concept of the categories "ownership of natural resources", "use of natural resources", it seems that the content of the concept of ownership is wider than the concept of the use of natural resources, and therefore ownership relations cannot be part of the use relations. It is expedient to single out property relations for natural resources in the subject of legislation and law as an independent group of relations.
With regard to relations on nature management and environmental protection, different opinions are expressed in the literature. "Nature management and nature protection are not two independent forms of interaction between society and nature, and even, as they say, not two sides of the same coin, but a single, complex, interdependent task of managing nature management in the process of production activities"<18>. One can hardly agree with such a categorical and absolute judgment. Meanwhile, to a certain extent, it gave rise to N.I. Krasnov to express doubts about the validity of the allocation of nature protection as an independent area of activity of society and the state<19>.
Indeed, to a certain extent, but to a small extent, relations on nature management and environmental protection coincide. So, legal regulation of dumping Wastewater in the reservoir there is a regulation of water use. At the same time, the legal regulation of wastewater discharge is nothing more than the protection of a water body from pollution.
However, environmental law regulates many environmental protection relations outside of nature management relations. These are relations on the regulation of harmful effects on nature, on ecotoxicological testing of agrochemical and other environmentally hazardous chemicals, on their registration, transportation, environmental certification, etc.
The ultimate goal and at the same time the task of regulating all these types of social relations is the preservation of a favorable state of the environment or its restoration.
Relations on nature management <20>are regulated mainly in relation to individual natural resources - land, water, atmospheric air, subsoil, forests, flora outside forests, wildlife objects. Respectively we are talking on regulation of land use, water use, subsoil use, etc. Through the regulation of such relations, a number of socially significant tasks are solved. The main one is a dual task: to satisfy the material, as well as, to a certain extent, aesthetic and other human needs and to prevent various forms of degradation of nature, including the depletion of natural resources, its pollution; in other words, this is the most important task to ensure the preservation of ecological balance. The basic principle of the implementation of nature management is the principle of rational, that is, environmentally sound use of natural resources.
<20>Nature management is understood as the use of natural resources by a person in order to meet his various needs - physiological, economic, aesthetic, scientific, etc., as well as the use of the natural environment to remove production and consumption waste.
Legal regulation of public environmental relations <21>concerns three types of harmful effects on it: chemical, physical and biological. An example of environmental protection regulation from chemical influences is the regulation of wastewater discharges by enterprises into water bodies, emissions of pollutants contained in vehicle exhaust gases, the use of agrochemicals, the use of refrigerants and other chemicals that affect the state of the Earth's ozone layer.
Environmental protection ( natural complexes, objects, resources) - activities aimed at preserving or restoring a favorable state of the natural environment, reproducing natural resources, preventing the negative impact of economic and other activities on the environment and eliminating its consequences.
The relations regulated by environmental law for the protection of the environment from physical influences on her. This regulation of environmental protection from:
Noise generated by aircraft, industrial facilities;
Vibrations created during the construction or operation of vehicles, such as the subway;
Electromagnetic fields generated by the use of electrical engineering;
radioactive influences. Although radioactive substances are chemical, they have a physical effect in the form of radiation;
Excessive pressure on the ground in the process of using heavy agricultural equipment, which leads to the destruction of the soil structure;
Discharge of warm wastewater into water bodies.
environmental protection from biological influences includes legal regulation:
Migration and hybridization of objects of flora and fauna;
Biotechnology;
Entry into the environment of microorganisms (viruses, fungi, bacteria, including pathogens of human infectious diseases);
Epizootic prevention and control.
Legal regulation of environmental protection from chemical, physical and biological influences is carried out with the aim of maintaining or restoring a favorable state of the environment in the sense of its cleanliness and unpolluted nature.
Legal regulation of relations of ownership of natural resources, nature management, as well as relations for the protection of the environment from harmful influences, simultaneously serves as a means to ensure the maintenance of ecological balance in nature and the observance of environmental rights and legitimate interests of individuals and legal entities.
As regards the grounds for selection relations for the protection of environmental rights and legitimate interests of individuals and legal entities as an independent group of social relations as part of the subject of environmental law, they are associated, on the one hand, with the impossibility of regulating such specific relations within the framework of other relations, and on the other hand, with the fact that a person, his health and property interests are an independent object environmental rights along with the objects and resources of nature. Regulated by legal norms, such relations are formed and implemented in the field of activity of law enforcement agencies - the prosecutor's office, courts and some other state bodies.
In some scientific works of recent years, the subject of environmental law, along with relations on nature management and environmental protection, includes relations to ensure environmental safety. It is also important and appropriate to note here that, in accordance with Art. 72 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, nature management, environmental protection and ensuring environmental safety are assigned to the joint jurisdiction of the federal state authorities of the Russian Federation and the state authorities of the constituent entities of the Federation. Previously, these areas of activity, which form the subject of joint jurisdiction, were fixed in this form by the Federal Treaties signed on March 31, 1992.
Let us note that in Russia the concepts of "environmental safety" and "ensuring environmental safety", introduced in conceptual apparatus environmental practices, environmental legislation and law without any scientific justification, have become quite commonplace, widely used. The concept of "environmental safety" is repeatedly used in the Federal Law "On Environmental Protection", in more than 40 other federal laws, in more than 300 decrees of the President of the Russian Federation and resolutions of the Government of the Russian Federation, in more than 500 departmental regulatory legal acts. Subdivisions for environmental safety have been created in the country (for example, as part of the Security Council under the President of the Russian Federation). The full-scale state scientific and technical program "Ecology of Russia", launched in 1991, was curtailed, and in 1992 the implementation of the Federal Program "Ecological Safety of Russia" began. Finally, State Duma RF On November 17, 1995, the Federal Law "On Ecological Safety" was adopted, which was not signed by the President of the RF. Currently, the State Duma of the Russian Federation is discussing a new version of the draft federal law on environmental safety issues.
To what extent is it justified to single out the provision of environmental safety as an independent area of activity of society and the state? What is the content of the concept of "environmental security"? What is the relationship between this concept and the concept of "environmental protection"? What is the practical meaning of introducing a new concept and a new direction of practical activity? Is it possible to ensure the so-called ecological safety within the framework of environmental protection? If not, why not? What happened in Russia in the 90s, in connection with which there was a basis for singling out public relations to ensure environmental safety along with relations to protect the environment? And, finally, what legal means are used to ensure environmental safety? To answer some of the questions raised, let us turn to the Federal Law "On Environmental Protection".
Under environmental safety this Law understands the state of protection of the natural environment and the vital interests of a person from the possible negative impact of economic and other activities, natural and man-made emergencies, and their consequences. The legal means of protecting the interests listed in the definition of environmental safety are regulation, environmental impact assessment, environmental expertise, environmental licensing, certification, control, application of legal liability measures, as well as legal means of protecting environmental rights and legitimate interests of a person and a citizen. In other words, we are talking, in essence, about the protection of the environment, the protection and protection of environmental rights and legitimate interests of a person and a citizen.
An analysis of the Law "On Environmental Safety" adopted earlier by the State Duma of the Russian Federation convinces, firstly, that it does not define and regulate its own clear, concretely expressed relations that would not be covered by the Law "On Environmental Protection". Secondly, it does not offer any special tools for ensuring environmental safety, different from the tools for regulating environmental protection in general. Basically, it reproduces the applicable legal environmental measures. It seems that neither special social relations nor special measures to ensure environmental safety simply exist. Accordingly, there are no grounds for singling out environmental safety as an independent area of activity in the field of interaction between society and nature. There is also no need for an independent law on environmental safety.
The modern concept of legal protection of the environment is based on the idea of the need to ensure the prevention and compensation of harm to the environment, health and property of citizens, the national economy, which can be caused by environmental pollution, damage, destruction, damage, irrational use of natural resources, destruction of natural ecological systems and other environmental offenses. The implementation of this concept is aimed at protecting the environmental interests of a person, society, the state and the environment, i.e. specifically for environmental safety.
In the context of environmental protection, ensuring environmental safety is seen in a number of aspects. It can be considered as a basic principle of environmental protection, according to which any activity associated with a harmful impact on the environment, as well as legal and other environmental measures provided for in the legislation and implemented in practice, should be assessed from the standpoint of environmental safety.
To a certain extent, in scientific and practical terms, the concept of "ensuring environmental safety" can be used as a synonym for environmental protection, meaning that the relevant activity is aimed at maintaining or restoring a favorable state of the environment.
Ensuring environmental safety can also be considered as the most important long-term goal and task of the activity for the restoration and preservation of a favorable state of the environment, primarily from the point of view of its cleanliness (unpolluted) and resource intensity.
As far as the author knows, neither in the national environmental legislation of foreign states, nor in international agreements in the field of environmental protection, the concept of "environmental safety" is used. It is also absent in such latest international documents as the Rio Declaration and the 21st Century Agenda, adopted by the UN Conference on Environment and Development, which was held in June 1992 in Brazil. The subject of both legislation and practice is environmental protection and regulation of the use of natural resources.
We believe that environmental safety in Russia can be ensured through the consistent implementation of a system of scientifically based legal, organizational, economic, technical, educational and other measures for environmental protection and rational use of natural resources. In order to scientifically substantiate the allocation of environmental safety as an independent area of environmental protection and, accordingly, relations to ensure environmental safety, it is obviously necessary to revise the concept of environmental protection and single out specific relations to ensure environmental safety from the group of environmental protection relations. .
The subject of environmental law is formed objectively, apart from the will and consciousness of a person. Objectivity is due to the fact that nature satisfies the various interests and needs of man and society. The latter is interested in adequate regulation of its interaction with nature for at least two reasons. The first relates to self-interest associated with the satisfaction of their needs. The second is due to the knowledge of the laws of development of nature. By virtue of their action, a person must protect not only his own interests, but also the interests of other species. The principle of respect for all forms of life has been formulated as one of the principles of the draft International Pact on Environment and Development. In Russian law, this principle is implemented by regulating the protection of flora and fauna objects in special legislation.
3. System and trends in the development of environmental legislation in Russia The Concept for the Development of Environmental Legislation provides for updating (introducing amendments and additions, adopting a new version) of the Law on Environmental Protection, bringing natural resource legislation in line with the realities, greening other branches of Russian legislation.
The contours of the improvement of legislation on environmental protection are mainly determined. Work has begun on a draft of a new Law of the Russian Federation on environmental protection. The main changes of this Law are seen as follows:
in strengthening the environmental rights of citizens with the expansion of their ability to control the environmental situation and the environmental activities of state bodies and officials;
in expanding the sphere of freedom of environmental and other information;
in the creation of a coherent system of state management of environmental quality, headed by a coordinating body;
in strengthening economic mechanisms of influence on pollutants;
in introducing into the text of the Law a new phenomenon for Russia and a legal institution in the form of an environmental impact assessment (EIA);
in expansion of ecological functions of self-management.
Other acts of environmental legislation itself should develop along a similar path - other laws, as well as presidential decrees, government decrees, acts of ministries and departments.
Along with the continuation of the greening of natural resources legislation, a combination of the specifics of nature management with civil law provisions provided for by the Civil Code should be carried out.
The transition to recognizing the equality of participants in regulated relations, the inviolability of property and freedom of contract, ensuring the restoration of violated rights and their judicial protection means a radical revision of the established views on the environmental well-being of society and methods for ensuring it, which necessitates the introduction of amendments to natural resource legislation while preserving the historical traditions and mentality of the Russian nature user.
Other branches of legislation are being restructured similarly. In particular, the Russian Code of Administrative Offenses can be supplemented with:
a) a number of new types of environmental offenses;
b) strengthening administrative, primarily punitive, sanctions that can have an impact on the polluter;
c) establishment in the Code of the procedure for collecting fines from legal entities.
The subjects of the Russian Federation have more and more opportunities in accordance with the norms of the Constitution and, above all, with Art. 73. But the most important reserves for improving the legal system are in the sphere of local governments. Strictly speaking, their activities go beyond the creation and improvement of legislation. However, if we mean the regulation of environmental relations, the establishment of local rules around them, the implementation of environmental legislation, increasing its effectiveness, then the role of local government can hardly be overestimated.
The law-making activity of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation is being activated, which are currently adopting charters and other fundamental laws on their activities and are called upon to fill in the gaps in federal environmental legislation on issues of joint competence, specify federal and their own acts on environmental issues, develop their own legal environmental system in in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.
Approaches to the improvement of natural resource legislation are formulated as follows:
equalization of the rights of various forms of ownership of natural resources - in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation;
greater giving nature-resource relations the character of civil law while maintaining the specifics of nature management and resource consumption;
discovery or disclosure of natural resource relations, i.e. involvement in their discussion, control, protection, use of citizens, local governments, and the media;
elimination of monopoly in the operation of environmental structures, attraction of antimonopoly means of influence;
enhancing the role of courts in resolving disputes related to natural resources;
accounting and use of the regional, ecosystem principle in management and control;
priority use of natural resources for recreational and other humanitarian purposes.
It is important to study the experience of other countries, its creative understanding, adoption, taking into account national specifics. It can be stated that in other countries, for example, in the United States, the use of natural resources is carried out in a very differentiated way - from east to west, depending on the time of development, the entry of states into the federation, population, watering, aridity of territories, etc.
In natural resource legislation, perhaps, more than in any other, the role of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, which have broad law-making functions, both independently and together with the Russian Federation, is important. The latter is no less important than the rest, since Russia systematically consults with its constituent entities: all draft legislative acts of the Russian Federation are sent to the constituent entities of the Russian Federation before they are adopted, undergo an examination there, and receive an assessment that is taken into account when discussing and adopting the act. In addition, representatives of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation - two from each - are present in the Federation Council - the upper house of the Russian parliament and have the final say in determining the fate of a project.
The main thing in establishing an efficient, rational and civilized use of natural resources is not only the improvement of the federal, large-scale regulation of nature management, although this, in view of what has been said, is necessary, but also the organization of the proper application of legislation, the implementation of the opportunities available to the subject of the Russian Federation, the local government. The transfer of the center of gravity in this perspective is the essence of legal reform in Russia in general and in ecology in particular.
The general principles for reforming the environmental norms of Russian legislation are as follows:
to the recognition of the priority of ecology over the economy (although this is difficult during the economic crisis);
to the full disclosure of environmental information, and not only formal information: a set of measures is needed to bring it to the attention of citizens, to train them to handle it;
to the creation of an economic mechanism for the protection of the natural environment (at the same time maintaining state measures to influence pollutants, as is practiced to a sufficient extent in other countries, for example, in the USA);
to complete the system of state bodies authorized to protect the environment, headed by a coordinating body;
to the connection of all links of organization, control and imposition of penalties without any gaps in this mechanism of environmental protection;
to the publicity of the exercise of basic power and control powers;
to the recognition of realities, for example, different types ownership of natural resources, which gives rise to well-known legal consequences in the implementation of management and control in the field of environmental protection;
to the legislative delimitation of the executive and judicial powers, ensuring their autonomy and independence.
Important are the problems of organizing the legislative process, which are of a rather general (not only environmental) nature.
Let's briefly list them:
insufficient elaboration of bills submitted for discussion in the Russian parliament - the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation;
departmentalism and lobbying of bills, which in itself is a normal phenomenon, common in other countries, but superimposed on the absence of long-term parliamentary traditions, established customs and procedures;
the multiplicity of conflicting projects and points of view on the same issue;
lack, as a rule, of qualified legal expertise of bills, other ways to obtain competent opinions;
the pursuit of the plurality of the adoption of laws to the detriment of their quality.
Hence the emergence of contradictions, gaps, inconsistencies in the legislation.
Environmental legislation is a set of laws that regulate relations that form the subject of environmental law. Based on the criteria of the object of legal regulation, the totality of such laws can be divided into three groups: legislation on the environment, on natural complexes and natural resources legislation. The object of environmental relations regulated by the laws of the first group is the environment (nature) as a whole, the second - natural complexes, the third - individual natural objects.
Environmental legislation in its own sense - a new phenomenon for Russia. It began to develop only in the 90s of the last century. Along with the Federal Law "On Environmental Protection", in particular, it includes:
Federal Law "On Ecological Expertise";
Federal Law "On Radiation Safety of the Population";
Federal Law "On Production and Consumption Wastes";
Federal Law "On Safe Handling of Pesticides and Agrochemicals".
Legislation on natural complexes, also a new structural part of Russian legislation, includes:
Federal Law "On Specially Protected Natural Territories";
Federal Law "On natural healing resources, health-improving areas and resorts";
Federal Law "On Special Environmental Programs for the Rehabilitation of Radiation Contaminated Sites";
Federal Law "On the Continental Shelf of the Russian Federation";
Federal Law "On the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Russian Federation";
Federal Law "On Inland Sea Waters, the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone";
Federal Law "On the Protection of Lake Baikal";
Federal Law "On Territories of Traditional Nature Use of Indigenous small peoples North, Siberia and Far East Russian Federation".
A significant share in the system of environmental legislation is occupied by natural resource legislation. Unlike environmental legislation in the proper sense, natural resource legislation is more developed, since, as emphasized earlier, environmental legislation in Soviet Russia developed mainly in relation to the use and protection of individual natural resources.
Natural resource legislation is a set of laws regulating relations for the use and protection of individual natural objects. It includes:
Land Code of the Russian Federation;
Federal Law "On the turnover of agricultural land";
Law of the Russian Federation "On the right of citizens of the Russian Federation to obtain private ownership and to sell land plots for personal subsidiary and dacha farming, gardening and individual housing construction";
Federal Law "On Land Reclamation";
Federal Law "On state regulation of ensuring the fertility of agricultural land";
Federal Law "On Land Management";
Federal Law "On the State Land Cadastre";
Water Code of the Russian Federation;
Federal Law "On payment for the use of water bodies";
Forest Code of the Russian Federation;
Federal Law "On Introducing Amendments and Additions to the Law of the Russian Federation "On Subsoil";
Federal Law "On subsoil plots, the right to use which may be granted under the terms of production sharing";
Federal Law "On the Animal World";
Federal Law "On the Protection of Atmospheric Air".
Here we only name acts without any of their characteristics. In the future, their content will be disclosed in relation to specific issues. Their object is mentioned in the title of this or that law. It suffices to note that these laws are, as a rule, codification laws, leading ones in relation to the relevant institutions of environmental law or branches of natural resource legislation.
6. History of development of Russian environmental law
Norms on the protection of nature can be found already in the first regulations Russian state. The question of the history of the development of normative regulation of the protection of property rights to natural resources, nature conservation and nature management in Russia should be considered in relation to three periods: a) before 1917, b) in the Soviet period and c) at the present stage.
a) As in other ancient or medieval states, the protection of natural resources was carried out primarily through the protection of property rights, economic, military and tax interests of the state. Thus, in Russkaya Pravda (1016), the protection of communal property, the object of which, for example, was a forest, or the property of a prince, was envisaged. Russkaya Pravda established a fine for stealing firewood. It also provided for a fine for the destruction or damage to the board, i.e. a hollow filled with honeycombs. Article 69 of the “Large Truth” for stealing a beaver provided for a fine of 12 hryvnia, i.e. the same punishment as for the murder of a serf *. In accordance with the Council Code of 1649, catching fish in someone else's pond or cage, beavers and otters was also considered as theft of property.
A special attitude to the protection of forest resources was also manifested for military reasons. Already from the XIV century. The protected nature of the defensive forest fences was established, which served as a means of protection against the raids of the Tatars. (“Notch” is a barrier of felled trees.) The legislation of that time strictly prohibited cutting down trees in the notch line. Such forests were guarded by special guards.
In the Russian legislation of the Middle Ages, a fairly wide range of sanctions was provided for violating the rules relating to natural objects: a fine, “beat with botogs mercilessly” (“batog” - a stick, rod, cane), “beat with a whip without any mercy”, cutting off the left hand . When punishing, the fact of repetition of the violation was taken into account. So, in accordance with the Council Code of 1649, for fishing in someone else's pond, a person caught red-handed was beaten with boots for the first time, with a whip for the second time, and for the third time with an ear cut off. Widely used the death penalty(for chopping trees in the reserved notch forest, catching small herring, etc.).
The subject of ecology its structure of the task of ecology 2. History of ecology 3. Basic concepts of ecology 4. The subject of ecology its structure of the task of ecology Of all living organisms, man most tries to change nature using and adapting it to his needs.
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Lecture #1
2. History of ecology
3. Basic concepts of ecology
4. The relevance of environmental education.
5. Global environmental problems.
1. The subject of ecology, its structure, tasks of ecology
Of all living organisms, man most tries to change nature, using and adapting it to his needs. Today, thanks to the development of science and technology, man is able to invade all micro- and macro-worlds, all processes occurring in the biosphere. Thus, he causes undesirable changes and does not see the consequences. If until some time self-regulation mechanisms worked and they compensated for the anthropogenic impact, today human activity has reached such proportions that are comparable to the scale of natural phenomena.
For example, underground nuclear explosions in terms of power they are comparable with weak and medium seismic tremors.
The destructive activity of man gave rise to a conflict between society and nature, created problems that are commonly called ecological. Solving environmental problems requires a lot of work in all areas of science and technology. And the theoretical foundation of all environmental activities is science ecology.
In 1866, the German biologist Ernst Haeckel coined the term ecology (oikos - house, dwelling, logos - teaching, science), i.e. home doctrine. Haeckel called the term ecology a new branch of biology that studies the totality of all relationships between living and non-living components of the natural environment, which, as new knowledge accumulates, has turned into an independent science.
The subject of ecologyis the totality or structure of relationships between organisms and the environment. The main object of study of ecology is ecosystems, which are unified natural complexes formed by living organisms and the environment. In addition, her area of expertise includes the study of certain types of organisms (organism level), their populations, biotic communities and the biosphere as a whole. The hierarchy of ecological levels and the field of study of ecology is shown in Fig.1. Ecology studies mainly those systems that are located in the upper part of the spectrum, that is, above the level of the organism.
Rice. 1. Hierarchy of ecological levels:
Structure of ecology
The general patterns of interaction of any living beings, including man as a biological being, are studied by science - general ecology , which includes the following sections:
autecology - investigating the individual connections of an individual organism (individual) with the environment;
Population ecology (demecology)– studying the structure and dynamics of populations of individual species
Synecology (biocenology)- studying the relationship of populations, communities and ecosystems.
Ecology is also classified:
- By habitat:
- Ecology of fresh waters
- Sea ecology
- Land Ecology
- ocean ecology
- By objects of study:
- plants
- vertebrates
- microorganisms
- human
Currently, ecology has gone beyond the scope of a purely biological science and has become an interdisciplinary science that studies the most complex problems of human interaction with the environment. In connection with the aggravation of the environmental situation, there is a "greening" of all sciences and industries National economy, i.e. mandatory consideration of laws and environmental requirements in the implementation of any activity.
As such, ecology is divided into 2 parts - theoretical and applied.Theoretical ecologyreveals the general patterns of life organization in ecosystems and the biosphere itself as a global ecosystem of the Earth, based on the laws of general ecology, the doctrine of the biosphere and the provisions of human ecology.Applied Ecologystudies the mechanisms of destruction of the biosphere by man, ways to prevent this process, develops principles environmental management based on the laws, rules and principles of theoretical ecology.
In the 20th century, ecology was elevated to the rank of generalizing sciences, which generalizes the ecological areas of various sciences: law, economics, geology, biology, mathematics, geography, sociology, medicine, etc.
The main tasks of ecology
- The study of the regularities of life organization in natural systems, including the anthropogenic impact on these systems.
- Creation of a scientific basis for the rational exploitation of biological resources, forecasting changes in nature as a result of human activity, management of processes occurring in the biosphere.
- Population regulation.
- Restoration of disturbed natural systems and preservation of reference areas of the biosphere
- Formation of biospheric thinking and ecological consciousness in people, development of norms of ecological ethics and morality
- Optimization of economic, social and other solutions to ensure environmentally sound sustainable development of society and the state.
2. History of ecology.
Ecology as a science began its development from prehistoric times with the accumulation of empirical knowledge. Man began to know nature back in those days when he learned to make fire and use tools. People accumulated empirical knowledge about nature by doing elementary things. So, for example, the fisherman knows that trout is found in fast-flowing streams, while crucian carp prefer stagnant waters. Or everyone knows that there are no lions on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, and there are no polar bears in the Sahara. With the development of civilization, both ecological knowledge and ecological problems developed.
Elements of ecological knowledge are found in the writings of many scientists. ancient world . Hippocrates put forward ideas about the influence of environmental factors on human health. Aristotle classified animals according to their way of life and way of eating. In ancient Egypt and Babylon, methods were known to combat the accumulation of salts toxic to plants in the soil. The salt removal technique, although primitive, already existed. Inhabitants mediterranean sea for getting fresh water filtered sea water through a layer of soil. In cities such as Athens, Rome, Jerusalem, Alexandria, sewage was not discharged into the river, but was collected in special sedimentation tanks and then used to irrigate fields and gardens.
In the Middle Ages the sciences of nature developed slowly due to religious dogmatism.
The impetus for the development of the sciences of nature was the discovery of new countries and, thereby, a new flora and fauna inrenaissance.
18th century characterized by the observations of naturalists and the comprehension of the influence of natural factors on the development and evolution of living organisms.
First half of the 19th century- the origin and development of ecology as a science: the accumulation of data on the relationship of living organisms with the environment, the first scientific generalizations. The first warnings (Malthus, Lamarck) about the possible negative consequences of human impact on nature.
Second half of the 19th century- Creation by Charles Darwin of the doctrine of the origin of species, indicating the interdependence and mutual influence of all forms of animate and inanimate nature. Based on this teaching, E. Haeckel singled out ecology as a science that studies all interactions in nature. Under ecology, he understood "the sum of knowledge about the totality of the relationship of an animal with the environment, both organic and inorganic, and above all, its friendly or hostile relations with those animals and plants with which it directly or indirectly comes into contact."
However, ideas about the integrity of the environment have not yet become the dominant system of views.
Early 20th century- A. Tansley introduced the term ecosystem and pointed out the impossibility of separating organisms from the environment. Creation by Vernadsky of the doctrine of the biosphere and noosphere.
Second half of the 20th century– is characterized by great attention of the world community to the threat of an ecological crisis. The role of man as a part of nature and his dependence on the resources of the planet are realized.
3. Basic concepts of ecology.
View - a set of individuals with common morphophysiological characteristics, occupying their area of habitat, capable of natural conditions interbreed with each other.
population - a set of individuals of the same species, united by common conditions of existence.
The population is characterized by a number of features:
density, birth rate, death rate, age structure, distribution in space, growth curve, etc.
Quantitatively, a population can be estimated by the number of individuals per area (area of its distribution). This is how animal populations are usually estimated, in particular - commercial ones. Another parameter is the population density, which can be, depending on the goals, determined by the number of individuals or the biomass (or equivalent energy) of a given species per unit area.
It is usually measured and expressed as the number of individuals or population biomass per unit area or volume (500 trees per 1 ha or 200 kg of fish per 1 ha of water surface).
Population density, being its most important characteristic, but does not give an exhaustive idea of the well-being of the population, the dynamics and trends of its development. These data can be obtained from the analysis of population dynamics, i.e. study of fertility, mortality and age structure.
fertility - the ability of the population to increase in numbers.
Mortality - the death of individuals in the population.
To study the age structures of populations, graphical techniques are used, for example, age pyramids of a population, which are widely used in demographic studies (Fig. 2).Age composition of the population- the ratio of different age groups.In rapidly growing populations, young individuals account for a significant proportion, in populations that are in a stable state, the age distribution is even, and in dying ones there is a large proportion of old individuals.
Rice. 2 . Age pyramids of the population.
A - mass reproduction, B - stable population, C - declining population
Studies of the size of populations and the factors that determine it make it possible to evaluate the latter and, in some cases, ensure its biological regulation.
Several populations form communities - biocenoses.
Biocenosis - a set of populations that function in a certain space of the abiotic environment - biotope. Biocenosis and biotope function as a single entity or ecosystem.
Ecosystem - a set of different types of organisms living together and the conditions for their existence, which are in a regular relationship with each other. An example of an ecosystem can be a forest, a meadow, a lake. The term was proposed by A. Tensley. An ecosystem is characterized by various kinds of metabolism not only between organisms, but also between organisms and the environment. Very close in meaning to the concept of "ecosystem" is the concept of "biogeocenosis". The term was proposed by academician V,N. Sukachev ("bios" - life, "Geo" - earth, "cenosis" - community)
Biogeocenosis is a set of homogeneous natural phenomena (atmosphere, rocks, vegetation, fauna, and the world of microorganisms) over a known extent of the earth's surface, which has its own specific interaction of these components and a certain type of exchange of matter and energy between themselves and other natural phenomena.
The concept of ecosystem and biogeocenosis are not synonymous. By Tensley's definition, an ecosystem is a dimensionless stable system of living and non-living things, in which the exchange of matter and energy is conferred. Thus, an ecosystem is a drop of water with microorganisms, a forest, a pot, biological treatment facilities, a spaceship, but at the same time they are not a biogeocenosis. An ecosystem may include several biogeocenoses. That. the concept of "ecosystem" is wider than biogeocenosis, i.e. any biogeocenosis is an ecosystem, but not any ecosystem can be considered a biogeocenosis, and biogeocenoses are purely terrestrial formations that have their own clear boundaries.
Biosphere - (bios - life, spharia - ball) is the sum of ecosystems, including all living organisms interconnected with the physical environment of the Earth. The shell of the Earth, in which the life of various organisms develops, inhabiting the surface of the land, soil, lower layers of the atmosphere, and the hydrosphere. At its core, the biosphere is the result of the interaction of living and non-living matter. This term was first introduced in 1875 by the Austrian scientist E. Suess.
But for the first time, the outstanding Russian scientist Vernadsky drew attention to the enormous role of living matter in the life of our planet and put a deeper meaning into this concept. He is the founder of modern ideas about the biosphere.
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Improving its condition and quality, restoring the environment of its constituent elements, ensuring the environmental safety of the population and territories, environmental law and order, etc. These tasks cannot be solved by other branches of law. The complexity of environmental law is explained by the fact that it includes environmental norms proper and attracts the norms of other branches of law, both fundamental and secondary, to solve the tasks assigned to it.
2. Objects of ecological relations.
The object of environmental relations is understood as socially significant natural values, about which social relations are formed and regulated in law. We emphasize that the specificity of the object predetermines the specifics of social relations regulated in environmental law and forming its subject matter.
In modern legislation, the following are distinguished as independent objects of such relations:
a) environment (environment, natural environment, nature),
b) natural complexes,
c) separate natural objects or resources.
3. Methods of legal regulation in environmental law.
The method of legal regulation answers the question of how law regulates social relations. The method of legal regulation of social relations is understood as a set of means and techniques by which law influences social relations through the behavior of subjects. This general definition method of legal regulation of social relations basically concerns the method of regulation of environmental relations.
In the current system of law, two main ways of influencing human behavior are used - dispositive (civil law) and imperative (administrative law). The dispositive method is based on the equality and independence of the parties from each other. The imperative method proceeds from the inequality of the participants in the relations between which relations of power and subordination are formed.
In environmental law, techniques and methods of the imperative (administrative-legal) and dispositive (civil-law) method of legal regulation of environmental relations are used. This particular method (mixed) is made up of the named components. Their combination creates this sectoral method, determines its specificity, which is manifested in all elements of the environmental law system.
In turn, the specificity of the method of regulating environmental relations comes from the nature of these relations. So, ecological relations arise in connection with certain natural objects, interconnected and influencing each other, constituting a single ecological system and developing according to their own laws.
Techniques and methods of the dispositive method are most often used in the regulation of: property relations for natural objects; contractual relations; compensation for damage caused by environmental offenses; environmental audit, etc. V modern conditions, given the active development of market relations, the dispositive method will be of increasing importance.
4. The concept of environmental law as a complex branch of Russian law.
Environmental law is a complex branch in the system of Russian law. It is sometimes referred to as the super industry. When evaluating this industry, it is important to keep in mind that it includes a number of independent branches of law recognized as such - land, water, mining, air protection, forestry and fauna.
The complex nature of the branch of environmental law is determined, however, not by this circumstance, but by the fact that public environmental relations are regulated both by their own rules and by the rules contained in other branches of Russian law, including civil, constitutional, administrative, criminal, business, financial, agricultural and others. The process of reflecting environmental requirements in these branches of law is called greening, respectively, civil law, criminal law, business law, etc.
5. The system of environmental law.
Under the system of environmental law is understood the placement in a certain logical sequence of its structural units, due to the content of environmental relations that are the subject of environmental law.
The system of environmental law can be considered in three qualities: as a branch of law, academic discipline, the science.
How branch of law environmental law consists of the General and Special parts and consists of sub-branches of law; complex and simple institutions; sub-institutions and rules of law.
Considering the system of environmental law as academic discipline, it should be divided into two parts: General and Special. The general part contains questions:
about the subject, method, principles and system of environmental law;
on the concept, content, functions of management of nature management and environmental protection, the system and competence of governing bodies in this area;
on environmental rights and obligations of citizens;
ownership of natural resources;
environmental rights;
legal support of environmental safety;
economic and legal mechanism of nature management and environmental protection;
legal liability for environmental offenses.
The system of environmental law as environmental and legal science comes from the system of this branch of law. It is a system of scientific views, legal ideas, concepts, concepts, as well as knowledge of the laws of legal regulation of environmental relations, which form the subject of environmental law. Ecological and legal science assists in the improvement of the system of environmental law as an academic discipline, the system of environmental legislation.
6. Principles of environmental law.
According to Art. 3 of the Federal Law of January 10, 2002 No. 7-FZ “On Environmental Protection”, the main principles of environmental protection include:
observance of the human right to a favorable environment;
security favorable conditions human life;
scientifically substantiated combination of ecological, economic and social interests of a person, society and the state in order to ensure sustainable development and a favorable environment;
protection, reproduction and rational use of natural resources as necessary conditions for ensuring a favorable environment and ecological safety;
the responsibility of state authorities of the Russian Federation, state authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation, local governments for ensuring a favorable environment and environmental safety in the respective territories;
payment for nature use and compensation for damage to the environment;
independence of state environmental supervision;
presumption of ecological danger of the planned economic and other activities;
the obligation to assess the impact on the environment when making decisions on the implementation of economic and other activities;
the obligation to conduct, in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, verification of projects and other documentation justifying economic and other activities that may have a negative impact on the environment, create a threat to the life, health and property of citizens, for compliance with the requirements of technical regulations in the field of environmental protection;
taking into account the natural and socio-economic characteristics of the territories in the planning and implementation of economic and other activities;
the priority of preserving natural ecological systems, natural landscapes and natural complexes;
the admissibility of the impact of economic and other activities on the natural environment based on the requirements in the field of environmental protection;
ensuring the reduction of the negative impact of economic and other activities on the environment 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;
obligatory participation in environmental protection activities of state authorities of the Russian Federation, state authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local governments, public associations and non-profit organizations, legal entities and individuals;
conservation of biological diversity;
ensuring a combination of general and individual approaches to the establishment of measures of state regulation in the field of environmental protection, applied to legal entities and individual entrepreneurs engaged in economic and (or) other activities or planning to carry out such activities;
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;
observance of the right of everyone 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;
liability for violation of legislation in the field of environmental protection;
organization and development of the system of environmental education, education and formation of environmental culture;
participation of citizens, public associations and non-profit organizations in solving problems of environmental protection;
international cooperation of the Russian Federation in the field of environmental protection;
mandatory financing by legal entities and individual entrepreneurs engaged in economic and (or) other activities that lead or may lead to environmental pollution, measures to prevent and (or) reduce the negative impact on the environment, eliminate the consequences of this impact.
7. Environmental law as a branch of legal science and academic discipline.
Science of environmental law is a system of knowledge theoretical positions in the field of environmental law, and is an integral part of the system of legal sciences.
Reflecting the integrated and differentiated approaches implemented in practice to the legal regulation of social relations in the field of interaction between society and nature, in modern legislation the following are distinguished as independent objects of the science of environmental law:
environment (environment, natural environment, nature);
natural complexes;
individual natural objects or resources;
man like organic element nature.
General norms on environmental education and enlightenment are established in Ch. 13 of the said Law. Public relations in the field of environmental upbringing and education are also regulated by the legislation on education and legal acts of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, since environmental issues and general issues of upbringing and education are referred to in Art. 72 of the Constitution to the joint jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and its subjects.
Environmental education is a continuous process of learning, upbringing, self-education, accumulation of experience and personal development, aimed at the formation of holistic orientations, behavioral norms and special knowledge on environmental conservation and nature management.
The goal of environmental education is to develop environmental knowledge and a responsible attitude towards the environment. Ecological education is necessary for further preservation of the environment, respect for natural resources. Without environmental knowledge, the development of a person as a harmonious personality with a humanistic attitude to the natural environment is impossible.
8. The concept, features, classification and system of sources of environmental law.
Under sources of environmental law understood normative legal acts regulating relations in the sphere of interaction between society and nature, i.e. ecological relations.
To serve as sources of environmental law, a normative legal act must meet certain requirements.
Sources of environmental law have a number of features. Thus, taking into account the fact that land, water, forest legislation, subsoil legislation and environmental protection are assigned by the Constitution of the Russian Federation to the subjects of joint jurisdiction of the Federation and its subjects, environmental and legal norms are established at both levels. Another most significant feature is predetermined by the nature of the industry itself as a complex one in the system of Russian law. The legal norms of this industry have a "registration" in different branches of law. Along with special legislation on the environment, natural resources legislation, they are contained in acts of civil, constitutional, business, criminal and other legislation.
The question of the sources of environmental law is a significant difficulty, since it is published great amount regulatory legal acts at various levels. To overcome these difficulties, it is intended to serve classification regulatory legal acts in the field of nature management and environmental protection.
This classification can be made for a number of reasons:
1) by legal force:
the laws;
regulations.
general (for example, the Constitution of the Russian Federation);
special (for example, the Water Code of the Russian Federation).
material (FZ, establish rights and obligations);
procedural (regulate procedural relations).
codified (they are head, systematized for this industry);
not being such.
9. Constitutional basis for the regulation of nature management and environmental protection.
(!Constitution: Art.9, 36, 42, 58)
10. International treaties of the Russian Federation in the field of nature management and environmental protection.
(in next question)
11. Concept and sources international law environment. Principles of international environmental law.
International environmental law is a set of international legal norms that regulate relations between its subjects to ensure the rational use of the Earth's natural resources and protect the global environment from harmful effects in the interests of present and future generations of people.
At the present stage sources of international law environments are divided into two types:
Fixing the current legal principles and norms and forming law in the true sense of the word (“hard”, i.e. mandatory, law);
In accordance with the above classification, such acts as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (1973), the Agreement on the Protection of Polar (Polar) Bears (1973) should be classified as sources of mandatory international environmental law. .), Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution (1976), Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972), Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (1979), Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (1985) and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (1987); a number of the latest conventions - the Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents (1992), the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (1992), the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (1992), the Convention on protection of the Black Sea from pollution (Bucharest Convention, 1992), Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea (1992), etc.
There are more than a thousand treaties, conventions, agreements that directly regulate relations on nature management and environmental protection. Along with them, more than 3,000 bilateral international documents in this area have been signed. At the same time, Russia participates in 78 multilateral agreements. Russia has bilateral treaty relations with all neighboring states, as well as many other states of Europe, America and Asia. The role and place of international treaties and principles in the system of Russian law is evidenced by the fact that in accordance with Part 4 of Art. 15 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the generally recognized principles and norms of international law, as well as international treaties of the Russian Federation, are an integral part of its legal system. If an international treaty of the Russian Federation establishes rules other than those stipulated by law, then the rules of the international treaty shall apply.
A special source of international environmental law are binding decisions of some international organizations - the UN General Assembly, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Economic Community, etc.
Examples of another kind of sources of international environmental law, i.e. creating "soft" law can serve as the Stockholm Declaration of the UN Conference on the Human Environment (1972), the World Strategy for Conservation of Nature (1980). Rio Declaration of Principles on Environment and Development (1992) and others. These and other similar documents do not directly regulate the behavior of members of the international community, but they have great authority and this encourage states international organizations to vigorous activity and cooperation in the field of nature protection.
Basic principles. Each state, exercising the right to pursue the policy it needs in relation to the national environmental system, must observe the generally recognized principles and norms of modern international law. With the aggravation of the problem of the transfer of pollution beyond the territory of one state over long distances (transboundary pollution), it is important to observe such fundamental principles as respect for state sovereignty, sovereign equality of states, territorial integrity and integrity, cooperation, peaceful resolution of international disputes, international legal responsibility . All treaties on the protection of the environment originate from them.
Special principles. Protection of the environment for the benefit of present and future generations is a general principle in relation to the whole set of special principles and norms of the MEA. Its essence boils down to the obligation of states, in a spirit of cooperation for the benefit of present and future generations, to take all necessary actions to preserve and maintain the quality of the environment, including the elimination of negative consequences for it, as well as the rational and scientifically sound management of natural resources.
In modern conditions, the scope of public relations regulated by environmental law is determined on the basis of its content and development trends. However, in scientific literature there is no clear, uniform approach to determining the content of environmental law. An analysis of the current legislation on environmental protection allows us to determine what issues and how are regulated by this branch of legislation, as well as what are the trends in the development of this industry. This allows us to consider environmental law as an independent branch of law that has a specific subject of legal regulation - relations in the field of interaction between society and the natural environment, i.e. environmental relationships.
The interaction of society and nature is an objectively existing phenomenon. Nature arose earlier than society and man, and they are a product of nature. Nature develops according to objective laws, while society functions on the basis of laws. social development. And man, being a biological being, is social individual. The process of human interaction with nature is always carried out with the help of certain methods of attracting natural objects, their useful properties and qualities, into the sphere of human life in order to satisfy various needs and interests. Accordingly, a certain type and level of economic, historical, social and demographic development makes it possible to highlight the features of the interaction between society and nature at a certain stage. The process of interaction between society and nature is carried out on the basis of certain patterns.
The ecological function of the state is aimed at harmonizing the relationship between society and nature, ensuring the optimal combination of economic and environmental interests of society. Therefore, the state, realizing the interests of society, and performing an ecological function, determines the legal forms of regulation of social relations that arise in the sphere of not only the ownership of natural objects, ensuring environmental safety, but also their use, reproduction, protection of the natural environment and humans from negative impacts. The objectively existing interaction of society and nature gives rise to a variety of ecological relations between certain subjects, as well as legal forms that should optimally respond and correspond to these relations.
The subject of environmental law is public relations arising between subjects regarding the provision of environmental safety, ownership, use, reproduction (restoration) of natural objects and complexes, as well as protection, in certain cases, protection of a person, the natural environment from harmful effects in order to prevent it, elimination and satisfaction of environmental and other interests.
The term "ecology" was introduced into scientific terminology by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel in 1866 in the monograph "General Morphology of the Organism", which defined ecology as the study of the conditions for the existence of living organisms in interaction with the environment in which they exist (within the boundaries of biology). Although the author approached the understanding of ecology too narrowly, his merit lies in the fact that he was the first to single out ecology as an independent concept, and this stimulated its in-depth study in science and further practical application in various areas of social, law-making and law enforcement activities.
In addition to the biological definition of ecology, other varieties of ecology have formed and continue to develop (geoecology, anthropoecology, social ecology and etc.). Thus, ecology in its modern sense is a broader and more complex concept than the biological phenomenon considered by Haeckel. A narrow understanding of ecology without its social aspect impoverishes this concept and is not consistent with the objectively existing interaction between society and nature. Therefore, a broad understanding of ecology contributes to: awareness and implementation of the necessary environmental measures; creation of an appropriate legal framework for the regulation of environmental relations; ensuring support for a safe ecological state of the natural environment, ecological balance and harmonious interaction between society and nature. A broad understanding of ecology does not exclude the existence of its varieties within a single concept. However, in all these varieties of ecology, a person takes part as a social being.
Ecological relations in their content are diverse, but they are interconnected and united. Their unity is due to the connection of all natural objects with each other, as a result of which there is a single ecological system. At the same time, the unity of ecological relations does not exclude the existence of their varieties due to environmental factors.
In particular, natural objects (land, water, flora, forests, bowels, fauna, atmospheric air, etc.) natural characteristics differ from one another in natural and anthropogenic values, due to which varieties of unified ecological relations arise: land, water, floristic, faunal, atmospheric and air, and others, which necessitate the definition of their legal forms. The differentiation of ecological relations according to natural objects does not violate the unity of ecological relations, their subject integrity. In accordance with Art. 5 of the Law "On the Protection of the Environment", the object of legal protection is also the life and health of people, along with natural resources, natural territories and objects subject to special protection. The whole variety of specially protected territories and objects is directly covered by the concept of ecological network, the legal regime of which is established in accordance with the Law "On Ecological Network".
Differentiation of environmental relations is also possible in the main areas of human activity in the field of interaction with the natural environment:
1. relations that arise regarding the ownership of natural objects and natural complexes by certain subjects on the right of ownership or on the right of use;
2. relations regarding the operation of environmental objects by specific entities in order to satisfy their interests;
3. relations that arise when ensuring the environmental safety of the environment, society and citizens;
4. relations that develop in the field of reproduction, restoration of natural objects, improvement of their quality;
5. relations that arise in the field of environmental protection, and in certain cases, protection.
There may be relations derived from them, in particular, environmental procedural, environmental information, as well as relations in the field of consideration of environmental disputes, etc. These relations are derivative, subordinate to the main environmental relations and can take place in all of the above main areas.
Under the conditions of economic and administrative activities, ecological relations also undergo significant changes regarding the ownership of natural objects and complexes in their species diversity. The belonging of natural objects and complexes in environmental law is carried out on the basis of the right of ownership and on the right.
Until the beginning of the 1990s, all natural objects within the territory were in the exclusive state ownership. The right to use natural resources was considered derivative and dependent on the right of state ownership, it could be possessed by citizens and legal entities.
In accordance with Article 13 of the Constitution, the land, its subsoil, atmospheric air, water and other natural resources located within the territory, its natural resources continental shelf, the exclusive (maritime) economic zone are objects of the right of ownership of the people. On behalf of the people, the rights of the owner are exercised by state authorities and bodies within the limits determined by the Constitution. Every citizen has the right to enjoy the objects of the property rights of the people in accordance with the law.
Legislation is developing in the direction of legal consolidation of the variety of forms of ownership (public and private) for some natural objects. This makes it possible to assist in their more efficient use, the development of the initiative of the owners in ensuring proper protection of the natural environment, compliance with a number of standards and legal regulations on environmental issues. A significant part of natural resources is still owned by the state. This is due directly to the features of natural objects that create a single ecological system. Therefore, their stay in the ownership of the state at a certain stage of the development of society turns out to be appropriate due to the specifics of the legal regime established for them, and also helps to maintain the ecological balance in the territory. However, this does not exclude the possibility of a gradual transition of some natural objects to other forms of ownership.
Relations in the field of the use of environmental objects by subjects are the exploitation of natural resources, their involvement in economic turnover, including all types of impact on them in the course of economic and other activities. The above relations have certain features: the priority of environmental relations over other relations; payment for special use of natural resources; collection of fees for pollution of the natural environment and deterioration of the quality of natural resources; obligatory observance by the subjects of relations of environmental standards, norms and limits in the course of operation of natural objects; significantly expanded judicial protection of the rights of users of natural resources, etc. Relations in the field of the use of natural objects must be considered inextricably linked with relations for their protection, restoration and ensuring environmental safety.
A special group is represented by legal relations in the field of ensuring environmental safety. In the legal literature, a generally accepted opinion has not been formed regarding the question of the place of environmental safety in the subject area of environmental law. There are currently three main areas. The first (most acceptable) is the recognition of relations to ensure environmental safety as defining, fundamental in the system of environmental relations. Secondly, they are assigned only the role of an institution of environmental law. And thirdly, these relations do not have specifics and are fully covered by relations for the protection of the natural environment, where ensuring environmental safety can be considered as a goal, the achievement of which can be directed by many methods of influence (political, economic, environmental, etc.) and environmental and legal regulation.
Relations in the field of environmental safety contribute to the protection of the vital interests of man and citizen, the natural environment, the constant development of environmental relations, the timely identification, prevention and neutralization of real and potential threats to environmental interests. They are provided by a balanced interaction of natural, technical and social systems, the implementation of a wide range of interrelated political, economic, organizational, state-legal and other measures. It pursues an environmental policy that is important and necessary in modern conditions with a significant anthropogenic load and negative environmental consequences. The legislator regulates the issues of prevention of emergency situations and elimination of their harmful consequences for the natural environment and human health. The task of preventing accidents and catastrophes of man-caused and natural nature is solved by strict observance of the relevant norms and rules for the safe operation of facilities, handling hazardous substances and objects of increased environmental hazard.
Special meaning in modern conditions of the development of a market economy, relations are acquired in the field of reproduction (restoration) of natural objects, improving their qualitative state. The reproduction and restoration of natural objects is an objective process that takes place in the natural environment, it cannot be suspended, on the contrary, it must be promoted in every possible way. Unfortunately, the current legislation lacks a clear definition of reproduction, restoration of natural objects, and the legislator uses these terms rather inconsistently. In environmental legislation, depending on the type of natural object, its natural characteristics and ongoing activities, public relations arise in the field of their reproduction or restoration. Only the Subsoil Code does not regulate public relations for reproduction (or restoration). The subsoil, as an object of environmental law, refers to practically non-restorable natural objects due to their natural features and the long period of time required for their reproduction. And public relations for their reproduction in modern conditions cannot be the subject of legal regulation.
Article 1 of the Law "On the Protection of the Environment" considers the reproduction of natural resources as one of the goals of the state's environmental policy, and in Part 2 of Art. 69 provides that persons who have suffered damage as a result of violation of legislation on the protection of the natural environment have the right to compensation for lost income for the time necessary to restore health, the quality of the natural environment, the reproduction of natural resources to a state suitable for use for the intended purpose .
The Land Code (Article 152) and the Law “On Land Protection” (Article 1 and others) regulate public relations for the reproduction and improvement of soil fertility, increasing the productivity of forest fund lands, ensuring a special regime for the use of environmental, health, recreational and historical lands. - cultural purpose. In addition, in paragraph b of Part 1 of Art. 205 of the Land Code provides for the need to allocate funds from the state or local budget to citizens and legal entities to restore the previous state of lands that have been disturbed through no fault of their own.
In the Water Code, the issue of water resources reproduction is covered by Art. 2, 11, 12, 13, 14-23, etc. The Law "On the Fauna" regulates relations in the field of reproduction of the animal world (Articles 1,2,9,10, 36, 57-62, etc.). The Law “On the Protection of Atmospheric Air” is also aimed at regulating the restoration of the natural state of atmospheric air, and the Law “On the Natural Reserve Fund” determines the legal framework for the reproduction of natural complexes and objects.
The sphere of reproduction of natural resources is most regulated by floristic legislation, in particular forest legislation. The Law "On Flora" regulates the reproduction of natural plant resources, which is carried out by owners and users (including tenants) of land plots on which objects of flora are located.
Reproduction of natural plant resources is ensured by:
A) promoting natural revegetation;
b) artificial restoration of natural plant resources;
c) prevention of undesirable changes in natural plant groups and the negative impact of economic activity on them;
d) suspension (temporarily) of economic activity in order to create conditions for the restoration of degraded natural plant groups (Article 23).
The scope of work on their reproduction and the methods of their implementation are determined by projects that are approved by specially authorized central executive authorities in the field of environmental protection. Reproduction of natural plant resources is carried out on the basis of specially developed and approved rules.
The Forest Code regulates relations on the reproduction of forests (Articles 79-82), which is carried out through their restoration and afforestation. At the same time, reforestation is carried out on forest areas that were covered with forest vegetation, and afforestation is carried out on lands intended for the creation of forests that are not covered with forest vegetation, primarily low-productive and unsuitable for use in agriculture, on agricultural lands allocated for the creation of field-protective forest belts and other protective plantings. This issue is considered in more detail in the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 97 “On approval of the Rules for reforestation and afforestation”.
A significant group is made up of environmental protective relations, which are closely related to relations arising in the field of reproduction and restoration of environmental objects, but also have some independence within the framework of unified environmental relations. They are formed in the process of implementing a set of protective environmental measures by the relevant entities. Environmental protection is a system of political, economic, legal, organizational, technical, technological, sanitary and other state and public measures aimed at ensuring a safe environment for human health. Protective relationships are inherently complex. They include a scientifically based organization of accounting for natural resources, forecasting, planning, logistics and financing of measures aimed at preventing, neutralizing the harmful effects on the environment and eliminating these consequences, standardization and regulation of nature management, assessing the impact of industrial and economic and other activities on the environment, environmental education and upbringing, state and public control over compliance with the requirements of environmental legislation, etc.
Environmental legal relations are classified into types and on other grounds. According to the methods of regulation, they are divided into: managerial, based on the power relations of subjects, and contractual, which are characterized by the equality of the parties, their autonomous position relative to each other. Depending on the relationship between the subjects of environmental legal relations, they are divided into relative and absolute. In relative terms, both the authorized and the obliged subject are clearly defined. In absolute terms, only the authorized person is personally determined, and all other subjects are obliged to refrain from infringing on the interests of the authorized person. Depending on the nature of environmental relations, one can single out material, establishing the content of rights and obligations, and procedural, regulating the procedure for resolving specific issues. To differentiate environmental legal relations, other criteria can be applied, for example, according to the functions of law, according to the composition of participants, according to the duration of action, and others.
Environmental relations as a type of public relations have much in common with property, administrative and other relations that are regulated by the relevant branches of law, and at the same time they have differences. Their identity is manifested: in questions of the maintenance of property; the subject composition of a number of legal relations; at the conclusion of agreements, the objects of which are natural resources, as property of a special kind; expansion of the contractual form in nature management, etc. However, such elements do not give grounds for their identification, and even more so for the absorption of environmental relations by property or administrative ones. These relationships exist on their own. There are significant differences between environmental and other relations, which allow us to consider them independent, unified legal relations with forms and methods of legal regulation inherent only to them.
The main distinguishing feature is environmental factor, which manifests itself in various aspects:
1. Ecological relations exist only when natural objects are found in a holistic ecological system, without exception. So, for example, extracted minerals, caught fish, cut wood cease to be objects of environmental relations, since they are withdrawn (separated) from the natural environment, their connection with a single ecosystem is broken. These natural resources are involved in economic turnover, become property objects and move into the sphere of property relations, which are regulated by civil law.
2. The content of environmental relations is determined taking into account the laws of nature, according to which natural objects develop, therefore the human impact on these legal relations is limited. In addition, the natural environment is a relatively constant phenomenon, which ensures the stability of environmental relations. The model of sustainable development of nature and society is a strategic direction for solving environmental problems, chosen in the modern period. Property relations are based on socio-economic laws, and this determines their dynamism.
3. The subjects of environmental relations are obliged to strictly adhere to and comply with environmental standards and regulations, requirements, as well as limits on the use of natural resources, engage in the reproduction, protection of natural objects, as well as ensuring environmental safety. In property relations in market conditions, subjects are more free in their activities.
4. In environmental relations, the legal regime contains a significant number of imperative prescriptions, the implementation of which is mandatory for the subjects of these relations. This applies, first of all, to such areas as the reproduction of natural objects, environmental emergencies that have led to environmental pollution, etc. Moreover, these measures are carried out regardless of whether they are profitable or not profitable from an economic point of view. Here, the priority of environmental requirements applies. In property relations under market conditions, the use of imperative prescriptions is a rarer phenomenon.
