Ecology of the environment. Environment

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION- a system of government measures aimed at rational use of natural resources, conservation and improvement of the environment in the interests of living and future generations of people. O. o. With. includes, therefore, a set of measures, some of which are aimed at optimizing environmental management processes, and some - at preventing and eliminating undesirable impacts from the environment on humans, i.e. measures of a sanitary-hygienic, sanitary-technical nature, supported by state legislation.

Environmental management in a broad sense refers to the direct (or indirect) human impact on the environment. In this case, we are talking about the use not only of material natural resources (energy, mineral, water, land, forest, etc.), but also of natural resources necessary to ensure rational (namely rational, and not any needs generated by the development of the so-called . consumer society) needs of people, including their healthy physical and spiritual life.

The goals and objectives of environmental management are formulated in Article 18 of the Constitution of the USSR (1977) as follows: “In the interests of present and future generations in the USSR, the necessary measures are taken for the protection and scientifically based, rational use of the land and its subsoil, water resources, flora and fauna, for maintaining clean air and water, ensuring the reproduction of natural resources and improving the human environment.”

Measures of a sanitary and sanitary-technical nature include dignity. protection of the air basin (especially populated areas) in connection with the intensive development of industry and transport; protection from the action of pesticides and other chemicals. funds in connection with their widespread use in agriculture; combating the influence of radioactive substances, which are increasingly used in the national economy, industry, medicine, and biology; development of maximum permissible concentrations of toxic substances and protection from the effects of these substances on the human body, etc.

Scientific and technological progress, permeating the industrial and agricultural sectors of the national economy, is impossible without influencing nature, without using up its resources. Increasing industrial production capacity is always associated with a greater use of raw materials, significant consumption of water for industrial needs and an increase in emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere. Therefore, one cannot underestimate the dangers of the negative consequences of increased human impact on nature. Bearing in mind the chaotic use of natural resources that takes place in the capitalist world, F. Engels wrote: “Let us not, however, be too deluded by our victories over nature. For every such victory she takes revenge on us. Each of these victories, it is true, first of all has the consequences that we were counting on, but in the second and third place completely different, unforeseen consequences, which very often destroy the significance of the first ones” (Marx K., Engels F. Soch., vol. . 20, pp. 495-496). In a socialist society, the state legislatively regulates the use of natural resources and establishes rules for nature conservation. Therefore, the problem of reasonable, rational use of nature and its conservation in the interests of present and future generations is quite feasible. In a socialist society, the rational use, conservation and reproduction of natural resources and respect for nature are an integral part of the construction of a communist society, in which the optimal quality of the environment is an element of the material well-being of people. This applies equally to both the external natural environment and the environment surrounding a person in the conditions of production, his life and recreation.

The problem of environmental pollution caused by the direct impact of human activities arose especially acutely in the second half of the 20th century. Environmental pollution in the USA, England, Japan, France and other caps. In countries with high concentration of industry, it has reached critical proportions that are dangerous to the life and health of the population. Unregulated and uncontrolled use of natural resources leads to the disappearance of green areas, intense pollution of the atmosphere, water sources, accumulation in the soil and vegetation, as well as in animal organisms consuming this vegetation, of substances, the entry of which into the human body through food has become dangerous for it. life.

Particularly dangerous are the combustion products of coal and petroleum products, suspended particles of dust and metals, car exhaust gases, etc. The total amount of various types of harmful substances entering the environment per year worldwide has exceeded 30 billion tons. Hundreds of millions of tons of carbon monoxide are emitted into the Earth's atmosphere, approx. 150 million tons of sulfur oxides, more than 50 million tons of nitrogen oxides. Hundreds of millions of tons of ash are released into the environment every year; Millions of cubic meters of untreated wastewater containing large amounts of various toxic substances enter open water bodies. Potent toxic chemicals, metal salts, and numerous, stable, and previously non-existent substances accumulate in the water of these reservoirs. Pollution of water bodies leads to a reduction in natural fresh water reserves, disrupts the vital activity of aquatic plants, planktonic organisms, fish, etc.

Soil pollution from industrial, household and agricultural waste is occurring at an alarming rate. Around many industrial productions, artificial biogeochemical provinces (see) with increased levels of lead salts, cadmium, mercury and other chemical elements in the soil have formed. Numerous observations have shown that these highly toxic substances, dangerous to human life, can accumulate in plants, insects, birds, fish, and various livestock products. When assessing the degree of danger of environmental pollutants according to the so-called system. In stress indices (i.e., indicators of the most dangerous pollutants), pesticides took first place in the 70s (see). The widespread use of these substances in the national economy has led to the fact that they have become a permanent component of the natural environment - they accumulate in ecological systems and migrate on a global scale. These substances cause profound changes in ecological systems, contribute to the emergence of forms of pests resistant to pesticides, and the death of beneficial organisms.

Modern industry creates fundamentally new materials that do not exist in nature and are largely alien in their physical properties. and chem. properties of living organisms. The human body is evolutionarily unprepared for the action of many of them. Their impact on humans has led to the emergence of previously unknown diseases - genetic, toxicological, allergic, endocrine, etc.; At the same time, one should take into account the possibility of the emergence of certain forms of pathology across generations. Honey. Studies have shown that polluted atmospheric air has become one of the leading factors in the etiology and pathogenesis of respiratory diseases, bronchitis, bronchial asthma, emphysema, and malignant neoplasms of the respiratory system. So, for example, according to Japanese researchers for 1975-1976, the increased content of nitrogen oxides, ozone, sulfur dioxide, hydrocarbons and suspended particles in the air of Tokyo led to massive diseases of the respiratory system of urban residents.

One of the consequences of scientific and technological progress is the appearance of mutagenic physical factors in the environment in alarming quantities. and chem. nature. From physical factors, first of all, it should be noted various types of ionizing radiation of high penetrating power. It has been established that the mutagenic effect of ionizing radiation is universal and non-threshold, i.e. any dose can cause genetic damage. Genetic studies conducted in the 60-70s showed that even small doses of radiation can lead to a 2-fold increase in the number of patients with hereditary diseases.

Many chemicals also have mutagenic properties. compounds, and a number of them have a mutagenic effect that exceeds ionizing radiation. In the 60s Even the term “supermutagens” appeared, which began to mean substances whose mutagenicity is tens and hundreds of times greater than the mutagenicity of ionizing radiation (see Mutagens).

Many pesticides have cytogenetic activity; mutagenic and carcinogenic activity of many nitrogen oxides, nitrosamines and other nitro compounds has been revealed. The mutagenic effect of alkylating compounds formed from industrial waste and open technological processes, etc., has been studied. Once in the environment, mutagenic substances interact with each other, resulting in high concentrations of unstudied dangerous carcinogenic complexes being created in the atmospheric air and water sources.

The development of canning technology and the widespread use of canned food products has placed consumers in direct contact with chemicals. mutagens - formalin, propylene glycol, various nitro compounds, etc. Taken together, the modern canning industry in many countries has become due to insufficient government authority. supervision of the source of chemicals entering the human body. mutagens.

An increasingly serious problem has become the “contamination” of the environment with such substances harmful to human health. factors such as vibration (see), noise (see), electromagnetic fields of various ranges (see Electromagnetic field), etc., which is associated with the wide distribution of various vehicles, electrical household products, the growth in the number and power of radio and television stations, radar installations, etc. It has been established that by the end of the 70s. The noise level in all major cities increased by 12-45 dB, and subjective loudness doubled. Noise interferes with rest and leads to insomnia. It causes diseases of the nervous system, hypertension, etc. Noise contributes to the weakening of attention, memory, reaction speed, reduces labor productivity, and is one of the direct causes of injuries. It is estimated, for example, that in France noise is the cause of 11% of accidents at work and 15% of lost working time. After soundproofing the work premises of the offices of one American insurance company, errors by calculators were reduced by 52%, and errors by typists by 29%.

Until the end of the 60s, research by ecologists and hygienists concerned Ch. arr. problems san. protection of environmental objects on a national scale, studying the phenomena and consequences of local pollution of the environment. In the 70s The attention of scientists and the public was switched to studying the global consequences of environmental pollution. The fight against the onset of the environmental crisis has become a necessity for all countries and peoples and has become one of the factors in international politics and international cooperation.

Some bourgeois scientists, when discussing the current situation, come to the conclusion that modern society has crossed the threshold of natural self-defense of nature and that it can no longer be saved by human efforts. The scientific and technological revolution is increasingly presented by bourgeois theorists as a force hostile to human society. Representatives of this movement predict the inevitability of the death of all human civilization, all life on earth. Others believe that the scientific and technological revolution will itself resolve the environmental crisis, regardless of the nature of the social system. Still others, identifying real crisis situations in the modern capitalist world, limit themselves to abstract calls to overcome such situations through a “revolution in human consciousness.” Science, technology and man are considered by bourgeois theorists in isolation from the social organization of people's life, in isolation from society. They separate science and the scientific-technical revolution, their functions and orientation from social conditions, which vary depending on the existing social system.

The modern environmental crisis is determined by the social conditions of the capitalist system. The practice of socialist society shows that the destructive impact of the scientific and technological revolution on nature is not a fatal inevitability.

Environmental protection in the USSR.

The environment is inextricably linked with man, who is an active object of nature. In this regard, I.M. Sechenov wrote: “An organism without an external environment that supports its existence is impossible, therefore the scientific definition of an organism also includes the environment that influences it.”

In the field of environmental protection, the CPSU and the Soviet government proceed from the recognition of the vital importance of this problem for all mankind. The party and personally V.I. Lenin, in the extremely difficult conditions of the development of the economy, attached great importance to the issues of protecting the natural environment and related issues of preserving and strengthening the health of workers. In the first years of Soviet power alone, V.I. Lenin signed more than 100 documents aimed at the O. o. With. and rational use of natural resources. In 1918, in the work “Sketch of a plan for scientific and technical work” V.N. Lenin emphasized that the matter of nature conservation must be posed in accordance with the tasks of socialist construction.

The first legislative act of the Soviet government, signed by V.I. Lenin, was the decree on land, according to which all land and its subsoil were declared state property. This act legally stopped the predatory use of land. On May 27, 1918, V.I. Lenin and Ya.M. Sverdlov signed the law “On Forests,” which obligated local authorities to take care of the renewal and systematic use of forests. In February 1919, the Supreme Economic Council adopted a special resolution “On the Central Committee for Water Conservation - Tsentrvodoohrany”, which outlined a broad program of measures to protect water bodies from pollution by wastewater from industrial and municipal enterprises. In the same year, signed by V.I. Lenin, decrees of the Council of People's Commissars “On the bowels of the earth” were issued, and in 1921, “On the protection of fish and animal lands in the Arctic Ocean and the White Sea.” Careful attitude towards natural resources, reflected in decrees and resolutions, has become the principle of socialist environmental management and environmental protection.

In recent years alone, a number of resolutions have been adopted by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR: “On strengthening nature protection and improving the use of natural resources” (1972), “On measures to prevent pollution of the Volga and Ural river basins with untreated wastewater” (1972), “ On measures to prevent pollution of the basins of the Black and Azov Seas" (1976), "On measures to further ensure the protection and rational use of the natural resources of the Lake Baikal basin" (1977), "On additional measures to strengthen nature protection and improve the use of natural resources" ( 1978).

The Supreme Council of the USSR adopted the “Fundamentals of the legislation of the USSR and Union republics on health care”, which also reflects issues of environmental protection, “Fundamentals of the water legislation of the USSR and Union republics”, “Fundamentals of the legislation of the USSR and Union republics on subsoil”, “Fundamentals of forest legislation of the USSR and Union Republics”, as well as the Law of the USSR “On the protection of atmospheric air”. In addition, in relation to individual regions of the country, in recent years the Council of Ministers of the USSR has adopted a number of resolutions aimed at strengthening measures for environmental protection and rational use of the country's natural resources.

For the first time in the history of mankind, questions of O. o. With. were included in the basic law of the country - the Constitution of the USSR (1977). It regulates the principles of rational, scientifically based use of natural resources, defines tasks for preserving and improving the environment, and protecting public health. A necessary condition for protecting humans from adverse environmental factors was the development of criteria, the excess of which is associated with the risk of harm to human health.

The Soviet state became the first state in the world to establish scientifically based maximum permissible concentrations (MPCs) of various harmful substances in the atmospheric air of industrial premises, in the water of reservoirs, in food products, etc. The first MPCs relating to sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and hydrogen chloride , were approved by the People's Commissar of Labor of the RSFSR in 1922. By the fifties, MPCs in the air for sulfur dioxide, chlorine, hydrogen sulfide, carbon disulfide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, lead and its compounds, metallic mercury, dust ( non-toxic) and soot.

The maximum permissible concentrations developed by research institutes and approved by M3 of the USSR were included in a special section in the construction standards SN 245-71 “Sanitary standards for the design of industrial enterprises”, and the maximum permissible concentrations of harmful substances in the air of the working area were the basis of GOST 12.1.005.76 “Air of the working area » system of occupational safety standards. In the USSR, gigabytes were approved. standards for chemical substances that can pollute water bodies (approx. 800), atmospheric air (over 400), air in industrial premises (over 1000), soil (over 20), food products (approx. 200).

The enormous challenges of national economic development necessitate strengthening environmental protection measures, primarily to protect water bodies from pollution, as well as to reduce the harmful effects of pollution on human health. This will be solved by further expansion of the construction of treatment facilities, the development and implementation of technological schemes for waste-free production and the widespread use of recycled water supply. In 1975 alone, 1,580 complexes of treatment facilities were put into operation to protect fresh water from pollution; Much work in this direction is being carried out in large cities of the Volga basin. A significant place in protecting and improving the environment (protecting water and air basins, reducing noise and improving the microclimate) is given to urban planning measures (see Urban Planning). This is primarily the removal outside the city limits or the repurposing of enterprises, emissions from which cannot be significantly reduced, the creation of scientifically based sanitary protection zones (see) around industrial enterprises.

In order to protect the population from noise, large highways are being built to bypass residential areas; narrow streets are being replaced by highways isolated from residential buildings by green spaces; the flow of freight vehicles is regulated, the time for transporting goods to the trade network of densely populated areas is regulated. Legislative acts of the Soviet government on nature conservation and rational use of natural resources are reflected in government capital investments for these purposes.

Thus, for the implementation of a complex of environmental measures for the period 1981 -1985. In general, it is planned to allocate more than 10 billion rubles of government capital investments throughout the country.

Of great importance for solving problems in O. o. With. in the USSR it is the development of general schemes for the location of sectors of the national economy, regional planning projects and large industrial complexes both for the coming years and for the long term of development. These plans provide for the rational use of the territory and natural resources, as well as improving the working, living and recreational conditions of people. They contain scientifically based measures for the placement of settlements, industrial and agricultural enterprises, engineering structures, public recreation areas and protected areas.

In accordance with the resolutions of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR “On strengthening nature protection and improving the use of natural resources” (1972) and “On additional measures to strengthen nature protection and improve the use of natural resources” (1978) into the practice of state planning of economic activities on O . O. With. new provisions have been introduced. Regularly, current and long-term state plans for the development of the national economy of the USSR for sections of the relevant sectors of the economy provide for various types of work and ever-increasing appropriations for O. o. With. Measures for nature protection and rational use of natural resources in state plans for the development of the national economy are allocated as a separate section. State reporting on the implementation of relevant activities by the Ministries and departments has been established. All projects for the construction of new and reconstruction of existing enterprises must undergo state examination, taking into account the impact on the environment.

The USSR State Committee for Science and Technology, together with the USSR Academy of Sciences and other departments, is developing a scientific and technical forecast of possible changes in the biosphere as a result of the development of sectors of the national economy in the future for 20-30 years.

Our country has created a wide system of state bodies and public organizations for nature protection (see Sanitary and Epidemiological Service, Sanitary Supervision). State authorities approve plans for the development of the national economy, specifically hear and resolve issues related to improving the use of natural resources, analyzing the state and further improving environmental protection. The Supreme Soviet of the USSR has permanent commissions for nature protection under the Council of the Union and the Council of Nationalities. Reports and proposals of these commissions, in appropriate cases, are discussed at sessions of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR or, on its instructions, by the Council of Ministers of the USSR, ministries and departments of the USSR. Commissions for nature protection under the Councils of People's Deputies also exist at the level of union and autonomous republics, territories and regions, districts, and settlements.

The Council of Ministers of the USSR directs, leads, coordinates, and controls the activities of the ministries and departments of the USSR and directs the activities of the councils of ministers of the union republics in the field of public education. pp., develops comprehensive measures to improve environmental protection both for the country as a whole and for individual large districts and adopts appropriate resolutions. The councils of ministers of the union and autonomous republics carry out their activities in the same direction.

A number of ministries and departments are entrusted with the functions of state environmental control over the activities of all enterprises and organizations, regardless of their departmental subordination. Thus, M3 of the USSR exercises state authority. supervision over the implementation of established rules and regulations in the field of municipal improvement, water supply, food, everyday life and recreation of the population, placement of industrial facilities, provision of water protection measures, etc.; The Ministry of Agriculture of the USSR exercises state control over compliance with land legislation and the procedure for land use, over the correct management of hunting, the preservation and enrichment of beneficial flora and fauna, as well as over the nature reserve business; The USSR Ministry of Land Reclamation and Water Management carries out state control over the rational use of water, the implementation of measures to protect water bodies, the operation of treatment facilities and the discharge of wastewater into water bodies.

USSR State Committee for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Control together with state institutions. supervision of the USSR Ministry of Land Reclamation and Water Management ensures control over the level of environmental pollution. For this purpose, the National Service for Observation and Control of the Level of Environmental Pollution has been organized. A number of other ministries and departments are vested with the functions of state control over the use and protection of natural resources in accordance with their specialization. Each such ministries has corresponding state inspections. Laws on nature protection have been adopted in all union republics. Individual union republics created state republican committees for nature protection under the councils of ministers. Such committees were created in the Ukrainian, Belarusian, Georgian, Azerbaijani, Lithuanian and Moldavian SSR.

For the scientific substantiation of important decisions made and the development of technical policy in the field of environmental protection, the Interdepartmental Scientific and Technical Council on Complex Problems of Environmental Protection and the Rational Use of Natural Resources was organized under the USSR State Committee for Science and Technology. He is entrusted with coordinating and preparing proposals for solving major government problems in this area, as well as performing a number of important advisory functions.

The USSR Academy of Sciences has a Scientific Council on Biosphere Problems, designed to unite efforts and guide the work of many scientific institutions developing the scientific foundations for the rational use and protection of natural resources and methods for economic and environmental assessment of their use. In recent years, the development of principles for environmental and economic assessment of the most important types of natural resources has been intensified. A large range of work is being carried out to study the World Ocean and atmosphere. In the future, research into the World Ocean should lead to better use of its vast biological, mineral, energy and other resources, and contribute to the improvement of means of protecting the ocean from pollution.

Much attention in our country is paid to the organization of state reserves, which are essentially zones for the conservation and study of the genetic fund of the biosphere. The activities of state reserves are carried out in accordance with the principles of preserving representative standards of nature and the gene pool. State reserves and wildlife sanctuaries, along with forestry, fishing, and hunting enterprises, do a lot of work to restore stocks of valuable plants and animals, including those that are on the verge of extinction.

The problem of nature conservation even today raises many complex issues that require workers in the field of environmental protection. With. special knowledge. Therefore, along with the creation of a technical base, prof. training of specialists on various issues of O. o. With. Taking this into account, the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education of the USSR has developed measures to improve educational and research work in the field of educational activities. With. Since 1973, a section “Nature Conservation” has been introduced into the curricula of a number of universities in the USSR in order to provide future specialists with basic information about the problem of nature conservation and ways of its practical solution. Many technical universities have begun training engineers, technologists, architects, and other specialists in operational issues. With. It is important to promote knowledge about nature and cultivate a sense of respect for nature among the population through the press, radio, and television.

A lot of work is being done by public organizations - voluntary associations for nature conservation, the Moscow and other associations of nature explorers, geographical societies, the Knowledge society, etc. People's high fur boots and nature conservation associations are being organized . An important role in instilling a caring attitude towards nature and its riches is given to schools and youth circles.

A powerful impetus to resolving issues of O. o. With. became the historical decisions of the XXVI Congress of the CPSU. The “Main Directions of Economic and Social Development of the USSR for 1981-1985 and for the Period until 1990” adopted at the congress provides for a broad and comprehensive program of measures to manage environmental quality (Section IX “Nature Protection”). The tasks of strengthening the protection of nature, the earth and its subsoil, atmospheric air, water bodies, flora and fauna are listed among the priorities, and when considering urgent issues of the development of science, the relevance of increasing the effectiveness of activities in the field of environmental protection is noted. With.

When setting the main goal of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan - ensuring further improvement in the well-being of the people - special attention is paid to improving public health, as well as protecting and improving the environment in the interests of preserving and strengthening the health of the population. An extremely important role is given to preventive work aimed at preventing diseases. Taking this into account, a comprehensive program of theoretical and practical research was developed on the problem of “Scientific foundations of environmental hygiene”, which began in the Tenth Five-Year Plan. This program plans to accelerate, expand and deepen the study of the general patterns of adaptation processes, the mechanisms of interaction of the human body with a complex of favorable and harmful environmental factors of anthropogenic and natural origin, as well as socio-economic factors in order to substantiate a system of national measures aimed at optimizing living conditions , labor and rest of Soviet people.

International cooperation in the field of environmental protection. Taking effective measures to protect and improve the environment in the country, the Communist Party and the Soviet government have attached and continue to attach great importance to expanding comprehensive international cooperation in this area. Soviet

The Union proceeds from the fact that the most rational approach to successfully solving environmental problems, which are global and complex in nature, can only be the united efforts of all states. From the first days of its existence, the Soviet state has been active in this direction. Back in 1922, a bilateral agreement was concluded between the RSFSR and Finland on water use and regulation of fishing in border water systems. A similar convention was signed in 1927 with Turkey. In the same year, the USSR signed an agreement with Iran on the joint exploitation of fisheries on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. Agreements on water protection and fisheries were signed by the Soviet Union with neighboring countries, and with some countries, in addition, agreements were concluded on joint fight against forest fires and carrying out quarantine measures.

Development of international cooperation in the field of O. o. With. and rational use of natural resources is an integral part of the Peace Program adopted at the XXIV Congress of the CPSU. Speaking at the congress with a report, the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Comrade. JI. I. Brezhnev spoke on this issue: “Our country is ready to participate together with other interested states in solving such problems as the preservation of the natural environment, the development of energy and other natural resources, the development of transport and communications, the prevention and elimination of the most dangerous and widespread diseases, research and exploration of space and the World Ocean."

Implementing the Peace Program, the Soviet Union entered into agreements on cooperation in the field of O. o. With. with the USA, France, Sweden, Canada, Germany, England, Italy, Iran and other countries.

Even earlier, in August 1963, in Moscow, representatives of the governments of the USSR, USA and England signed the “Treaty Banning the Testing of Nuclear Weapons in the Atmosphere, Outer Space and Under Water”. This agreement was joined by St. 100 states.

In 1966, an agreement on scientific, technical and economic cooperation was concluded between the USSR and France. The topics of long-term (10-year) cooperation included the development of methods for calculating and predicting pollution levels and the search for means of protecting atmospheric air, methods for studying surface and groundwater resources, methods and equipment for wastewater treatment and other problems.

In 1972, an agreement on cooperation in the field of O. was signed in Moscow between the USSR and the USA. With. This agreement provided for the study of the impact of pollution on the human environment, the development of a framework for regulating the impact of human activity on nature and measures to prevent air, soil and water pollution.

The USSR and other socialist states initiated broad collective measures to solve the environmental problem. The draft General Declaration on the foundations of European security and the principles of relations between states in Europe, proposed by the Soviet Union at the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, specifically spoke of the need for all states of the continent to develop bilateral and multilateral ties in the field of environmental protection. A section devoted to the development of such ties was included in the project proposed by the meeting participants, the delegations of the GDR and Hungary. The proposals of the USSR, East Germany and Hungary were unanimously supported by the participants of the All-European Conference and were fully reflected in the Final Act of this historical forum, signed in Helsinki on August 1, 1975 by the leaders of 33 European states, as well as the USA and Canada. This document proclaims: “... the protection and improvement of the environment, as well as the conservation of nature and the rational use of its resources in the interests of present and future generations, is one of the tasks of great importance for the well-being of peoples and the economic development of all countries, and that many Environmental problems, particularly in Europe, can only be effectively addressed through close international cooperation.”

The participating states of the Pan-European Conference clearly defined the specific goals of cooperation on this issue, outlined the most important areas, possible progressive forms and methods of this cooperation. They agreed, inter alia, to cooperate in areas such as combating air pollution; protection of water from pollution and use of fresh water; marine environment protection; soil conservation and land use; protection of nature and reserves; improving the environment in populated areas; fundamental research, observations, forecast and assessment of changes in the environment; legal and administrative measures on O. o. With.

The successful completion of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe gave a powerful impetus to the development of international cooperation on the problems of protecting and improving the environment. These problems are planned to be resolved both on a bilateral and multilateral basis, including regional and subregional. At the same time, it is expected to make full use of the existing and potential capabilities of existing international organizations dealing with public health issues. pp., in particular the UN Economic Commission for Europe, and the UN Environment Programme, in which the Soviet Union actively participates and makes a constructive contribution to the development and implementation of their programs.

In accordance with the recommendation of the UN conference on environmental problems, which went down in history as the Stockholm Conference (1972), and by the decision of the XXVII session of the UN General Assembly in 1972, the international “UN Environment Program” (UNEP) was created. This program included 7 priority areas of activity: 1. The problem of developing human settlements, maintaining human health and well-being (environmental problems caused by the intensification of the urbanization process, issues of combating air pollution, as well as the problem of recycling solid and liquid waste); 2. Problems of soil and water protection, as well as the fight against the spread of deserts (studying issues of rational use of water resources and preventing their pollution, improving wastewater treatment technology, introducing advanced water use technologies); 3. Problems of education, professional training, information transfer (conducting international symposiums and seminars on the training of specialists in the field of environmental protection, the creation of an international reference service on environmental issues); 4. Trade, economic and technological aspects of the environmental problem (studying and searching for the most effective ways to combat environmental pollution, as well as developing methods for the most rational exploitation of natural resources); 5. Protection of the World Ocean from pollution (the main direction at first is the fight against pollution of the World Ocean with oil and petroleum products); 6. Protection of flora and fauna, conservation and maintenance of the genetic resources of the globe (issues of protection of endangered plants and animals, as well as issues of changes in natural ecological systems as a result of human impact on them); 7. The problem of energy and energy resources (initially only an assessment of the available information on this problem with an emphasis on the economic side).

The USSR actively cooperates in the field of environmental protection with socialist as well as capitalist countries and a number of international organizations - the UN, UNEP, WHO, UNESCO, etc. The scientific and technical cooperation of the USSR with the CMEA member countries on the complex problem of “Development of measures” is successfully developing for Nature Conservation". The main areas of cooperation are: coordination of methodological approaches to solving such issues as protecting public health, protecting ecological systems and landscapes, protecting atmospheric air, improving methods of recycling and neutralizing waste, socio-economic, organizational, legal, and pedagogical aspects of O. o. With. for the purpose of planned distribution of tasks between individual partner countries. More than 30 institutions of socialist countries take part in this cooperation on environmental hygiene issues alone.

Active international cooperation on medical aspects of O. o. problems. With. carried out through WHO. In accordance with the resolutions of the World Health Assembly, since 1973, a broad program has been implemented to assess the impact of environmental factors on human health called the WHO Environmental Health Criteria Program. Within the framework of the Program, groups of experts from various countries, including the USSR, work to analyze the world's available data on the toxicity and danger of various environmental pollutants and develop recommendations regarding acceptable levels of their impact on human health.

In May 1978, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR ratified the convention prohibiting military or any other hostile use of means of influencing the natural environment. This convention was signed in 1977 in Geneva by representatives of 33 UN member states. The most important feature of the new convention is that it affects such activities and such processes (meteorological and geographical), which have never before been the scope or subject of international agreements. The Convention expressed the most important task of our time - to preserve our earth - the planet of people - in all its beauty and diversity, so that it will continue to serve people in the future.

Upon ratification of the convention, the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Comrade. JI. I. Brezhnev said: “The Soviet Union is doing everything possible to protect nature, its flora and fauna, mineral resources... But we are not alone on the planet, and the preservation of nature requires the efforts of all people inhabiting the globe” (“Pravda”, 1978, May 17).

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P. N. Burgasov.

Man and nature are not a parity relationship, since the dominant role belongs to nature. Nature is the whole world that surrounds man, it is the cradle of life in different forms and meanings. Everything that exists, the environment around us, can exist in living and inanimate form, but this world influences our lives in various manifestations.

The interconnections and patterns of interaction of all things were noticed in ancient times and were part of human philosophy. The rapid development of technological progress, the desire to subjugate nature - all this has brought to the fore issues of conservation ecology and environmental protection.

The most powerful factories are being built, giant stations are being built, the length of gas and oil pipelines is growing every day. All this is part of technological progress for the benefit of humanity, but the flip side of this progress is the death of forests and changes in landscapes.

For many years we have consoled ourselves with the thought that man is the master of nature, but it is his “management” that leaves behind lifeless spaces, barren deserts, destroyed ecosystems and contaminated water bodies. Deplorable condition ecology and environmental contamination does not allow modern human society to enjoy the freshness of the sea tide, the clean breath of the forest space, the crystal water of the source.

This is how we changed nature. Explosions of nuclear power plants, rivers of flowing gasoline, wastewater from factories and plants, smog from exhaust gases, depletion of blue ribbons of rivers, deforestation. And if a reasonable person does not realize responsibility for state of ecology and environment, what will he leave behind on the blue planet?

Today, these issues concern many people who unite in “green” societies and environmental unions. After all, only through joint efforts are we able to revive and preserve natural resources and bear responsibility for all life on our planet, for our home - the cradle of life.

Environment and its protection

The current state of the environment requires protection through the law and a whole system of environmental regulations. Environmental protection and ecology must limit the destructive and destructive influence of humans on the environment. Many countries and communities in the modern world have introduced special measures to ensure environmental protection.

Strict restrictions on emissions of substances and harmful gases into the hydrosphere and atmosphere have been introduced. The creation of specialized unique reserves, national parks, and wildlife sanctuaries is organized and financed. Restrictive measures on fishing are being introduced, and hunting seasons and sizes are being reduced. The problem of garbage and industrial waste is solved using modern methods and processing technologies.

Since 1972, the UN Global Assembly has declared June 5th as World Environment Day. The choice of this date is not accidental, because it was in 1972 that the Stockholm Conference considered serious Environmental issues. This day is a call for annual special events by states and organizations aimed at preservation of ecology and environment.

On June 5, Russia also celebrates “Ecologist’s Day,” but every inhabitant of the Earth must remember that a healthy environmental ecology– these are not holidays, but actions. Failure to maintain the ecological balance can lead to tragic consequences.

Depressing forecasts

• The annual increase in the area of ​​deserts amounts to 27 million hectares, which leads to catastrophic losses of fertile soil for all humanity. All of Australia's wheat fields combined represent the amount of land lost to agriculture every year.
• Only 3% of the population in 1800 lived in cities, 50% of urban residents were recorded in statistics in 2008, and by 2030 the concentration of people in cities will be 60%.
• Information technologies are already a consequence of the entry of 2% CO2 into the Earth's atmosphere, which exceeds the volume of carbon dioxide emissions from aviation activities. Expected forecasts are disappointing and it is assumed that developments in the field of Internet technologies will increase CO2 emissions into the atmosphere by 20% by 2020.
• According to biologist Wilson from Harvard University, 30,000 species of diverse living organisms disappear from the face of the Earth every year, and the end of the millennium at this rate will be marked by the irreversible loss of half of the current biodiversity.
• Irrational development of various deposits by the end of this century may cause the complete depletion of the Earth's mineral resources.
• The area of ​​primary forests, which provide habitat for 3/4 of all biological species on the planet, has decreased by 20% over the past 40 years, and continues to decline rapidly.
• The planet's coral reefs have shrunk by 30% and the destruction of unique ecosystems continues.
• Natural disasters and catastrophes on the planet from 2000 to 2006 inclusive increased by 187% compared to the previous decade. And this is the planet’s response to our attitude towards it.
• Z pollution of groundwater ecology becomes a potential threat to pollute 97% of the planet's fresh water supplies.
• Influence ecological situation on the environment will lead to the complete disappearance of snow on Kilimanjaro by 2033.
• Global warming is intensely affecting permafrost, causing Russia to lose 30 square kilometers of land each year.

Ecology, environment and industrialization

The above facts show how industrial progress affects ecology and pollution environment. Our planet can no longer be proud of clean air, fertile soil and “living” water. Almost every city is similar to one another with a huge number of cars, factories and factories.

Industrial activity, producing by-products, kills all life on the planet. Acid rain, global warming, thinning of the ozone layer - the list is quite long, which consists of many minor violations, non-compliance with standards, and negligence.

All this negativity, and the processes associated with it, are caused by a huge amount of pollutants that enter the atmosphere from industrial enterprises. Cities devoid of vegetation are suffocated by smog. Diesel and gasoline engines of automobile transport poison the air every day.

Huge tracts of forests - the lungs of the planet - are mercilessly destroyed in favor of industrial growth. The oxygen balance is disrupted not only in a single country, but throughout the entire planet.

Many animals, birds and plants are listed in the Red Book, others are teetering on the brink of extinction, because the animal world has not only become a source of food for humanity, but a product of greed and entertainment.

Floodplains of rivers and lakes turn into deserts, salt marshes, and stinking puddles. Birds no longer find refuge along the food-rich banks of rivers and lakes. Fish stocks are depleted or killed by oil spills. We can partially observe the once rich fish populations only in aquariums.

And for this there is no need to read frightening press reports; at every nearby body of water we can observe a depressing picture of pollution and irresponsible attitude towards ecology and environment. What other “horror stories” are needed so that every person understands that destroying nature is not ethical, not fashionable, but dangerous?

Environmental education

Undoubtedly, problems of ecology and environment must be resolved at the global level, using legislative, organizational, sanitary, hygienic, engineering and other measures and levers. But, you can start now to take good care of your home - the Earth within your home, district, city.

For example, in the Murmansk region, at the children’s and youth library, activists of the organization “Nature and Youth” held a mass master class on making ecological bags using the Japanese Furoshiki technique.

The Furoshiki technique allows you to use a square piece of fabric as a container for carrying various objects of various sizes and shapes. The purpose of this event was the great desire of the younger generation to abandon plastic bags as items that pose a danger to the environment.

With a little imagination, a lot of money and resources are saved on the production of unnecessary plastic, without harming the environment. “Let's save the planet together” - these were the slogans of this day, where employees of the organization informed children and parents about the destructive impact of anthropogenic impact on nature and the need environmental protection from ourselves.

You can start small, and even such a contribution to protecting the environment and improving the environment will improve our future.

Protection of Nature– a set of state and general educational measures aimed at preserving the atmosphere, flora and fauna, soils, waters and subsoil.

In the 50s XX century Another form of protection arises - the protection of the human environment. This concept, close in meaning to nature conservation, puts the person in the center of attention, the preservation and formation of such natural conditions that are most favorable for his life, health and well-being.

Environmental protection- represents a system of state and public measures (technological, economic, administrative, legal, educational, international) aimed at the harmonious interaction of society and nature, the preservation and reproduction of existing ecological communities and natural resources for the sake of living and future generations. The new environmental Federal Law (2002) uses the term “environmental protection”, while the “natural environment” is understood as the most important component of the environment. In recent years, the term “protection of the natural environment” is also often used, which is close to another concept - “protection of the biosphere”, i.e. a system of measures aimed at eliminating the negative anthropogenic or natural influence on the interconnected blocks of the biosphere, maintaining its evolutionarily developed organization and ensuring normal functioning.

Environmental protection is closely related to environmental management - social and production activities aimed at meeting the material and cultural needs of society through the use of various types of natural resources and natural conditions. According to N.F. Reimers (1992), it includes:

a) protection, renewal and reproduction of natural resources, their extraction and processing;

b) use and protection of natural conditions of the human living environment;

c) preservation, restoration and rational change of the ecological balance of natural systems;

d) regulation of human reproduction and the number of people.

Nature management can be rational and irrational. Rational environmental management means an integrated, scientifically sound, environmentally safe and non-exhaustive use of natural resources, with the maximum possible preservation of the natural resource potential and the ability of ecosystems to self-regulate. Irrational environmental management does not ensure the preservation of natural resource potential, leads to a deterioration in the quality of the natural environment, and is accompanied by a violation of ecological balance and destruction of ecosystems.

At the present stage of development of the problem of environmental protection, a new concept of “ecological safety” is being born, which is understood as the state of protection of the natural environment and vital environmental interests of humans from the possible negative impact of economic and other activities, emergency situations, and their consequences.

The scientific basis for all measures to ensure the environmental safety of the population and rational environmental management is theoretical ecology, the most important principles of which are focused on maintaining the homeostasis of ecosystems and preserving animal potential.

Ecosystems have the following maximum boundaries of such existence (existence, functioning), which must be taken into account during anthropogenic impact (Saiko, 1985):
extreme anthropogenic tolerance - resistance to negative anthropogenic influences, for example, the harmful effects of pesticides;
limit of tolerance - resistance to natural disasters, for example, the effect of hurricane winds on forest ecosystems;
limit of homeostasis - the ability to self-regulate;
limit of potential regenerativeness, i.e. self-healing abilities.
Environmentally sound rational management of natural resources should consist of increasing these limits to the maximum possible extent in order to achieve environmentally balanced environmental management. Irrational use of natural resources ultimately leads to an environmental crisis.
The environmental crisis is a real threat to humanity

Environmental activities in Russia

In our country, certain efforts have been made to protect nature at different periods. Environmental protection laws in the USSR were adopted in the 70-80s of the 20th century.

In 1991, the RSFSR Law “On the Protection of the Natural Environment” was adopted. First of all, it defines the principles of protection
environment: priority of protecting human life and health,
combination of economic and environmental interests,
rational use of natural resources, transparency and
openness of environmental information, etc.

The law establishes rights citizens in the field of environmental protection, the main legal institutions of nature conservation, specially protected natural areas, zones of environmental emergency, as well as requirements for various types of activities, the basics of environmental control and education, types of environmental offenses and responsibility for them. The law contains a set of rules for its protection in conditions of economic development and is, therefore, the Environmental Code of Russia. The objectives of this law can be divided into three parts:

Protection of the natural environment (and through it human health)

Prevention of harmful effects of economic and their activities;

Improving the environment and improving its quality

The law calls the leading principle aimed at solving these problems a combination of environmental and economic interests, scientifically justified from the point of view of preserving and, if necessary, restoring the natural environment and human health. This scientifically based combination should establish standards for the quality of the natural environment - maximum permissible standards for exposure (chemical, physical, biological, etc.), maximum permissible concentrations of harmful substances, maximum permissible emissions, discharges of harmful substances, standards for radiation and electromagnetic exposure, noise , vibrations, standards for harmful residual substances in food, etc. To ensure compliance with environmental quality standards, the law forms environmental requirements for all economic structures and citizens who are responsible for their failure to comply. It is prohibited to finance and implement projects and programs that have not received a positive conclusion from the state environmental assessment. The commission for acceptance of completed construction includes representatives of environmental protection and sanitary-epidemiological control authorities. The object will not be accepted without their signature. The law establishes the imposition of a large fine on members of acceptance commissions for accepting objects for operation in violation of environmental requirements. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation allows such persons to be held criminally liable for negligence or abuse of official position.

For the first time in our legislation, a section has been included in the law reflecting the right of citizens to a healthy and favorable natural environment. The real guarantees of this right are standards for maximum permissible harmful effects, a system of environmental control over their implementation and liability for non-compliance. The right of citizens and public environmental movements to provide environmental information, participate in environmental impact assessments, demand its appointment, hold rallies, demonstrations, apply to administrative and judicial authorities with applications to suspend or terminate the activities of environmentally harmful facilities, and claims for compensation for damage caused to health is established. and property. The amount of damage caused is recovered from the causer, and if it is impossible to establish it, then at the expense of the corresponding state environmental fund, i.e. in this case, the state is responsible to the citizen. The law includes two categories of factors in the economic mechanism of environmental protection: positive and negative. Their goal is to ensure the economic interest of the natural resource user in limiting the harmful impact on nature. Positive factors create direct economic incentives for nature conservation and provide financing, credit benefits, and reduced taxation.

The environment is not just what is around a person, the health of people, as well as the ability of future generations to live on this planet, depends on it. If you approach its preservation irresponsibly, then it is likely that the entire human race will be destroyed. Therefore, everyone should be aware of the state of nature, as well as how they can contribute to its protection or restoration.

What depends on the environment?

All life on Earth depends on how good the environment is. In this case, it is impossible to take into account any particular area, since all systems have a certain connection with each other:

• atmosphere;
• oceans;
• sushi;
• ice sheets;
• biosphere;
• water streams.

And every system is threatened in one way or another. But after a certain area is exposed to too much negative impact, various natural disasters can occur. Those, in turn, necessarily threaten people's lives. Therefore, everything depends on the environment, from a favorable human life to the preservation of natural resources for future generations.

All systems are monitored by responsible persons. However, as stated, every person will suffer if any area reaches a critical point leading to a natural disaster. For this reason, everyone must ensure that nature remains in its original state, or, if it has already been disturbed, every effort must be made to return it.

Nature and environment

Virtually every person has an impact on the environment, regardless of their occupation. Some of them do actually useful things, with the help of which vast wealth can be conveyed to future generations - clean air and water, untouched nature, and so on. However, most people have a negative influence, which gradually destroys everything that the planet gives to humanity.

Fortunately, many countries in our time are well aware of the importance of the environment and their responsibility for its preservation. And it is for this reason that it is possible to save certain natural wealth, resources, without which the environment will perish, and soon after it, all of humanity.

Both countries in general and individual organizations in particular need to pay attention not only to virgin areas of nature, but also to those that actually need human help. These are marine ecosystems and the atmosphere, because human health directly depends on them. Therefore, the basis for preserving nature and the environment surrounding humanity is not only responsibility for a specific area, but also for their totality and interconnection. If we take chemical waste as an example, then they should be considered not only as elements that spoil human health, but also as those that harm nature.

Human-environment interaction

It is known that not only environmental resources and their safety, but also human health depend on the release of chemical waste into the atmosphere or marine ecosystems. In this regard, by 2020 it is planned to completely eliminate such pollution, not even to reduce it to a minimum. For this reason, today all those enterprises that deal with chemicals must provide detailed reports regarding how waste is disposed of.

If there is an increased concentration of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to humans, it is necessary to promptly reduce their level. But this requires the participation of all people, and not just those organizations that bear some responsibility for protecting the environment. There is a generally accepted and undeniable belief that it is extremely important for a person to spend time outdoors. This benefits him and helps him improve or maintain his health at a good level. However, if he inhales chemical waste, this will not only not contribute to the task, but will also cause harm. Consequently, the more responsible each individual behaves in relation to the environment, the greater the likelihood of its preservation and maintenance for many years.

Marine ecosystems

Many countries and states are surrounded by large bodies of water. In addition, the water cycle cannot be ignored. Therefore, any city, even if it is located in the center of the mainland, is directly related to marine ecosystems. Consequently, the life of all people on the planet is connected with the oceans, therefore the preservation and protection of water space is not the least important task.

The Department of the Environment simply cannot do without working to protect marine ecosystems. Its objectives include minimizing ocean pollution. Unfortunately, modern human activity cannot eliminate this factor, but it is necessary to strive to reduce it.

The sources that pollute the hydrosphere are the following:

1. Utilities.
2. Transport.
3. Industry.
4. Non-production sphere.

The maximum negative effect is caused by industrial emissions of various wastes into rivers or seas.

Air pollution

The atmosphere is a system that has several methods of self-defense. However, the negative impact on the environment in our time is so great that it does not have enough energy for defense measures, as a result of which it gradually wears out.

It is necessary to highlight several main sources that pollute the atmosphere:

1. Chemical industry.
2. Transport.
3. Electric power industry.
4. Metallurgy.

Particularly alarming among them is aerosol pollution, which means that particles are emitted into the atmosphere in a liquid or solid state, but they are not part of its permanent composition.

However, oxides of carbon or sulfur are more dangerous. It is they that lead to the greenhouse effect, which results in an increase in temperature on the continents and so on. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully monitor the composition of the air, since additional impurities will sooner or later affect humanity.

Ways to protect the environment

The higher the negative impact on nature, the more organizations should be created that will not only be responsible for its protection, but also disseminate information that helps all inhabitants of the planet understand how dangerous pollution is. Consequently, as harm increases, protective measures also intensify.

International includes several methods for preserving nature and its resources:

1. Creation of treatment facilities. They can exert their influence only on marine resources or the atmosphere, or they can serve in combination.
2. Development of new cleaning technologies. This is usually done by companies that handle chemicals to facilitate disposal or increase the positive impact in a particular system.
3. Proper placement of dirty industries. Security companies and organizations still cannot answer the question of where exactly the relevant enterprises should be located, but it is being actively addressed.

In a word, if we are to look for a solution to the problem of the ecological state of the planet, then this must be done by all representatives of the world community. You can't do anything alone.

Pollution fee

Since today there are no countries where human activity is not associated with environmental fees, some enterprises are charged for the environment. This process takes place in accordance with the law adopted in 2002.

A common mistake of companies involved in dirty production is that after paying funds to preserve nature, they continue the process of negatively impacting it. In fact, it may result in criminal liability. Paying a fee does not at all relieve one from liability, and every enterprise is obliged to strive to reduce harm, or even eliminate it altogether.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we can say that the environment is the totality of all those elements that are around people. It was she who provided the opportunity for evolution, for the emergence of the human race. Therefore, the main goal of our time is its protection, purification and preservation. If this does not happen, then literally in a few centuries the planet will turn into a place unsuitable for human life and activity.

Environmental protection - one of the most pressing problems of our time . Scientific and technological progress and increased anthropogenic influence on the natural environment inevitably lead to an aggravation of the environmental situation: reserves of natural resources are depleted, the natural environment is polluted, the natural connection between man and nature is lost, aesthetic values ​​are lost, the physical and moral health of people deteriorates, economic and political problems are aggravated. struggle for raw materials markets, living space.

As for the Russian Federation, it is one of the countries in the world with the worst environmental situation. Pollution of the natural environment has reached levels unprecedented in recent years. Only losses of an economic nature, not taking into account harm to the environment and human health, according to experts, annually in Russia amount to an amount equal to half of the country’s national income. More than 24 thousand enterprises today are powerful polluters of the environment - air, mineral resources and wastewater. From the standpoint of current criminal legislation, their activities are criminal. But in this sphere of human activity, contrary to all declarations on the human right to an environment favorable to life and health before other interests in the hierarchy of social values, economic interests still prevail over environmental ones. The most acute environmental problem in the modern Russian Federation - environmental pollution. The health of Russians is significantly deteriorating; all vital functions of the body, including reproductive, are affected. The average age of men in the Russian Federation in recent years has been 58 years. For comparison, in the USA - 69 years, in Japan - 71 years. Every tenth child in the Russian Federation is born mentally or physically disabled due to genetic changes and chromosomal aberrations. For some industrially developed Russian regions, this figure is 3-6 times higher. In most industrial areas of the country, one third of the residents have various forms of immunological deficiency. By the standards of the UN World Health Organization, the Russian people are approaching the brink of degeneration. At the same time, approximately 15% of the country's territory is occupied by zones of environmental disasters and environmental emergencies. And only 15-20% of residents of cities and towns breathe air that meets established quality standards. About 50% of the drinking water consumed by the Russian population does not meet hygienic and sanitary-epidemiological standards. This sad list is quite extensive. But the data presented indicate that it is time for all citizens of the vast and resource-rich Russia to realize that the time of unregulated unlimited use of the environment is irrevocably gone. You have to pay for everything: with money, by introducing strict restrictions, by establishing criminal liability. Otherwise, a person pays not only with his health, but also with the health of the entire nation, the well-being of future generations, since uncontrolled negative impact on the natural environment is the destruction of humans as a species.

It seems that the development of the state’s environmental policy, Russian legislation, and scientific aspects of environmental law is one of the forms of ensuring the environmental safety of the population, protecting the natural environment and rational use of its resources. Another side of environmental law is compensation for harm caused to nature or human health. It should be carried out in conjunction with economic, political, moral, educational, educational measures, etc. This paper examines the main aspects of the development of environmental law, modern Russian policy in the field of ecology and environmental protection, the state of this problem, its development in environmental law, current Russian legislation and practice. When writing the work, the author used legal educational literature, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the Constitution of the Russian Federation, other sources and legal acts.

2. Environmental policy of modern Russia

Over the past decades, the scale of human activity, the size and consequences of its impact on nature have changed qualitatively. Traditional anthropocentric ideas about the relationship between society and nature have come into conflict with reality, which is confirmed by the alarming facts of human impact on the environment. By the beginning of the 60s. 20th century There was a need to regulate the adverse human impact on the environment.

The social and legal need for a qualitative deepening of environmental knowledge and the practical application of the results of environmental research was formed under the conditions of the global environmental crisis caused by anthropogenic factors and, above all, human activity. Its severity and unpredictability of consequences make us recall the pessimistic foresight of J. B. Lamarck: “ One could perhaps say - he warned at the beginning XIX c., that the purpose of man is, as it were, to destroy his race, having first made the globe uninhabitable" (Lamarck J.B. Analytical system of positive human knowledge // Selected. works. In 2 vols. M., 1959. T. 2. P. 442).

Currently, environmental problems negatively affect the lives of 30-40% of Russians. The poor state of the environment is one of the most important causes of concern. For example, according to the results of a survey conducted by the ISPI RAS, for Muscovites the three main reasons for concern were crime - for 56% of respondents, high prices - for 52%, and the environmental situation - for 32%.

Migration, health status, labor activity of the population, political stability of society, and ultimately national security objectively depend on the environmental situation in the country (region). For example, a consequence of the unfavorable environmental situation in Moscow (air pollution with nitrogen and carbon oxides, phenol, etc.) is high levels of incidence of respiratory diseases in the population, 25-40% higher than the average for Russia.

The employment problem in the regions is aggravated by the forced permanent or temporary closure of environmentally hazardous industries, especially those that are city-forming factors.

Familiar and accessible types of recreation for the population “do not survive” in conditions of deteriorating environmental conditions. Thus, numerous cases of mushroom poisoning that occurred in European Russia in 1994 were associated with the accumulation of heavy metal salts by mushrooms.

Complex environmental problems influence the nature and severity of contradictions along the lines “center - regions”, “region - region”, and in the conditions of a multinational state, also on interethnic relations. Thus, the deterioration of the environmental situation infringes on social needs and contradicts the interests of the population, causing socio-ecological tension at the regional and national level. Under certain conditions, this tension leads to the emergence of socio-ecological conflicts. Thus, the active opposition of the population necessitated the mothballing of the plant for the destruction of toxic substances, ready for launch in Chapaevsk.

For modern Russia, socio-ecological tension is one of the main factors in the formation of an unfavorable social situation in the country, which is confirmed by the results of sociological studies conducted by the Institute of Social Sciences and Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences based on representative samples since 1998. In 2000, already 40% of respondents noted the presence of a significant connection between the environmental situation and social tension in their place of residence, and only 9% of respondents denied the existence of this connection. The very ecological situation in the place of residence was assessed as extremely unfavorable by 27% of respondents and as not entirely unfavorable by 57%. The results of an expert survey of environmental specialists, carried out in February 2002, do not differ qualitatively from the above.

For the normal functioning of society, an effective science-based state environmental policy is necessary, the need for which is intensifying as a result of the growing crisis in the field of ecology. The development of society cannot be considered within the framework of the traditional “two-coordinate system of socio-economic problems. The environmental factor in the development of society persistently declares its priority. “If the air cannot be breathed, the water cannot be drunk, and the food cannot be eaten, - writes A.V. Yablokov, then all social problems lose their meaning.” .

The need for environmental public policy stems from three features of the current stage of Russia’s development:

Firstly, the relationship between society and nature has objectively entered a dangerous phase, when the satisfaction of human vital needs through a frontal attack on nature causes changes in it that begin to potentially threaten the existence of man as a biological species;

Secondly, environmentally dangerous human impacts on nature are brought to life by social mechanisms that govern the economic, military and other spheres of society);

Thirdly, if the previous conclusions are true, then the social and natural aspects of human life should be considered in inextricable unity. Without managing social processes, society can make the environment unsuitable for human existence, and without improving the environment, it can give rise to destructive social processes that can interrupt the progressive development of civilization.

Environmental policy can be interpreted as a system of specific political, economic, legal and other measures taken by the state For managing the environmental situation and ensuring the rational use of natural resources in the country. Purpose State environmental policy is to ensure harmonious, dynamically balanced development of the economy, society, and nature. The development and implementation of environmental policy are complex tasks not only due to the fundamental importance of environmental problems for the life of the country, but also due to the scientific uncertainty characteristic of many of the most important applied and conceptual issues.

At the conceptual level, it is necessary to finally determine the strategy for interaction between man and nature. As a rule, the concept of coevolution is proposed as a new paradigm, i.e. human development in harmony with nature on the basis of dialogue and equal cooperation with it. However, even among scientists there is still no common interpretation of coevolution. A number of researchers mean by it the primacy of nature and its preservation in an unchanged (or at least relatively unchanged) form, while others consider the preservation of “statics” in the relationship between society and nature to be a utopia. From their point of view, we can only talk about preserving “stable equilibrium” (the term belongs to E. Bauer), i.e. a state when changes in the parameters of the biosphere occur so slowly that humanity is able to adapt to changes and fit into practically stable biogeochemical cycles(cm.: Moiseev N. N. Civilization is at a turning point. The paths of Russia. M., 1999).

In addition, the transition to the coevolution paradigm as the basis of state environmental policy will have to be carried out in conditions of unreliability of even medium-term forecasting of the environmental situation, uncertainty in assessments of the probability and possible rates of development of individual components of the global environmental crisis.

Back in the late 60s. in the reports of the Club of Rome “The Limits to Growth” and “Humanity at the Crossroads” (see: Meadows P. L. The Limits to Growth. N.-Y., 1972: MesarovichM.,PestelE. Mankind at the Turning Point. N.-Y., 1974; Modeling of global economic processes. M., 1984) the following conclusions were formulated:

- while maintaining modern value systems, population growth and production growth mutually accelerate each other, and both the population and production volume increase exponentially even when approaching physical limits;

- For countries with a high level of development, the greatest danger in environmental terms is the development of nuclear energy and the growth of environmental pollution; for countries with a low level of - progressive depletion of natural resources amid population growth;

-a global environmental catastrophe (“ecological collapse”) can break out in a relatively short period of time, already in the middleXXI V.

Without disputing the fundamental content of these conclusions and sharing the opinion about the obvious bankruptcy of economic development carried out under the assumption of the unlimited ability of the environment to cleanse itself, many researchers, however, believe that “due to the lack of reliable information about the mechanism of degradation processes, scientific forecasting of the consequences of modern environmental management or the transition to new forms of management is difficult”(Changing world: a geographical approach to study. Soviet-American project. M., 1996. P. 15). This conclusion is confirmed, for example, by the materials of the official report of the World Meteorological Organization (2000) on the results of studying the possible consequences of the greenhouse effect. The report notes that if current trends continue, a decline in agricultural production can be predicted (Brazil, Peru, the Sahel zone of Africa, Southeast Asia, China, the Asian territory of the former USSR): forest extinction: sea level rise by 25-30 cm by 2050 and by 1st 2100. All this could lead to the physical disappearance of a number of island states, the migration of tens of millions of people; In large cities, serious threats to human health may arise.

However, the authors of the report state that it is now hardly possible to unambiguously link the general trend of climate warming with the avalanche-like development of the greenhouse effect, although the disruption of the natural carbon cycle under the influence of anthropogenic activities is beyond doubt. The above estimates are correct if existing climate changes are really associated with the greenhouse effect and will persist in the future, but is this really so? one can speak only with a certain degree of probability.

Significant difficulty is "technical content" g state environmental policy. As an example, we can refer to the very pressing problem for Russia of waste disposal from nuclear power plants (see table). Many such technical problems require resolution now, due to the inevitability of volitional decisions and the potential threat of long-term consequences of their inevitability.

Is its transition to the concept of sustainable development sufficient for the long-term determination of the foundations of Russia's environmental policy? This concept in its current form does not represent some complete model (program, project). In fact, it defines only a set of principles, following which it is possible to ensure social progress without exceeding the potential capabilities of ecological systems, to achieve satisfaction of the vital needs of the population and to shape them by shifting them to some environmentally rational area. To what extent this is feasible in modern conditions is not yet clear.

Russia's acceptance of the main provisions of the concept of sustainable development can be considered to a large extent a fait accompli. This is enshrined in the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of February 4, 1994. “On the state strategy of the Russian Federation for environmental protection and sustainable development”, The Concept of the Russian Federation's transition to sustainable development developed by the Government of the Russian Federation, which was approved by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of April 1, 1996.

Nevertheless, the concept of state environmental policy inevitably requires clarification as scientific knowledge deepens and in accordance with the environmental situation in the country. Difficulties in developing environmental policy are not limited to scientific uncertainty in addressing specific issues. They are due to many factors, including the influence of various pressure groups on the formation of its foundations. Behind the support of representatives of national scientific, political and economic elites of one point of view or another are qualitative differences in the distribution of natural resources between the Federation and the regions, corporate, as well as group and other interests and factors.

At the existing technological level and within the framework of the unchanged model of world development, global environmental improvement is a practically insoluble task, primarily due to the colossal amount of resources required for this. The following facts can serve as indirect confirmation of this thesis. In 1992, in the USA, environmental equipment was produced for 80 billion dollars and exported for 8 billion, in Japan - for 30 and 5 billion, respectively, in Germany - for 27 and 11 billion dollars (see: National forum “Ecology of Russia”//3rd Green Book of Russia. Part 2. Book 2. M., 1994). These data also indicate that in developed countries, technical support for environmental policy is turning into a large industry, with all the ensuing consequences, not only environmental, but also economic, political, etc.

How are environmental problems solved in the Russian Federation? The short answer is this: "in relation to poverty." In conditions of the economic crisis, environmental activities are financed on a residual basis, but against the backdrop of spectacular declarations. The prospect of the real development and practical implementation of an effective state environmental policy seems rather precarious if we assume that the latest administrative and managerial reforms (for example, the downgrading of the status of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, the abolition of the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Surveillance of the Russian Federation) reflect the true attitude of the highest echelons of power to environmental problems.

The Russian government, in a certain sense, has become a hostage to its own course towards the widespread introduction of market mechanisms in the field of ecology due to a lack of resources and insufficient development of the legal framework for nature conservation. Meanwhile, the construction of environmental protection mechanisms on the basis of the outdated concept of economic reductionism, which does not take into account the intrinsic value of human life and attempts to reduce all factors to a cost approach, including the establishment of the “price of human life,” has long caused justified criticism from domestic and foreign experts.

It should be noted that specific measures aimed at resolving environmental problems require more detailed and comprehensive study. For example, the establishment by authorities of currently technically unattainable GAC values ​​of pollution may lead to the fact that it will be more profitable for an enterprise to pay fines for emissions of harmful substances than to build and operate treatment facilities, since fines are inevitable, and refusal to treat waste brings cost savings. Therefore, in the implementation of environmental policy, it is necessary to take into account such factors as the economic inefficiency of most “clean” industries in a market economy (the costs of treatment facilities increase exponentially depending on the degree of treatment and approach the total capital investment in the enterprise): the final efficiency of existing treatment technologies, the lack of noticeable progress in creating “clean” energy sources, etc.

The opinion of environmental specialists on the importance of certain areas of implementation of environmental policy can be presented based on the results of a survey of experts conducted in February 1997. Among the priority measures that contribute to improving the environmental situation in the regions, respondents included: tightening control 39 of compliance with environmental legislation (74% think so). respondents); legislative enshrinement of the maximum possible compensation for damage caused to nature by enterprises, organizations and departments (70%); widespread coverage of the environmental situation by the media (45%); personal changes in the leadership of Russian environmental authorities (40%); carrying out independent environmental assessments (40%); an increase in centralized contributions for environmental protection measures to local budgets (29%); closure of all enterprises harmful to human health (20%). The dissatisfaction expressed by 80% of respondents with the existing structure of environmental authorities is symptomatic.

Effective state environmental policy today cannot do without costly, budget-financed areas. These include ensuring national survival in the context of a global environmental crisis, i.e., allocating resources in case of developments in “pessimistic scenarios”, taking measures to achieve sustainability or an acceptable level of change in key ecological systems.

The complexity and importance of the task of forming state environmental policy in Russia requires the participation of public organizations, including environmental parties and movements, in its development. During a period of acute socio-ecological tension, the establishment of constructive interaction between government bodies and these parties and movements can become one of the necessary conditions for maintaining controllability of socio-ecological processes.

The development of state environmental policy, its most important directions (programs, projects) should probably be carried out in such a way as to: ensure the formation of an ecological worldview of the population, including spiritual and moral education, education, mastery of world environmental standards of interaction in the “nature - man - society” system "; achieve constructive cooperation between society, the state, and citizens in protecting human health and the natural environment; ensure the introduction of environmentally acceptable technologies and rational use of the country's natural resources; develop an environmental law and order system; turn environmental and economic factors into an integral component of managing the economic and social development of the country: to realize the inalienable right of every citizen to a favorable and safe environment. Scientific knowledge, technology, human and natural resources are quite sufficient for Russia to overcome the environmental crisis.

3. Legal liability in environmental law.

According to the theory of law, the committed act is the objective basis of legal liability, the formal basis is the legal norm that establishes the composition and characteristics of the crime, and guilt serves as the subjective basis. However, the selection of norms, guilt and acts as grounds is to a certain extent arbitrary, because even taken together, they are not enough to actually bring the criminal to justice. Therefore, the only and sufficient legal basis for liability is the presence in the act of an environmental crime provided for by the norms of criminal law.

In accordance with the current Russian environmental legislation, what is recognized as an offense and what is a crime? In Article 81 Law of the RSFSR "On environmental protection" An environmental offense is defined as a guilty, unlawful act that violates environmental legislation and causes harm to the environment and human health. This definition has a number of shortcomings. There is uncertainty in it (an unlawful act that violates the law); not all social values ​​that form the subject of environmental legal relations that are harmed are listed; the consequences, and not the object of the offense, are taken as a systematizing feature. The consequences are not included in the elemental composition of the environmental relationship protected by law, and do not allow distinguishing between environmental and other crimes (economic, against property, against health, official, etc.).

Environmental crime can be described as socially dangerous, guilty, prohibited by law under threat of punishment act (action or inaction) aimed at causing harm to relations in the field of ecology (in comparison with Article 14 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation . A crime is a socially dangerous act committed guilty of guilt, prohibited by this Code under threat of punishment. An action (inaction) is not a crime, although formally it contains signs of any act provided for by this Code, but due to its insignificance it does not pose a public danger (as amended by the Federal Law of the Russian Federation dated June 25, 1998 No. 92-FZ).

The composition of an environmental crime (like any other) includes four elements:

-object of crime,

-objective side,

- subjective side,

-subject.

Object of environmental crime represents a collection social relations that have developed in the field of environmental protection, rational use of its resources and ensuring environmental safety, economic activity, subsoil development, etc.

Subject of environmental crime is the natural environment as a whole and its individual components (earth, subsoil, water, air, animals). This is one of the most important elements of environmental crime. It is this that makes it possible to determine in what relationships this or that natural resource is involved (what is its socio-economic essence) and to limit the crimes in question from others. Thus, fishing in violation of established rules constitutes illegal fishing, and the same actions committed in a fishing pond constitute theft of property, since in the latter case fish is not a natural resource located in its natural habitat, but is a commodity value. For these reasons, air pollution in industrial premises (mines, workshops, etc.) cannot be considered an environmental crime, since this act encroaches not on relations to protect the natural environment, but on relations to protect health during the performance of labor functions.

The subject of an environmental crime should be considered in connection with the object. An isolated analysis of the subject does not allow us to understand the relationship to which the damage is caused, and gives rise to errors and confusion in the legal assessment of the offense. The subject of environmental crimes should be considered various components of the natural environment that have not been torn away by human labor from natural conditions, or that accumulate a certain amount of labor of present and previous generations of people, but remain in the natural environment, or introduced into it by humans to fulfill their biological and other natural functions (forest plantations released for breeding animals, birds, fish fry, etc.).

For objective side An environmental crime is characterized by a violation, through action or inaction, of generally binding rules of environmental management and environmental protection; causing harm to the environmental interests of an individual, society or state or creating a real danger of causing such harm; the presence of a causal relationship between an environmentally hazardous act and the harm caused.

In cases provided for by law, the objective side includes place, time, situation, tools, methods, methods of committing an environmental crime. For example, the composition of an administratively punishable hunt is determined by hunting at a) prohibited time, b) in a prohibited place, c) without permission, d) with prohibited tools and methods is qualified as (Article 201.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation; Article 256 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), and hunting a) causing major damage, b) using a mechanical vehicle or aircraft, explosives, gases or other methods of mass destruction of birds and animals; d) in relation to birds and animals, hunting of which is completely prohibited; e) on the territory of a nature reserve, wildlife sanctuary or in a zone of environmental emergency is part of a criminal offense (Article 258 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

From the subjective side, both forms of guilt can occur: intentional and careless. Intent May be direct and indirect, and n carelessness- as carelessness or arrogance (frivolity). So, illegal hunting(Article 258 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), illegal extraction of aquatic animals and plants (Article 256 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), illegal cutting of trees and bushes(Article 260 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), destruction of critical habitats for organisms listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation(Article 259 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) are committed intentionally. Others, such as destruction or damage to forests – as a result of careless handling of fire or other sources of increased danger (Article 261 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) - only due to negligence. A number of actions, such as environmental pollution(Article 77 of the Code of Administrative Offences, Articles 251, 252 of the Criminal Code), violation of rules for the protection and use of subsoil(Article 255 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) can be committed both intentionally and through negligence.

At the same time, the motives and goals of intentional environmental crimes can be very different and, as a rule, are not indicated as elements of a crime, but can be taken into account when assigning punishment as aggravating or mitigating circumstances.

Art.88 Law "On environmental protection" taking into account the provisions of civil law, provides an exception to the general rule of culpable liability. It refers to cases where harm is caused by a source of increased danger. The obligation to compensate for damage falls on the owner of this source, regardless of the presence of guilt. Damage is subject to compensation due to the very fact of its infliction, unless it is proven that it occurred due to force majeure or the intent of the victim.

Subjects of environmental crime can only be individuals, while the subjects of environmental offenses are both individuals and legal entities, including business entities of various forms of ownership and subordination, as well as foreign organizations and citizens.

It seems that it is necessary to distinguish between subjects of crime and subjects of responsibility. Administrative, civil, and labor legislation, for example, provides for the liability of 3 persons for actions or events in which they are not objectively involved. Thus, administrative liability can be assigned to a parent for the actions of minor children, civil liability - to the cargo carrier or owner of a source of increased danger, disciplinary liability - to a superior for the actions of a subordinate.

Criminal subject, only individuals can be subject to disciplinary and financial liability under current legislation. Subject of administrative and civil liability- both individuals and legal entities.

Current legislation provides that administrative and criminal liability of individuals for environmental crimes begins at the age of 16. In civil proceedings, they bear limited liability from the age of 15 to 18, and full liability from the age of 18, because from this age the person becomes fully capable.

There are no age restrictions regarding the possibility of imposing disciplinary and financial liability on persons in labor relations with employers.

4. The concept of responsibility for environmental crimes, its types, objectives and principles.

The emergence and development of the institution of responsibility for environmental crimes before the collapse of the USSR occurred within the framework of the traditional legal system of the Soviet state.

In the post-Soviet period, characterized by a radical change in socio-economic relations and reform of the entire system of the Russian Federation (RF), when choosing means of state and legal influence for committing environmental offenses, the legislator faced two problems:

1) maximum use of the potential of previously created legal institutions for the purpose of environmental protection (EPS) in the conditions of market relations;

2) development of new norms of various branches of law on OOPS, including the development of administrative-legal, civil-legal and other institutions of responsibility.

In its final form, responsibility for environmental crimes is established in Article 81 Law of the RSFSR dated 19 December 1991 G."On the protection of the natural environment." In particular, it provides that for environmental crimes, officials and citizens bear disciplinary, material, administrative, civil and criminal liability, and enterprises, institutions, organizations - administrative and civil law in accordance with the said law and other legislative acts of the Russian Federation and its constituent entities.

Legal acts containing general provisions on liability for environmental crimes and offenses include federal environmental and resource legislation:

-Law of the Russian Federation"On environmental assessment" from 23 November 1995 G,

- Law of the Russian Federation"On specially protected natural areas" from 14 Martha 1996 G

- LawRF "On natural healing resources, health-improving areas and resorts" from 23 February 1995 G.,

-Land CodeRSFSR from 25 April 1993 G.,

Forestry Basicslegislation of the Russian Federation from 6 Martha 1993 G.,

- Water Code of the Russian Federation from 18 October 1995 G.,

- Law of the Russian Federation"About the Animal World" from 24 April 1995 G.,

-Codec of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (CAO)

According to Art. Art. 71, 72 Constitution of the Russian Federation the adoption of norms of criminal, penal, civil law in the field of protection and environmental protection falls under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation. Administrative, labor, housing, water, forestry, subsoil, and environmental protection legislation is under the joint jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Subjects of the Federation have the right to establish administrative liability for violation of: hunting and fishing rules; rules for other types of use of wildlife; decisions on combating natural disasters and epidemics; animal quarantine rules; veterinary rules. These circumstances should be taken into account when addressing issues of legal liability for environmental crimes.

Legal responsibility is one of the types of social responsibility. It in turn is divided into disciplinary, administrative, civil and criminal liability . They also distinguish between material and moral responsibility, the responsibility of individuals, legal entities and officials, disciplinary responsibility, etc. Each of its types used in the field of environmental protection (EPS) has its own individual characteristics. At the same time, all types are part of a general legal concept.

Unfortunately, insufficient attention has been paid to legal liability for environmental crimes in modern scientific literature. As a result, there was a disagreement of views on a number of basic theoretical issues and some uncertainty. Along with this, there is no single position regarding its legal definition, content, or division into types. Thus, there is an opinion about the presence "positive" responsibility, which should be understood as the obligation to perform actions consistent with "the objective requirements of a given situation and the objectively determined ideals of the time." This definition is vague, blurs the concept of legal responsibility, causes confusion of terms, confusion and additional difficulties in understanding their content. In retrospective terms, responsibility is allocated for an act already committed, "retrospective responsibility". Responsibility in perspective sense is considered as an obligation to comply with existing rules of law. Some lawyers equate responsibility and punishment. One can hardly agree with this opinion. Although these are interrelated, they are not identical concepts. Responsibility precedes punishment, but punishment does not always follow responsibility. The legal fact that gives rise to legal relations is the fact of committing a criminal offense. The content of this legal relationship is the mutually corresponding rights and obligations of the subjects. Due to the lack of a clear definition of legal liability for environmental crimes. It is noted that it is expressed in deprivations of a property, organizational or personal nature. Other scientists believe that it is “a system of coercive measures applied to violators of legislation in the field of environmental management and environmental protection in order to punish the perpetrators, suppress and prevent such offenses and restore violated rights.”

As for the classification of liability, the most widespread division into types according to its industry affiliation is: criminal, administrative, civil, material, disciplinary.

Does this mean that each branch of law has its own “own” responsibility? This issue is of great practical importance, given that some authors already recognize water-legal, land-legal, environmental (ecological-legal) responsibility as an independent type.

It seems that those authors are right who consider the allocation of liability for environmental crimes to be largely arbitrary, since it is nothing more than a complex of the above types of legal liability most widely used in the field of environmental protection.

National legislation is adapted to these four types of liability. Raising the question of recognizing new types of responsibility should also entail raising the question of creating a fundamentally new mechanism for their implementation. At the same time, nothing prevents the identification of new types of responsibility in terms of theoretical development of the problem.

Based on criteria known in legislative practice, all types of liability in the field of environmental protection, based on the grounds for their occurrence, can be divided into objective and subjective.

Towards an objective refers to civil liability arising from the fact of causing harm when using a source of increased danger, regardless of the fault of its owner. Here, the fact of causing harm by an act is an objective basis for liability, and the rule of law providing for it is a formal basis.

Subjective there will be liability that arises only if the subject of the offense has guilt as a mandatory element of the offense. From these positions, guilt can be considered a subjective basis of responsibility.

According to the methods of influence, liability is distinguished: compensatory, aimed at compensating for harm, and repressive, implemented in the application of punishment.

To compensation applies in particular to the obligation to compensate for the harm caused, provided for by the norms of civil and administrative law.

Towards repressive species applies, for example, administrative, criminal, disciplinary liability.

According to the scope of application, we can distinguish economic-legal, state-legal and other types of responsibility.

The peculiarities of new economic relations allowed lawyers to identify the so-called economic responsibility, which also affects relations in the field of ecology. It occurs for causing harm during lawful actions, when there are no grounds for assigning legal liability. Measures of such liability are, for example, mandatory fines for emissions of pollutants into the environment, payments for the use of natural resources, and compensation for losses in the natural environment. If there is legal regulation of economic relations, economic responsibility appears in the legal form of material (property) liability, in the form of suffering economic sanctions applied at the initiative of other subjects of law. The issue of liability for crimes in the sphere of economic activity remains largely controversial. Researchers correctly noted that such responsibility can be considered as an independent phenomenon only as an obligation to perform certain actions. Economic liability for an already committed violation does not exist as such: in such cases it always appears in the form of legal liability. Most economic sanctions are applied in the form of civil (penalty, fine, compensation for losses, forced fulfillment of obligations) or administrative (compensation for losses, fine, penalty) liability. Thus, economic responsibility in the form of an obligation to perform certain actions is nothing more than a type of “positive” responsibility.

It is hardly legitimate from these positions to talk about independent environmental and legal responsibility. Ultimately, it comes down to responsibility provided for by the norms of labor, administrative, civil, and criminal legislation. It would be more correct to talk about responsibility for environmental crimes. The types of such liability, as we see, can be different depending on both the branch of law and the type of offense (misdemeanor, civil tort, crime).

The foregoing also correlates with the system of environmental law, which, as a complex legal branch, consists not only of the norms of resource (water, air, land, subsoil, etc.) and environmental legislation, but also of the norms of constitutional, international, civil, administrative, labor, criminal and other legislation.

It seems that criminal liability for environmental crimes should achieve the following goals:

-protection of public relations in the field of ecology, environmental protection, air, subsoil, water;

- ensuring criminal punishment;

-preventing the commission of new crimes;

- education of the population in the spirit of respect for the law and the existing environmental legal order.

Liability for environmental violations is based on the principles:

- legality,

-equality of citizens before the law,

- culpable liability (with the exception of the obligation to compensate for harm caused by a source of increased danger, in order to implement civil liability),

-justice,

-humanism,

- its differentiated application,

-saving measures of state coercion.

5. Types of liability for environmental violations.

Disciplinary responsibility

Disciplinary responsibility employees of enterprises, institutions, organizations, regardless of their form of ownership, are liable for failure to implement plans and measures for nature conservation and rational use of natural resources, for violation of environmental quality standards, improper operation of treatment plants and structures and for violation of other requirements of environmental legislation. When performing their duties in service or work (Article 82 of the Law of the Russian Federation “On Environmental Protection”).

The procedure for bringing to disciplinary liability is determined by labor legislation, legislation on civil service, other regulations of the Russian Federation and its constituent entities, labor agreements (contracts), charters and regulations on an enterprise, organization, institution. At the same time, the terms of labor contracts that worsen the situation of employees in comparison with current legislation, including the terms of liability, are invalid. A distinctive feature of a disciplinary offense is that failure to comply with the requirements of environmental legislation is at the same time a failure by the employee to fulfill his duties stipulated by his position or agreement (contract).

Disciplinary responsibility is expressed in the imposition of disciplinary punishment on the guilty person in the form of: reprimand, reprimand, severe reprimand, dismissal from office (Article 135 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). Legislation, discipline statutes and other regulations may provide for other disciplinary sanctions for certain categories of workers and employees. For example, the following may be applied as a disciplinary sanction: complete or partial deprivation of a bonus or other means of encouragement; transfer to a lower-paid job or displacement to a lower position; deprivation of class rank or title; announcement of incomplete professional compliance. When imposing a disciplinary sanction, the severity of the offense committed, the circumstances under which it was committed, and the behavior of the employee must be taken into account. For each offense, only one disciplinary sanction can be applied. During the period of validity of the disciplinary sanction (one year from the date of imposition), incentive measures are not applied to the employee. The penalty can be lifted ahead of schedule by the body or official who applied it on its own initiative, at the request of the immediate supervisor or the work collective, if the culprit has not committed a new offense and has proven himself to be a conscientious worker. The administration has the right, instead of disciplinary action, to refer the issue to a general meeting of the labor collective or public organization.

General provisions on the possibility of applying financial liability to a violator of environmental legislation are contained in Art. 83 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On Environmental Protection". The procedure for its application is regulated by labor legislation. Financial liability consists of imposing on the offender (the causer of harm) the obligation to compensate for damage and expenses that, through his fault, were incurred by the institution, organization, enterprise or other economic entity with which the offender is in an employment relationship. In accordance with labor legislation, the violator (the causer of harm) is liable in the amount of direct actual damage, but not more than his monthly salary (Article 119 of the Labor Code). However, the perpetrator fully compensates for the damage if it was caused as a result of a criminal act; intentionally; when the harm was caused not in the performance of one’s job duties; when it is caused by an employee who is drunk; when, in accordance with the law or contract, the employee is assigned full financial responsibility.

When determining the amount of damage, only direct actual damage is taken into account; lost income is not taken into account. It is unacceptable to hold an employee responsible for such damage that can be classified as a normal production risk (Article 118 of the Labor Code). According to the current civil legislation, an enterprise, institution, organization or other economic entity is responsible for damage caused by its employee during the performance of his work duties to the victim (Article 1068 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). This creates guarantees of compensation for harm to the victim, regardless of the financial condition of the harm-cauter.

In turn, an enterprise or other business entity has the right to file a recourse claim in court against its employee and recover from him all losses incurred (Article 1081 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

Administrative responsibility.

Administrative liability for environmental violations is applied by an authorized executive body of the state, an official of the relevant state body or a court.

Taking into account the unfavorable environmental situation in the country and the prevalence of environmental violations, the new Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation includes as bodies empowered to consider administrative cases, control bodies for environmental protection, geological control bodies, bodies of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the Committee on Land Resources and land management (Roskomzem of the Russian Federation), bodies that protect state natural reserves and national natural parks.

It can be assigned to both individuals and legal entities. The list of administrative environmental offenses is given in Article 84 of the Law on Environmental Protection, sectoral natural resource legislation and in the Code of Administrative Offenses, where they are grouped in the chapter “Administrative offenses in the field of protection of the natural environment, historical and cultural monuments”.

Taken together, administrative offenses in the field of environmental protection and natural resource management comprise eleven groups:

Failure to comply with environmental requirements when planning, feasibility studies of projects, design, placement, construction, reconstruction, commissioning, operation of enterprises, structures or other facilities (Article 8.1 of the Administrative Code)

-failure to comply with environmental and sanitary-epidemiological requirements when handling production and consumption waste or other hazardous substances (Article 8.2 of the Administrative Code)

-violation of the rules for handling pesticides (Article 8.3 of the Administrative Code)

-violation of legislation on environmental impact assessment (Article 8.4 of the Administrative Code)

-concealment or distortion of environmental information (Article 8.5 of the Administrative Code)

-damage to land (Article 8.6 of the Administrative Code)

- failure to fulfill obligations to bring lands into a condition suitable for use for their intended purpose (Article 8.7 of the Administrative Code)

-use of land not for its intended purpose, failure to implement mandatory measures to improve land and protect soils (Article 8.8 of the Administrative Code)

-violation of requirements for the protection of subsoil and hydromineral resources (Article 8.9 of the Administrative Code)

-violation of requirements for the rational use of subsoil (Article 8.10 of the Administrative Code)

-violation of the rules and requirements for carrying out work on geological exploration of subsoil (Article 8.11 of the Administrative Code)

-violation of the procedure for granting for use and the regime of use of land plots and forests in water protection zones and coastal strips of water bodies (Article 8.12 of the Administrative Code)

-violation of the rules for the protection of water bodies (Article 8.13 of the Administrative Code)

-violation of water use rules (Article 8.14 of the Administrative Code)

-violation of the rules for operating water management or water protection structures and devices (Article 8.15 of the Administrative Code)

-failure to comply with the rules for maintaining ship documents (Article 8.16 of the Administrative Code)

-violation of rules (standards, norms) or license conditions regulating activities in internal sea waters, in the territorial sea, on the continental shelf and (or) in the exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation (Article 8.17 of the Administrative Code)

Violations of rules for the protection of atmospheric air (Article 8.21 of the Code of Administrative Offenses)

Putting into operation motor vehicles that exceed the standard content of pollutants in emissions or noise level standards (Article 8.22 of the Administrative Code;

-operation of motor vehicles exceeding the standard content of pollutants in emissions or noise level standards (Article 8.23 ​​of the Administrative Code;

-violation of the procedure for the allocation of cutting areas, inspection of logging sites in forests not included in the forest fund (Article 8.24 of the Administrative Code);

- violation of forest management rules (Article 8.25 of the Administrative Code);

-violation of the rules for secondary forest management (Article 8.26 of the Administrative Code);

- violation of rules in the field of reproduction, improvement of the condition and species composition of forests, increasing their productivity, seed production of forest plants (Article 8.27 of the Administrative Code;

-illegal cutting, damage or digging up of trees, bushes and vines (Article 8.28 of the Administrative Code);

-destruction of animal habitats (Article 8.29 of the Administrative Code);

-destruction or damage to hayfields and pastures, reclamation systems, as well as roads on forest lands or in forests not included in the forest fund (Article 8.30 of the Administrative Code)

- violation of forest protection requirements (Article 8.31 of the Administrative Code).

For committing environmental administrative offenses, the following may be applied: a warning, a fine, confiscation of the instrument for committing the offense; deprivation of special rights (hunting, fishing, driving); paid seizure of an object that was an instrument for committing an offense. Legislative acts of the Russian Federation may establish types of administrative penalties other than those specified in the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation.

Administrative penalties are divided into basic and additional. The main ones are those that contain the main punitive-educational-preventive function and cannot be assigned in addition to other types of penalties. Additional ones perform auxiliary functions in achieving the goals of punishment. Paid seizure and confiscation of items can be used both as primary and additional administrative penalties. Other penalties listed above can only be applied as basic penalties.

The body considering a case of an administrative offense can impose as an additional only that administrative punishment that is named in the article of the normative act establishing liability for a specific administrative offense. For example, as an additional penalty, confiscation is provided for in the sanctions of Article 85 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation on liability for violation of the rules of hunting, fishing and other types of use of wildlife.

For one administrative offense, a primary or primary and additional punishment may be imposed. The simultaneous application of two main punishments is unacceptable. Paid seizure and confiscation of firearms, ammunition, and fishing gear permitted for use cannot be applied to persons for whom hunting or fishing is the main source of livelihood in connection with their work activities.

Deprivation of the right to drive vehicles cannot be applied to persons who use these vehicles due to a disability, with the exception of cases of driving a vehicle when committing an environmental offense (for example, when hunting “from under the headlights”) while intoxicated.

Deprivation of the right to hunt and fish cannot be applied to persons for whom hunting or fishing is the main source of livelihood in connection with their work activities.

Enterprises, institutions, organizations, entrepreneurs, individuals are held administratively liable for environmental violations in cases where the violation is related to the process of production or other economic activity.

Individuals are subject to administrative liability upon reaching the age of 16. In accordance with Article 14 of the CAL, persons aged 16 to 18 years who have committed environmental offenses are subject to the following measures: provided for by the Regulations on Commissions for Minors.

Officials are subject to liability for failure to comply with the requirements of environmental legislation, the enforcement and implementation of which is included in their official duties.

There is no definition of an official in administrative legislation. Science and practice include among them those civil servants who have government powers, powers of an organizational and administrative administrative nature to manage administrative-political, economic, socio-cultural construction.

According to current legislation, only two types of administrative penalties can be applied to officials - a warning and a fine. Since the illegal behavior of officials due to the functions they perform can cause more harm than the administrative offenses of other persons, the law on environmental protection establishes increased administrative liability for officials in the form of a fine from three to twenty times the minimum wage established in The Russian Federation Code of Administrative Offenses of the RSFSR (Article 2 7) classifies a fine as one of the main types of punishment. It stipulates that the fine is set in the range from one tenth to one hundred of the minimum wage, as well as up to ten times the value of stolen or lost property or the amount of illegal income received as a result of an administrative offense. In exceptional cases, due to failure to fulfill obligations arising from international treaties and the special need to strengthen liability, the laws of the Russian Federation may establish a fine in a larger amount.

Criminal liability.

ABOUT is limited by the current Russian criminal legislation and is discussed in detail in subsequent chapters.

6. Environmental crimes and offenses, grounds for their differentiation.

According to the branches of law that provide for liability for environmental offenses and crimes, the latter are divided into: administrative, disciplinary, criminal, and civil. The same as with regard to the identification of types of responsibility, it is inappropriate to distinguish other types of crimes (international legal, for example). ultimately they come down to these four types.

All environmental offenses (as well as others) are divided into misdemeanors and crimes. Misdemeanors entail disciplinary, material or administrative liability, and crimes - criminal . Civil liability may be imposed along with disciplinary, material administrative or criminal liability. Involvement in these forms of liability does not relieve the subject from the obligation to compensate for harm, if any. This is explained by the fact that the penalties applied in the implementation of these types of liability are punitive measures, and not compensation for harm, although often (deprivation of bonuses, fines, confiscation) are of a material nature. The amounts collected as punishment do not go to the victim as compensation for harm, but are transferred to special accounts of state environmental funds in the budget.

It should be emphasized that in practice the issue of distinguishing environmental crimes from misdemeanors is quite controversial, since about 60% of the norms of environmental law contained in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation are similar to the norms of administrative legislation. Objective signs of an environmental crime and a misdemeanor reveal similarities and consist of violation of the same rules: fishing, hunting, timber harvesting, mineral development, fire safety in forests, maintaining the cleanliness of water and air basins, etc. Therefore, when investigating environmental crimes, the investigative bodies , investigations and courts often make legal errors. Thus, citizen M. caught five, and G. and U. - nine sturgeons, which are classified as valuable fish species. In addition, each poacher caused major damage. Despite the presence in their actions of a qualified crime, the initiation of a criminal case was refused on the grounds that the perpetrators had not previously been convicted, had a permanent place of residence and work, and the damage had been compensated.

At the same time, there are facts where the perpetrators are brought to criminal liability for minor violations of environmental protection rules. For example, citizen T. was convicted of illegal fishing under aggravating circumstances, because he caught valuable fish worth fifty thousand rubles with a scoop. He had an exceptionally positive character at his place of work; there was a petition from the work collective to put him on bail. But mitigating circumstances did not allow citizen T. to avoid criminal liability.

According to the new Code of Administrative Offenses of 2002 An administrative offense is an unlawful, guilty action (inaction) of an individual or legal entity for which administrative liability is established by the Code of Administrative Offenses or the laws of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation on administrative offenses. A legal entity is found guilty of committing an administrative offense if it is established that it had the opportunity to comply with the rules and norms for violation of which the Code of Administrative Offenses or the laws of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation provides for administrative liability, but this person did not take all measures depending on him to comply with them. compliance(Article 2.1 of the Administrative Code).

In connection with the above, the identification of scientifically based criteria for distinguishing between criminal and non-criminal types of offenses in the field of ecology is of great importance. In theory, the prevailing position is that crimes and misdemeanors are differentiated according to the degree of social danger or “harmfulness.” However, these degrees themselves are not quantitatively defined either in the literature or in the law, and it seems impossible to do this, since the essence of crime and misdemeanor cannot be expressed in mathematically precise, clearly defined numerical expressions.

It appears that social danger is a combined property of objective and subjective signs of an offense, which together determine the characteristics of the act and can only be assessed in conjunction with other signs. This position is based primarily on the law. The legal structure of the crime reflects both quantitative (repeatedness, totality, relapse, etc.) and qualitative (place, time, method, form of guilt, etc.) categories.

The solution to the issue of distinguishing between environmental crimes and misdemeanors is simplified when factors influencing the degree of social danger of offenses are taken into account by the legislator directly in the dispositions of criminal law norms. Most often, it indicates the consequences of the act and their size, the repetition of criminal violations of the rules, the method of action, and the form of guilt. For example, illegal hunting without aggravating circumstances (Part 1 of Article 166 of the previously effective Criminal Code) was recognized as criminal only if the person had previously been subject to administrative measures for a similar offense. Violation of veterinary rules and rules for combating plant diseases and pests (Article 249 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation 1996) entails criminal liability only if there is grave consequences, resulting through negligence in the spread of epizootics or other grave consequences, and in the absence of such - administrative (Articles 97,98,101 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation) or disciplinary. Criminal liability for water pollution arises if pollution, contamination, depletion of surface or groundwater, sources of drinking water supply, or other change in their natural properties, if these acts entailed significant harm to human health or mass death of animals, fish stocks, flora or fauna, forestry or agriculture (Article 250 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Water pollution that did not result in those specified in Art. 250 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation of consequences, is punishable administratively in accordance with Art. 57 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

When analyzing environmental crimes, it should be borne in mind that the presence of elements of a crime in an act is not yet a sufficient basis for bringing the perpetrator to criminal liability. The main basis for criminal liability for environmental crime is degree of damage. Thus, if illegal cutting of trees and shrubs, as well as damage to the point of stopping the growth of trees, shrubs and lianas in forests of the first group or in specially protected areas of forests of all groups, as well as trees, shrubs and lianas that are not included in the forest fund or are prohibited cutting, if these acts were committed on a significant scale(Article 260 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) is classified as a crime, in a small amount - as an administrative offense.

In the old Code of Administrative Offences, it was sometimes very difficult to distinguish between a crime and an offense, when in criminal and administrative legislation their signs are described in the same way, or only the type of violation is indicated (with so-called “simple” dispositions). This problem was resolved in the new Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation of 2002. Article 2.9 of the Code of Administrative Offenses establishes that “if the administrative offense committed is of minor significance, the judge, body, official authorized to resolve the case of an administrative offense may release the person who committed the administrative offense from administrative liability and limit himself to an oral remark” Responsibility for administrative offenses occurs when these offenses by their nature do not entail criminal liability in accordance with current legislation. It is on this basis that in Art. 8.28 of the Code of Administrative Offenses is administratively punishable “illegal cutting, damage or digging up of trees, bushes or vines, destruction or damage to forest crops, young growth of natural origin.” What then is a crime? A crime according to Article 260 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is “illegal cutting of trees and shrubs, as well as damage to the point of stopping the growth of trees, shrubs and lianas in forests of the first group or in specially protected areas of forests of all groups, as well as trees, shrubs and lianas that are not included in the forest fund or are prohibited from cutting,if these acts are committed on a significant scale" . In this article, a significant amount is recognized as damage calculated at established rates that is twenty times higher than the minimum wage established by the legislation of the Russian Federation at the time of the commission of a crime, and a large amount - two hundred times.

A conflict of law is observed when comparing administrative legal and criminal legal norms on liability for air pollution. So, in Art. Art. 8.21 of the Code of Administrative Offenses provides for administrative liability for the release of harmful substances into the atmosphere, violation of the terms of a special permit for the release of harmful substances into the atmosphere, violation of operating rules, failure to use structures, equipment or apparatus for purifying gases and controlling emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere. Part one of Article 251 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation air pollution establishes criminal liability for violation of the rules for the release of pollutants into the atmosphere or violation of the operation of installations, structures and other objects, if these acts resulted in pollution or other changes in the natural properties of the air. According to the law, it occurs regardless of the degree to which the maximum permissible concentration of pollutants is exceeded, the occurrence or creation of a real danger of harmful consequences, in particular, for the very fact of air pollution in violation of the rules for the emission of pollutants into the atmosphere . The same actions that caused harm to human health through negligence , are punishable under Part 2 of Article 251 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and acts that negligently result in the death of a person are punishable under Part 3 of this article. The application of Part 1 of Article 251 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in strict accordance with its literal content would mean the closure of many industrial enterprises, contributing to the further development of the already progressing economic crisis in our country, bringing to criminal liability for acts of low public danger (for example, a motorist for excess carbon monoxide content in exhaust gases) and distortion of the state’s criminal policy in the field of environmental protection. Article 223 of the former Criminal Code of the RSFSR of 1960 had a similar design. Taking into account such circumstances, the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the USSR in paragraph 8 of the resolution of July 7, 1983 “On the practice of application by courts of legislation on environmental protection” subjected Part 1 of Article 223 of the Criminal Code The RSFSR has a restrictive interpretation and clarified that (as with the pollution of water bodies) air pollution can be recognized as a crime only when, as a result of exceeding established emission standards, harm is caused or a real danger of harm to human health, fish stocks, flora or fauna is created. Obviously, Part 1 of Article 251 of the new Criminal Code of the Russian Federation should be understood in the same sense. In the new Criminal Code, the content of the chapter “Environmental Crimes”, like others, is brought into line with the hierarchy of social values ​​accepted in a legal democratic state (individual, society, state), generally accepted international norms and requirements for combating modern forms and types of environmental crime, so to speak. It seems that the management company should be focused on recognition of the natural environment as the biological basis of life, health, and human activity. From this perspective, environmental crimes are essentially crimes against humans and all living things on earth by affecting the environment. Ideas about the public danger of these crimes are also changing significantly, whereas until now they were classified as insignificant, secondary, little effort and money were allocated to combat them, and they were not included in state crime control programs.

In connection with the above, differentiation of criminal liability for environmental crimes is given depending on the nature and degree of danger of the act, the consequences, the identity of the perpetrator, the presence of mitigating and aggravating circumstances. The design of criminal law norms, as a rule, takes into account the nature and severity of harm caused by an environmental crime to human health or life. However, the differentiation of criminal liability for environmental crimes in modern Russian criminal legislation is far from perfect. And it is determined primarily by four main aspects:

-low level of legal culture of Russians;

-the presence of a whole complex of administrative legal norms in the field of ecology and environmental protection that intersect with criminal norms;

- ineffective work of the environmental prosecutor's office; In the new Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the number of provisions on crimes related to harm to the natural environment has more than tripled (from 4 to 14). The concept of environmental crimes is not given in the Criminal Code. Meanwhile, its formulation is significant for achieving many important goals. After all, an idea of ​​the total social danger of environmentally harmful acts is necessary for the correct classification of those acts that should be considered criminal. Hence, the correct interpretation of an environmental crime serves as the methodological basis for the rule-making process.

Without a correct understanding of the essence of a socially dangerous act, it is impossible to construct sanctions, determine the goals of the criminal law norm, and the scope and tasks of preventive work. Assessing the effectiveness of criminal liability and applied criminal legal sanctions is inevitably associated with an analysis of illegal behavior and a clear understanding of its model.

The general concept of environmental crime is nothing more than its generic concept, which includes a number of generic characteristics – a crime is a socially dangerous act committed guilty of guilt, prohibited by the Criminal Code under threat of punishment. An action (inaction), although formally containing signs of any act provided for by this Code, but due to its insignificance, does not pose a public danger, is not a crime.(Article 14 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). In the legal literature there are definitions of these attacks in accordance with the general characteristics of the crime specified in the criminal code. As a rule, they are connected or follow from the definition of the object of criminal influence and are built according to the following scheme: “a crime in the field of nature conservation is an act that encroaches on such and such relations (their presentation follows).” - environmental protection, compliance with the rules for the protection and use of land, subsoil, marine environment, continental shelf, compliance with hunting rules;

- rational use of its wealth as one of the methods of protection;

-preservation of proper high-quality natural conditions for human life and preservation of critical habitats for organisms listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation (protection from environmental pollution and poisoning, noise, heat, vibration, etc.), including ensuring environmental safety, improvement and reproduction natural resources.

Unsuccessful past attempts to consider environmental crimes as a type of crime in the sphere of economic activity did not allow us to adequately reveal the specifics of crimes in the field of environmental protection, shifting the center of gravity from environmental relations to material, cost ones, which is completely insufficient from the point of view of modern ideas about the interaction of society and nature. . In addition, only those elements of nature that have a certain material form and can be in the power of people are owned. However, criminal law also protects such elements of the natural environment that cannot be owned by anyone at all, for example, the atmosphere, subsoil, waters of the open sea, marine environment, fauna and flora of Antarctica. And etc. . International agreements limit the right of states to dispose of certain specially protected species of animals listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation.

The legislator does not include crimes in the field of nature protection in the range of crimes against property, otherwise he would place environmental norms in the chapter of the Criminal Code “Crimes against property”.

The Constitution of the Russian Federation (Article 9), the Law of the Russian Federation “On Property in the Russian Federation” (Article 6), the Land Code (Article 3), civil legislation and a number of other regulations on natural resources establish various types of ownership. But it does not follow from this that property relations are the object of environmental crimes. As you know, property is considered in an objective and subjective sense as an economic category and as a legal concept, as the right of ownership. In the economic sense, property is a historically determined form of appropriation of elements of the natural environment, in which social relations between people are expressed in the process of production, exchange, distribution and consumption of material goods. That is, property is, first of all, the most important production socio-economic relationship.

Comparing environmental crimes With crimes in the sphere of economic activity, it should be noted that some regulations on environmental protection are related to the economic use of natural resources:

-Violation of the legislation of the Russian Federation on the continental shelf and on the exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation (Article 253 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation);

- Violation of the rules for the protection and use of subsoil (Article 255 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation);

-Illegal harvesting of aquatic animals and plants (Article 256 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation);

-Illegal hunting (Art. 258);

-Illegal felling of trees and bushes (Article 260 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation)

These norms provide for liability for violation of the rules for the protection of natural resources through the adverse impact on them of the following factors: destruction, damage, poisoning, pollution. Of course, from an economic point of view, nature is the raw material base of the modern economy, but when analyzing environmental crimes, the emphasis must be placed on the fact that natural resources in their totality form the habitat of humans and other living beings. Therefore, not only economic damage must be taken into account, but mainly environmental damage: shifts in the ecological system, disruption of radiation, heat, energy balance, impact on human health, disappearance of plants and animals, etc.

On the other hand, the position according to which the object of environmental crimes are natural resources (forest, water and air, land, subsoil, atmosphere, natural and flora) is also unfounded, since in this case no distinction is made between the object and the subject of the encroachment. In conclusion, we note that in the legal literature there is a point of view that an environmental crime should be considered “a socially dangerous act (action, inaction) provided for by criminal law, encroaching on the environment and its components, the rational use and protection of which ensure optimal human life, and consisting in the direct use of natural objects as a social value and leading to negative changes.”

At the same time, conditions are ripe for solving at least two problems that can produce significant results . 1) development of fundamentally new environmental legislation taking into account global experience. 2) the speedy adoption of environmental laws, the implementation of which can have an effect even with relatively small investments and costs.

It seems inappropriate to link the development of environmental law to the form of a central environmental legislative act. In the end, it is not so important whether it is considered as a framework, a law or a code, or perhaps a series of separate laws with a certain hierarchy. More significant is the development of a catalog, a list of legal means of actually implementing environmental legal regulation. Such a list should be prepared based on the use of all the experience of domestic and foreign legislation, existing theoretical and methodological developments, judicial and administrative practice and special socio-legal research. It should include:

a) designation of objects of environmental legal regulation. Here there is an urgent need to shift the center of gravity from natural objects and their condition to the use of natural resources, in particular, the application of environmental standards and pollution indicators should be methodologically expanded, and they should include indicators of the consumption of natural resources in comparison with the achieved, technologically feasible level. This will make it possible to more substantively cover by legal regulation such technologies that lead to colossal waste of natural resources.

b) creation of a unified normative conceptual apparatus. At the same time, the concepts used require serious coordination; in any case, in regulations it is necessary to use environmental concepts in the same or at least comparable meaning;