What is environmental law?

In our country, environmental law is still a young branch of law. Its modern name was approved approximately twenty five years ago.

Of course, environmental law has its own subject (meaning the aggregate of social relations that are regulated by the norms of the given sector), the method, the developed regulatory and legal framework.

Environmental law can be defined as a set of social relations relating to the sphere of interaction between nature and man. Relationships groups can be identified as follows:

- on ownership of objects (natural);

- on nature management;

- on the protection of eq. Rights, as well as all legitimate interests of organizations and individuals.

- on nature protection.

As already mentioned, the subject of environmental law is social relations, regulated by its norms. Its method is a set of ways and methods of influencing any social relations. As in many other branches of law, the method can be either dispositive or imperative.

The imperative is based on the fact that the parties are initially in an unequal position (this method is also called administrative-legal). One of the parties must necessarily be an organ that is endowed with special (state-power) powers. This method, as a rule, is expressed in the establishment of certain prohibitions, orders, obligations to commit something or from something to abstain. Imperative norms are different from dispositive ones, which do not imply any choice from the proposed options for action.

Otherwise, the discretionary method can be called civil law. In this case, all participants in the relationship are in the same position. If equality is not lost, then the method becomes imperative. In what way is this method expressed? It is expressed in permission (meaning the granting of unlimited rights in solving a wide range of issues), recommendations (setting rules that are not mandatory for execution), authorization.

It is worth noting that most often environmental law uses combinations of methods, however, the imperative method can still be recognized as dominant.

The fundamentals of environmental law also include principles. The principle is the guiding position on which the entire industry is based. That is, it means the essence that expresses the social significance of environmental law.

Those principles that have environmental law reflect the objective needs of the individual and the whole of society in an environment that is environmentally friendly.

What are the main principles of environmental law and what are they related to? These principles are based on the fact that there can be nothing more important than human life and health, and that the state should make efforts to create such conditions under which people could normally live and rest. The principles are based on the fact that a combination of economic and environmental interests should be scientifically justified. It is a question of using natural resources only in the established limit. Neither the state nor individuals can inflict irreparable harm on nature by their actions. According to the law, not only willful harm is punished, but irrational use of certain resources is also punishable. The actions of the state, which are related to the impact on the environment, should be announced. Hiding the facts is against the law. The principle of international cooperation is also important. The environmental problems of any country are the problems of all mankind. Do not forget that we all live on the same planet, but we do not have the other. Today, many troubles can be avoided only by acting together and in harmony.