ROLE OF THE RUSSIAN PUBLIC IN ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT

MIKHAIL M. BRINCHUK

Director Center for Environmental Legal Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Znamenka 10, 119841 Moskou, CIS

The role and potentialities of the public in the enforcement of the environmental legislation in Russia depend on different factors. Interests of citizens and public organizations in providing environmental protection, completeness of legal regulation of ecological rights of citizens, real possibilities for their realization are the main such factors.

The choice of interests and directions of public activity is predetermined by the influence of social and political conditions of life in the country. Thus, on the second half of the 80th, in the conditioned of openness and perestroika of public relations there was a remarkable increase of peoples' activity in Russia in solution of environmental protection problems. At this period many new ecological nongovernmental organizations have appeared along with the existing public nature protection structures. Then, and at present, in the course of worthening conditions of life, rising of costs, activity of the people was more directed towards the solution of other problems (food, housing, making their livelihood, etc.). The change of priorities has occurred in Russia in spite of the wide realizing the seriousness of ecological situation in the country.

Then, it is significant for Russia that for a long time the law demonstrated indifferent relation towards a man, his rights and interests. A person, in spite of the wide political declarations during decades, remained rightsless. In the conditions of the administrative-command system a man couldn't have an influence on public processes in any sphere of life, including environmental protection. More than 70 years priority of public relations over personal and factually state of a person of possessing no civil reigned in the country.

The environmental legislation itself was and still remains insufficiently developed and didn't meet public ecological requirements. Before enforcing the legislation it should be created. But in Russia till and now there is no a number of fundamental environmental laws - such as on ecological expertise, on nuclear safety, on toxic substances control, on waste disposal, on agrochemicals, etc.

A number of draft laws is being prepared in Russia now, prepared taking into account the experience of foreign environmental legislation, but still not adopted by the Parliament.

As for today a new Law on protection of the natural environment (december 1991), Land Code (april 1991), Law on mineral resources (march 1992) are approved in Russia. Positions of these laws, especially positions of the comprehensive Law on protection of the natural environment enable us to speak about changing the state policy concerning ecological rights and interests of the people.

Priority of protection of life and health of a man, creation of favourable ecological conditions for life, labour and recreation for the population are declared by the Law as one of the main principle of the environmental protection (art.3). The law establishes a number of rights and authorities of citizens and public organizations in the field of environmental protection and enforcement of environmental legislation, as well as guarantees for their realization. In particular, it establishes the right of citizens to protection of health from unfavourable impact of the natural environment (art.11).

For increasing the role and potentialities of the public in enforcement of the environmental legislation the following authorities of citizens and public ecological organizations are the most significant:

- to organize and take part in meetings, pickets, demonstrations, referendums on environmental protection issues, to address letters, petitions, make complaints and statements and demand their consideration;

- to demand rendering in proper time, complete and reliable information on state of the natural environment and measures for its protection from the appropriate bodies:

- to recommend their representatives for participation in the state environmental expertise on the issues of location and drafting of objects and to make public environmental expertise;

- to demand a disaffirmation of decisions on location, construction and exploitation ecologically not sound objects, limitation and stoppage of their activities;

- to demand to make the state environmental expertise, appear in mass media with their ecological platform;

- to bring up a question for making guilty officials answerable, bring a suit in the court for compensation of damage to health and property of a citizen caused by ecological offence (art. 12,13).

One cannot say that public activities in enforcement of the environmental legislation in the previous decade was efficient. But some results are very significant. In particular, public succeeded in preventing realization of a number of ecologically harmful projects, for example projects concerning northern rivers' flow change, construction of channels Volga - Chogray, Volga - Don. Due to the public actions it became possible to prevent location and construction of some industrial enterprises in highly polluted areas as well.

We can hope that one the base of the modern environmental legislation public activities towards its enforcement will be more sufficient. That in particular will be promoted due to guarantees for realization of ecological rights of citizens and public organizations proclaimed by the state. Sovjets of peoples' deputies, their executive bodies, state bodies in the field of environmental protection, their officials are obliged to render every kind of assistance to public organizations and citizens in realization of their ecological rights and obligations, take necessary measures for implementation of their proposals and demands concerning the organization of nature protection activities.

According to the Law nobody can prevent the people to realise his lawful rights. When officials and citizens prevent realization of ecological rights and obligations by public organizations and citizens, they are to be answerable.

To increase efficiency of public activities for enforcement of the environmental protection legislation it is very important to provide wide ecological education of the population. It is also essential that the people should know the legislation itself. For today not only the Russian public has a very low level of knowledge of the legislation but officials of state bodies and enterprises as well.

Thus, some legal conditions have been created lately in Russia to increase the public role in the environmental legislation enforcement. But still the public is far from using all its potential possibilities in this field. On the other hand the state bodies are not ready to perform all their functions to fulfil all the demands of public.