CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS AND PROSPECTS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL LEGISLATION ON ENSURING ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY IN THE CONDITIONS OF EXISTENTIAL CHALLENGES AND THREATS

Abstract

The article examines the conceptual foundations and prospects for the development of national legislation on ensuring environmental safety in the conditions of existential challenges and threats. The author emphasizes that existential challenges and threats in the field of environmental security are a matter of human survival and further existence of civilization on planet Earth. Environmental safety is considered in different meanings: as a direction of state policy; as a constitutional duty of the state and a subjective right of a person and a citizen; as a sphere of national security; as a state of the environment which ensures prevention of environmental degradation and emergence of a danger to human health. National legislation on ensuring environmental safety is currently not systematized and is quite extensive, complex and contradictory. Given the results of scientific research into environmental safety law, the author proposes to classify legislation on ensuring environmental safety by certain areas of human activity (economic sectors). It is noted that a significant achievement of Ukraine on its way to joining the European Union is the adoption of a number of European integration laws, including: “On Integrated Prevention and Control of Industrial Pollution”; “On the Basic Principles of State Climate Policy”; “On Regulation of Economic Activities with Ozone Depleting Substances and Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases”; “On the Principles of Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of Greenhouse Gas Emissions”; «On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on Human Protection from Ionizing Radiation”; “On Ensuring Chemical Safety and Management of Chemical Products”; “On Water Disposal and Wastewater Treatment”; “On the National Register of Pollutant Emissions and Transfer” etc. The urgent need is to develop and adopt a system of bylaws aimed at implementing the above laws. Climate change, armed aggression, globalization, and European integration call for reforming and systematizing legislation on ensuring environmental safety, the best option for which is to develop and adopt the Law of Ukraine “On Environmental Safety”.