The concept and particularities of the legal protection of biosphere reserves in Ukraine

Abstract

Biosphere reserves execute such targets as preservation of biological and landscape diversity, implementation of background environmental monitoring, examination of the environment and its changes under the influence of anthropogenic factors, etc. and it’s become possible only under the condition of effective legal protection of above-mentioned natural areas, which foresee: the realization in the complex of distinct and specify package of measures with the objective of ensuring compliance with the regime of biosphere reserves; the establishment of rational and non-exhaustive use of natural resources; the economic management in the responded functional areas coupled with preservation of natural complexes; the inviolability of natural processes in ecosystem; the effective scientifically-based management of these areas.

The article examines particularities of the legal protection of biosphere reserves, its forms, as also deficiencies of legal regulation hereof were revealed and ways of improving the national legislation concerning the effective protection of natural complexes within biosphere reserves were developed.

It was clarified that national legislation did not disclose the content of the protection of territories and objects of the nature reserve fund, referring to the Regulations on Biosphere Reserves, on the basis of which, in fact, frameworks of the organization, specifics and nature of measures for the protection of such territories would be determined. Despite the existence of separate legislative provisions on the organization of the protection of territories and objects of the NRF, the current legislation of Ukraine does not contain a definition of legal notions «legal protection of the natural reserve fund of Ukraine», «legal protection of biosphere reserves», the principles, content and particularities of legal protection of biosphere reserves as unique research establishment and valuable natural areas are not fixed. It has been established that restriction on the use of natural resources and economic management in biosphere reserves in accordance with the functional zoning is a separate form of legal protection of biosphere reserves, as it ensures observance of the fixed by law regime of protection and use of biosphere reserves, which promotes rational and non-exhausting use of natural resources.

Preservation of the biological and landscape diversity of biosphere reserves, as well as other categories of the nature reserve fund, is also one of the legal protection forms of these natural territories, inasmuch as the realization of the system of the above-mentioned measures foresee the achievement of a single goal – the conservation of rare plant and animal species, pollution prevention, contamination, exhaustion, destruction of natural resources and integral ecosystems on the territory of biosphere reserves, etc.

The legal protection of biosphere reserves proposed to understand as the determined by the norms system of legal, organizational, economic, scientific-technical, cultural and other measures that intended to preserve biological and landscape diversity and protect natural complexes from negative influences of natural and anthropogenic origin, ensuring rational and non-exhaustive use of natural resources and observance of the differentiated regime of the specified territories.

The expediency of the legal definition consolidation «the legal protection of biosphere reserves», with specification on the open list of measures of different directions that form the content of such protection, in the Biosphere Reserve Law is substantiated.

It is necessary to enshrine in law the following: implementation of background environmental monitoring on the condition of natural complexes and the development of natural processes in the biosphere reserves territory; carrying out multi-method researches with the purpose of scientific basis elaboration of their preservation and effective use; establishment of legal liability for violation of their protection and use regime, as well as for the destruction and damage of reserved natural complexes and objects, their pollution, littering; compliance control for reservation conditions.

The group of measures for the protection of biosphere reserves should include the following: the government action of persons guilty of violating the legislation on the protection of biosphere reserves; compensation in accordance with the established procedure damage done caused by violation of the legislation on the protection of biosphere reserves; the remediation of the number of rare and endangered species of animals and plants, etc.