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The legal regime of ecological disaster zones represents a special mechanism of environmental law aimed at restoring territories with critically impaired environmental conditions.
In contrast to protected natural areas, where the priority is the preservation of natural complexes, here the focus is on overcoming the consequences of long-term negative impact of economic activities and reducing threats to public health.
The basis for granting such a status to an area is the sustained deterioration of environmental indicators and the impossibility of eliminating the consequences without state support.
The procedure includes the preparation of scientifically substantiated materials, conducting a state environmental expertise, and making a decision at the government level.
The boundaries of the zones are determined taking into account the actual condition of ecosystems and the level of impact on the population.
Restrictions on economic activities and special programs for restoration and environmental rehabilitation are introduced in these areas.
The removal of the status is possible only upon achieving sustainable improvement of the environment, which emphasizes the importance of a comprehensive and long-term approach to solving environmental problems.
Zones of ecological disaster are the "other side of the coin" of the special eco-legal status of territories. Unlike the "positive regime" established for specially protected natural territories, which are unique and rare natural objects and complexes requiring preservation in their natural state, zones of ecological disaster have a "negative" legal regime caused by the need for rapid restoration of degraded ecological systems1.
The procedure for declaring and establishing the regime of environmental disaster zones is regulated by legislation on environmental disaster zones2. At the same time, as noted by S.A. Bogolyubov, the legislative initiative on environmental disaster zones has been prepared and discussed in the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation for a decade, but systematically receives negative conclusions from the Government of the Russian Federation, other federal executive authorities participating in the formation of the state budget3.
A draft of federal law No. 115008-3 "On the Status of Zones of Ecological Disaster and Regulation of Economic and Other Activities within Their Territory" has been prepared at present4. In accordance with the aforementioned draft, we will consider: the concept of "zone of ecological disaster"; the procedure for granting territory the status of a zone of ecological disaster; the boundaries of a zone of ecological disaster; features of conducting economic and other activities within the territory of a zone of ecological disaster; the procedure for removing the status of a zone of ecological disaster from the territory.
According to the above-mentioned draft federal law, an ecological disaster zone is an area with an unfavorable condition of natural ecosystems (ecosystem degradation), characterized by a persistent deterioration of environmental quality and public health indicators as a result of long-term and intensive negative impact of economic and other activities, and which has been officially granted the status of an ecological disaster zone5.
The grounds for initiating the declaration of an area as an ecological disaster zone are: 1) an adverse state of the environment causing a real threat to human health, manifested in an increase in the population's morbidity rate and degradation of ecological systems corresponding to the criteria of an ecological disaster; as well as 2) the initiation of declaring an area an ecological disaster zone is carried out when it is impossible to eliminate negative changes without assistance from the state6.
The initiator of the proposal to grant an area the status of an environmental disaster zone submits a statement to the local self-government body and (or) the state authority of a subject of the Russian Federation, requesting that the area be granted the status of an environmental disaster zone, and presents materials on the condition of the environment and public health confirming the necessity of granting the area the status of an environmental disaster zone.
The local self-government body and (or) the state authority of a subject of the Russian Federation, when determining the justification for granting an area the status of an ecological disaster zone, prepares and submits to the state environmental expertise the following materials: materials justifying the necessity of granting the territory the status of an ecological disaster zone, including materials for a comprehensive assessment of the environment's condition and the health of the population; the draft federal target program for removing the territory from the state of ecological disaster; materials on discussions with the population and public organizations regarding the developed documents.
The composition, content, and procedure for preparing materials justifying the granting of an area the status of an ecological disaster zone are determined by the Government of the Russian Federation.
The materials that have received a positive conclusion from the state environmental expertise are forwarded by the federal executive body authorized in the field of environmental expertise to the federal executive body authorized in the field of development and implementation of state socio-economic policy for consideration in accordance with established procedures and submission to the Government of the Russian Federation.
On the basis of the materials that have received a positive conclusion from the state environmental expertise, the Government of the Russian Federation shall, within three months, grant the specified territory the status of an ecological disaster zone and approve a federal target program for removing the territory from the state of ecological disaster or decide to refuse to grant the territory the status of an ecological disaster zone.
The decision to refuse granting the territory the status of an ecological disaster zone must be justified and communicated to the initiator of declaring the territory an ecological disaster zone, the state authorities of a subject of the Russian Federation, and local self-government bodies, and may be appealed in court7.
The boundaries of an ecological disaster zone are established along the boundary of the smallest administrative-territorial unit or established boundaries of economic objects and complexes within which the characteristics of the state of the environment and public health correspond to the criteria for an ecological disaster territory.
The boundaries of the ecological disaster zone are established in order to organize and coordinate activities aimed at removing the territory from a state of ecological disaster and managing the implementation of measures provided for by the federal target program for restoring the environment on the territory of the ecological disaster zone8.
Economic and other activities that worsen public health and the environment, as well as the use of natural resources, are restricted, suspended, or prohibited on the territory of ecological disaster zones.
The basis for restricting, suspending, or prohibiting economic and other activities is systematic violations of environmental legislation confirmed by the results of state environmental monitoring and environmental audits.
On the territory of the ecological disaster zone, construction of new facilities whose activities will ensure reduction of environmental pollution, as well as facilities providing for social needs of the population residing on the territory is allowed.
Privatization of state and municipal property in ecological disaster zones is carried out in accordance with the legislation on privatization in the Russian Federation.
When privatizing state and municipal property in ecological disaster zones, conditions are provided ensuring transfer to the new owner obligations for restoration of damaged environmental objects and implementation of measures of the federal target program for removal of the territory from the state of ecological disaster9.
The initiators of removing the status of an ecological disaster zone from the territory10 prepare materials confirming the implementation of the federal target program for removing the territory from the state of ecological disaster, based on data from the state environmental and socio-hygienic monitoring, as well as an environmental audit conducted in accordance with the Federal Law "On the Status of Ecological Disaster Zones and Regulation of Economic and Other Activities on Their Territory". The prepared materials are sent to the federal executive body authorized in the field of environmental protection, local government bodies, and state authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation.
The composition, content, and procedure for preparing the materials are determined by the Government of the Russian Federation. The federal executive authority authorized in the field of environmental protection submits a proposal to lift the status of an ecological disaster zone from the territory to the Government of the Russian Federation. The decision on lifting the status of an ecological disaster zone from the territory is made by the Government of the Russian Federation11.
At the same time, as noted by N.V. Kichigin, until the adoption of a federal law on ecological disaster zones, critically contaminated territories will not be able to be declared ecological disaster zones for this reason. To date, no territory in the Russian Federation has officially been assigned the aforementioned status12.
According to S.A. Bogolyubov, without excluding from legislation the possibility of declaring certain territories with a critical state of the environment as zones of ecological disaster, while preserving this category — this institution of environmental law and the organizational-legal mechanism for protecting the environment, it is necessary to move towards timely measures to prevent environmental degradation, which can and should be anticipated, predicted, and implemented, not only at the federal level but also at the regional and municipal levels with appropriate economic, organizational, and legal ways of exiting declared zones of ecological adversity13.
Anisimov A. P., Ryjzhkov A. Ya., Charikin S. A. Environmental Law of Russia: textbook for bachelor's degree students. Moscow, 2012. P. 432. ↩
On the protection of the environment: part 1 of article 12. Art. 57. ↩
Institute of Environmental Law / ed. S.A. Bogolyubov. Moscow, 2010. P. 383. ↩
Automated system for legislative activity support of the Apparatus of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation [Electronic resource]. URL: http://asozd.duma.gov.ru. ↩
On the status of zones of environmental disaster and regulation of economic and other activities on their territory No. 115008-3 // Automated system for legislative activity support of the Apparatus of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://asozd.duma.gov.ru. Art. 1. ↩
On the status of zones of ecological disaster and regulation of economic and other activities on their territory No. 115008-3 // Automated system for legislative support of the Apparatus of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://asozd.duma.gov.ru. Art. 10. ↩
On the status of zones of ecological disaster and regulation of economic and other activities on their territory No. 115008-3 // Automated system for legislative support of the Apparatus of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://asozd.duma.gov.ru. Art. 13. ↩
Article 12 of the draft federal law No. 115008-3 "On the status of zones of ecological disaster and regulation of economic and other activities on their territory": 115008-3. Art. 12. ↩
On the status of zones of ecological disaster and regulation of economic and other activities on their territory No. 115008-3 // Automated system for legislative activity support of the Apparatus of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://asozd.duma.gov.ru. Art. 19. ↩
Initiators of the proposal to remove the status of an ecological disaster zone from territory may be: local self-government bodies; state authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation; state authorities of the Russian Federation; federal executive authority of the Russian Federation in the field of environmental protection and its territorial subdivisions; public organizations (Article 13 of the draft federal law No. 115008-3 "On the status of ecological disaster zones and regulation of economic and other activities on their territory" // Automated system for legislative activity support of the Apparatus of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://asozd.duma.gov.ru.) ↩
On the status of zones of ecological disaster and regulation of economic and other activities on their territory No. 115008-3 // Automated system for ensuring legislative activity of the Apparatus of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://asozd.duma.gov.ru. Art. 29. ↩
Kichigin N. V., Ponomarev M. V., Khludeyeva N. I. Environmental law: lecture notes. Moscow, 2009. P. 184. ↩
Institutes of environmental law / ed. by S.A. Bogolyubov. Moscow, 2010. P. 394. ↩
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