On the flaws in environmental legislation that feed corruption

Abstract

The paper examines the flaws in environmental and related legislation that result in a loss of valuable natural resources; it also studies law enforcement practice in environmental protection sphere. The authors use specific examples of public authorities’ law enforcement actions to analyze the norms of natural resources’ and environmental protection legislation that offer grounds for corruption. Novels of the health resort legislation are also critically examined. First of all, the authors draw attention to legislation regulating land, forest and urban construction relations. The flaws in some of the above-mentioned laws result in the destruction of forests which have great scientific, environmental protection and health value as vast areas of federal Forest Fund lands and specially protected territories of limited economic circulation with forests growing on them become private property. The key reason that forests stop being publically owned is that there is no state registration of rights to these lands. Besides, the boundaries previously set by the forest management documents are not taken into consideration. The authors also pay attention to norms regulating resort relations. The analysis of law enforcement practice shows that there are numerous violations of the protection zone’s legal regime at federal level resorts. The problem is further aggravated by recent legislation changes which exclude health resorts and health-protection areas from the list of specially protected natural territories, they are granted the status of specially protected territories. As a result of these changes, territories situated in the first zone of protection can now be involved in civil circulation, which will have serious negative environmental consequences and create grounds for corruption given the fact that health resorts’ regime has lost its criminal law and administrative law protection