Ecological resources include various components of the environment that create balance in nature. These include: earth, man, air, plant and animal world, geological formations and much more. In general, it can be argued that environmental resources are divided into 3 large groups: organisms, substances and the energy that binds them.

AT modern world there is no balance between environmental components, which is why man-made disasters are observed, natural disasters health problems in the world's population. What is the biggest threat to Earth right now?

Air pollution

Air is the basis of life for any person: it contains oxygen vital for breathing, and it also receives carbon dioxide from the lungs, which plants process.

Unfortunately, it is into the air that most of the waste from the work of factories, machines, and household appliances enters. Atmospheric pollution is a global environmental resource problem.

Due to the fact that the air contains substances uncharacteristic for it, the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere is destroyed. This leads to strong ultraviolet radiation, which leads to an increase in the temperature of the planet.

In addition, an excess of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases the greenhouse effect, which also contributes to rising temperatures, melting glaciers, and drying up previously fertile soils.

Content exceeded in many cities harmful substances in the air, so the number of patients with cancer, respiratory diseases and heart diseases is increasing. Just taking care of ecological resource, it is possible to achieve a weakening of dangerous influences.

All participants in polluting industries must take measures to install treatment facilities and pollutant traps. The scientific community must join forces to find alternative sources energy that will not pollute the atmosphere when burned. Even an ordinary city dweller can contribute to air protection by simply changing from car to bicycle.

Noise pollution

Each city is a whole mechanism that does not stop even for a minute. Every day there are thousands of cars on the roads, hundreds of factories and dozens of construction sites. Noise is an inevitable ally of any human activity, and in a metropolis it turns into a real enemy.

Scientists have proven that constant noise affects the psychological state of a person, his hearing organs and even the heart, sleep is disturbed, and depression occurs. Children and pensioners are especially affected.

It is very difficult to reduce the noise level, because it is impossible to block all roads and close factories, but it is possible to reduce its impact on a person, for this you need:

• Funds personal protection for workers in hazardous industries.
• Green spaces around noise sources. Trees will take on noise vibrations, thereby saving residents of nearby houses.
• Competent development of the city, which will exclude the passage of busy avenues next to residential buildings. Bedrooms should face opposite sides of the road.

light pollution

Many do not even realize that light is a source of pollution, if it is of anthropogenic origin.

There are thousands of lighting devices in cities that are installed for ease of movement at night, but doctors have long been sounding the alarm, because due to the fact that in settlements there is light almost around the clock, people's health is undermined, and the animal world is suffering.

It has long been known that a person lives according to biological rhythms. The change of day and night is the main lever for controlling the internal clock, but due to constant lighting, the body begins to get confused when to go to bed and when to get up. The rest regime is disturbed, diseases grow, nervous breakdowns appear.

What can we say about animals that, focusing on the light of cities, go astray, die, crashing against buildings.

Light pollution is one of the world's environmental problems, and the ways to solve them in different cities may be different: the introduction of curfews without electricity, the use of street lamps with caps that will allow you not to scatter light in vain, a light saving mode in buildings and simply turning off lighting where it is used solely for the sake of beauty.

Nuclear pollution

Radioactive fuel is good and evil for mankind. On the one hand, the benefits of using it are great, on the other hand, there are catastrophically many victims of it.

Radiation pollution is present in the natural background from metal rocks in the soil, as well as from the very core of the planet. But everything that goes beyond the permissible, causes extraordinary harm to nature. Gene mutations, radiation sickness, soil contamination are the consequences of the interaction of man and radioactive substances.

Preservation of ecological natural resources and man himself will be possible only when atomic weapons are not used and tested, and radioactive waste from production is disposed of in even safer storage facilities.

Global warming

Climate change has long been regarded as an environmental problem in its own right. The consequences of human activity are simply horrifying: glaciers are melting, the oceans are warming, and the water level rises in them, new diseases appear, animals move to other latitudes, desertification occurs and fertile lands disappear.

The reason for this effect is active human activity, as a result of which emissions appear, forests are cut down, water is polluted, and the areas of cities increase.

Solution:

1. Use of new technologies that conserve ecological resources.
2. Increase in the area of ​​green spaces.
3. Search non-standard solutions to remove harmful substances from air, soil and water.

So, for example, scientists are now developing a technology for capturing and storing carbon dioxide underground.

Landfills

The further a person develops, the more he uses ready-made consumer goods. Tons of labels, packaging, boxes, used equipment are taken out of the settlements every day, and every day the amount of waste is only growing.

Under now, simply catastrophically huge areas are involved. Some are even visible from space. Scientists are sounding the alarm: pollution of the soil, air, land in places where garbage is stored has a very strong effect on the environment, all components of nature suffer, including humans.

This can only be defeated by the introduction of waste recycling technologies everywhere, as well as by ensuring the transition to fast-degradable packaging material.

In order for future generations to live in a safe world, it is necessary to think about serious environmental problems for all and ways to solve them. Only by uniting the efforts of all countries, it is possible to reverse the catastrophic situation in ecology. Unfortunately, many states are not ready to sacrifice economic benefits for the sake of their children and grandchildren.

Most scientists who study environmental problems believe that humanity has about 40 more years to return the natural environment to the state of a normally functioning biosphere and resolve issues of its own survival. But this period is extremely short. And does a person have the resources to solve at least the most acute problems?

The main achievements of civilization in the twentieth century include the successes of science and technology. The achievements of science, including the science of environmental law, can also be considered as the main resource in solving environmental problems.

Consider the question of the main ways of solving environmental problems with the help and within the framework of environmental law.

a) Formation of a new environmental and legal worldview. To overcome the ecological crisis and consistently solve environmental problems, Russia and humanity need a completely new and valuable legal worldview. Its scientific and philosophical basis can be the doctrine of the noosphere, to the development of which the Russian natural scientist Academician V.I. Vernadsky. This teaching is permeated with the idea of ​​humanism, aimed at transforming relations with the environment in the interests of a free-thinking humanity as a whole.

At the same time, the problem of restoring the long-lost healthy connection between man and nature and the correlation of legal norms by which a person lives or should live with natural imperatives arising from the laws of nature development needs to be solved. When educating, shaping an ecological worldview, these truths should be taken as a basis. Recognizing his life as the highest value, a person must learn to appreciate all life on Earth in order to resolutely rebuild the conditions for the joint existence of mankind and nature.

b) Development and consistent, most effective implementation of the state environmental policy. This task should be solved within the framework of the permanent ecological function of the state (see section 2 of the textbook).

The most important elements of environmental policy are the goals of restoring a favorable state of the environment, the strategy and tactics for achieving them. At the same time, the goals should be realistic, that is, based on real possibilities. Taking into account these goals, society and the state determine the strategy of environmental protection, that is, the set of actions necessary and sufficient to solve the set tasks, ways to achieve the goals set. One of these methods is the law, which regulates the use of various legal means - regulation, assessment of the impact of planned activities on the environment, examination, certification, licensing, planning, audit, monitoring, control, etc. It is necessary to create a situation where any economic , managerial and other environmentally significant decision is prepared and adopted only on the basis of and in accordance with legal environmental requirements.

c) Formation of modern environmental legislation. Environmental legislation is both a product and the main form of securing state environmental policy. The main characteristics and criteria of "modern" environmental legislation include:

Creation of a system of special legislative acts in the field of the environment, acts of natural resource legislation and greening of other legislation (administrative, civil, business, criminal, economic, etc.). The main requirements are the absence of gaps in the legal regulation of environmental relations, its compliance with public needs;

Formation of mechanisms to ensure the implementation of legal environmental requirements;

Harmonization with the environmental legislation of Europe and the world.

d) Creation of an optimal system of state management bodies for nature management and environmental protection, taking into account the principles:

An integrated approach to solving the problems of ensuring rational nature management and environmental protection;

Organization of management, taking into account not only the administrative-territorial, but also the natural-geographical zoning of the country;

Separation of economic and operational and control and supervisory powers of specially authorized bodies.

e) Ensuring optimal financing of measures to ensure rational nature management and environmental protection and high efficiency of capital investments. The state must ensure the solution of this given dual task by:

Fixing in the legislation the requirement for the mandatory allocation in the budget of a minimum percentage of amounts for environmental purposes from the expenditure side of the budget;

Through the implementation of state environmental control over the fulfillment by enterprises of legal environmental requirements, enshrining economic incentives in law, providing them with environmental financing within the limits of real possibilities;

Creation of a legal mechanism to ensure the maximum effect of investments in the field of nature management and environmental protection.

f) The state, as a political organization of society, within the framework of the ecological function, in order to achieve the goals of environmental policy, is interested in involving broad sections of the population in environmental protection activities. One of the recent trends is related to the democratization of environmental law. This is manifested in the creation of organizational and legal conditions for the participation of interested public formations and citizens in the preparation and adoption of environmentally significant economic, managerial and other decisions.

A high degree of democratization in the field of legal protection of the environment, determined by the needs of the public concerned, is an important direction, prerequisite and reserve for increasing the efficiency of the state's environmental protection activities.

g) Environmental education and training of environmental specialists. "Only a revolution in the minds of people will bring the desired changes. If we want to save ourselves and the biosphere on which our existence depends, everyone ... - young and old - must become real, active and even aggressive fighters for the protection of the environment" * ( 9) concludes his book The Three Hundred Years' War: A Chronicle of an Ecological Disaster by William O. Douglas, LL.D., former member US Supreme Court.

The revolution in people's minds, which is so necessary to overcome the ecological crisis, will not happen by itself. It is possible with purposeful efforts within the framework of state environmental policy and an independent function of public administration in the field of the environment. These efforts should aim environmental education of all generations, especially young ones, fostering a sense of respect for nature. It is necessary to form ecological consciousness, individual and social, based on the idea of ​​a harmonious relationship between man and nature, man's dependence on nature and responsibility for its preservation for future generations.

At the same time, the most important prerequisite for solving environmental problems in the country is the targeted training of environmentalists - specialists in the field of economics, engineering, technology, law, sociology, biology, hydrology, etc. Without highly qualified specialists with up-to-date knowledge on the entire spectrum of issues of interaction between society and nature, in the process of making environmentally significant economic, managerial and other decisions, the planet Earth may not have a worthy future.

Even having organizational, human, material and other resources to address environmental issues, will people have the will and wisdom to adequately use them?

2. Formation and development of environmental law. Problems of differentiation and integration in the development of environmental law.

Norms on the protection of nature can be found already in the first regulations Russian state. The question of the history of the development of regulatory regulation of the protection of property rights to natural resources, nature conservation and nature management in Russia should be considered in relation to three periods: a) before 1917, b) c Soviet period and c) on present stage .

a) As in other ancient or medieval states, the protection of natural resources at the initial stage and to a large extent subsequently was carried out primarily through the protection of property rights, economic, military and tax interests of the state. Thus, in Russkaya Pravda (1016), the protection of communal property, the object of which, for example, was a forest, or the property of a prince, was envisaged. In Russian Truth, a fine was established for stealing firewood. It also provided for a fine for the destruction or damage to the board, that is, a hollow filled with honeycombs. Article 69 of the "Large Truth" for the theft of a beaver provided for a fine of 12 hryvnia, i.e. the same punishment as for the murder of a serf * (25). In accordance with the Council Code of 1649, catching fish in someone else's pond or cage, beavers and otters was also considered as theft of property.

A special attitude to the protection of forest resources was also manifested for military reasons. As early as the 14th century, the protected nature of defensive forest fences was established, which served as a means of protection against Tatar raids. ("Notch" - a barrier of cut down and piled trees). The legislation of that time strictly prohibited the felling of trees in the notch line. Such forests were guarded by special guards.

The Russian legislation of the Middle Ages provided for a fairly wide range of sanctions for violating the rules relating to natural objects: a fine, "beat with batogs mercilessly" (batog - a stick, rod, cane), "beat with a whip without any mercy", cutting off the left hand. When punishing, the fact of repetition of the violation was taken into account. Thus, in accordance with the Council Code of 1649, for fishing in someone else's pond, a person caught red-handed was beaten with batogs for the first time, with a whip for the second time, and for the third time with an ear cut off. The death penalty was widely used (for chopping trees in the reserved notch forest, catching small herring, etc.).

Since the 17th century, the protection of forests in Siberia has been associated with the fur trade. So, in 1681, a royal decree was adopted (in Yakutia), which provided that “in the yasak places of forests they should not be flogged and burned, and therefore the beast would not run far and ... there would be no harm and unkind yasak collection” (“yasak "- a tax in kind, which was levied in the old days on the peoples of the Volga region, Siberia and the Far East).

In the 17th century, Russia saw the need to regulate the extraction of wildlife as a measure to prevent their depletion. At the same time, both the methods of extraction and the size of the harvested species, such as fish, were regulated.

Since catching beavers and otters with traps threatened their complete extermination, on August 28, 1635, a royal letter "On the prohibition of catching beavers and otters with traps" * (26) was sent to Great Perm.

In the 17th century, when sable hunting became predatory and when more than a third of the autumn number of sables were harvested, their natural growth ceased, entire regions were declared protected areas to regulate sable hunting in Siberia. In the royal decree adopted in 1676 on the procedure for catching fish in Lake Pleshcheyevo, it was prescribed to catch only large herring. For catching small herring "the headman and fishermen should be on death row."

In the 17th century, a restriction was introduced on the ownership of natural objects and the right to use them in the interests of the state, and later third parties * (27). So, Peter I forbade by his decrees to destroy forests along the rivers, convenient for timber rafting. Some especially valuable forests and trees were declared reserved, i.e. inviolable, forbidden * (28).

If the requirements for nature management and protection of wildlife objects were initially carried out within the framework of the institution of property rights, then the requirements for the protection of air, water and public places from pollution were developed in legislation, which later became known as sanitary. The need for such norms arose in Russia in the 17th century. So, according to the decree of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov, adopted in 1640, for prevention in Moscow it was prescribed that "... dead horses and all cattle outside the Earthen City in bare places dig into the ground not finely, ... but in the streets and behind city, in the settlements of dead horses and all dead cattle and dead dogs and cats and ... nothing dead ... were thrown anywhere ... ". In accordance with the legal act "Institutions for the management of provinces" in 1775, the zemstvo police officer was obliged to ensure that everywhere on the ground and roads was clean. The charter of the deanery, or police officer, of 1782 assigned the duty of "supervision of cleaning, paving the streets" to a private bailiff. According to the Code of Penal and Correctional Punishments of 1845, “if someone builds a factory or factory recognized by law as harmful to the purity of air or water in a city, or even outside the city, but upstream onago along a river or channel, then these establishments are destroyed at the expense of the guilty person, and he is subject to arrest for a period of seven days to three months or a monetary penalty not exceeding three hundred rubles "* (29). In 1833, the rules "On the location and arrangement of private factories, manufacturing, factory and other establishments in St. Petersburg" were issued, which provided that "all harmful gases that can be separated during the production of work must be necessarily absorbed or burned" . In the same document, industrial enterprises were divided into three categories depending on the harmfulness of their impact on the atmospheric air, and enterprises of the third category should not be located in the city * (30).

At the beginning of the 20th century, the issue of creating a special body to monitor compliance with environmental regulations was discussed in Russia. Since the idea belonged to scientists, the creation of such an institution was supposed to be under the auspices of the Academy of Sciences or the Ministry of Education * (31).

Speaking at a conference on international nature conservation (Bern, 1913), a delegate from Russia, Professor G.A. Kozhevnikov noted: "In Russia there is no special law for nature protection. The reason for this is that until recently Russia possessed and possesses such a number of wild animals that the very idea of ​​nature protection was alien to both the people and the government." But already in 1915 - 1916. under the guidance of Academician I.P. Borodin, a pioneer of serious scientific environmental activity in Russia, the first (unrealized) draft of the Russian Law on Nature Protection * (32) was developed.

b) The main features of the development of legal regulation of nature management and nature protection in Russia during the Soviet period were manifested in the following.

Until the 1970s, the natural resource approach dominated the development of legislation in this area. This means that the regulation of nature management and nature protection was carried out in relation to individual natural resources. In the early 1920s, a number of laws and government decrees were adopted, including Land Code RSFSR (1922), forest code RSFSR (1923), Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR "On the bowels of the earth"(1920) Decree of the Central Executive Committee and Council of People's Commissars of the USSR "On the fundamentals of organizing the fisheries of the USSR"(1924) Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR "On hunting" ( 1920), decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR "On the protection of natural monuments, gardens and parks"(1921), Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR "On the sanitary protection of dwellings" (1919) and etc.

As for the ownership of natural resources, these resources were the exclusive property of the state. The Decree "On Land", adopted by the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets on October 26 (November 8), 1917, carried out the complete nationalization of the land, along with other natural resources. Private ownership of land and other natural resources was abolished, they were withdrawn from civil circulation.

The problem of protecting nature from pollution was assessed during this period mainly as sanitary, not ecological. This meant that when regulating the protection of atmospheric air and water, the interests of protecting human health were taken into account, rather than all living organisms suffering from pollution. Accordingly, relations for the protection of water and atmospheric air were regulated to a certain extent by sanitary legislation. Only in the 1970s, with regard to waters and in the 1980s, with respect to atmospheric air, the problems of protecting the environment from pollution began to be assessed and regulated as ecological.

The array of codification natural resource legislation was formed mainly in the period from 1970 to 1982. It included acts such as Land Code RSFSR (1970), water code RSFSR (1972), Subsoil Code of the RSFSR(1976) Forest Code of the RSFSR(1978) Law of the RSFSR on the protection of atmospheric air(1982) Law of the RSFSR on the protection and use of wildlife(1982). These laws were adopted in accordance with the Fundamentals of the Land, Water, Forestry and Mining Legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics, the USSR Laws on the Protection of Atmospheric Air and on the Protection and Use of the Wildlife. With the adoption in 1968 of the Fundamentals of Land Legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics, other industries - water, forestry, mining - began to develop as independent branches of law and legislation and received scientific and official recognition as such. During this period and still has not received the required development of the right to regulate the use and protection of flora outside the forests.

The main attention in the natural resource legislation was paid to the regulation of the use of land, water, forests, and other natural resources. With the exception of the Law on the Protection of Atmospheric Air, relations for the protection of the relevant natural object from pollution and other harmful effects were regulated in them fragmentarily, in a general form. This is partly due to the fact that in the late 60s and early 70s, during their development and adoption, the problem of protecting the environment from pollution was not acute in Russia today, was not sufficiently recognized by the highest bodies of the state, including the Supreme Council RSFSR, and besides, it did not have sufficient scientific development.

True, in the early 1960s, due to the increased involvement of the country's rich natural resources in the economic circulation, during the period of the extensive construction of communism, the need to establish a system of measures aimed at protecting, using and reproducing natural resources was realized at the national level. On October 27, 1960, the Law of the RSFSR " On the protection of nature in the RSFSR"* (33). It contained articles on the protection of lands, subsoil, waters, forests and other vegetation, wildlife. But this law did not play a significant role in regulating nature management and nature protection. It did not offer effective environmental measures and a mechanism for ensuring their implementation .

Basically, with the adoption in 1980 of the Law of the USSR "On the Protection of Atmospheric Air", relations on the protection of the environment from physical and biological influences were included in the scope of legal regulation.

The system of sources of environmental law during this period was dominated not by laws, but by-laws in the form of decrees of the Government of the USSR and the RSFSR, departmental rules and instructions. At that time, not laws, but government regulations determined some integrated approaches to the regulation of nature management and environmental protection as a single object.

At the session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in September 1972, concern for the protection of nature and the best use of natural resources was recognized as one of the most important state tasks. At the same time, the Government of the USSR was instructed to develop measures to further strengthen nature protection and improve the use of natural resources. Subsequently, these measures were enshrined not in laws, but in a joint resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR of December 29, 1972 "On strengthening the protection of nature and improving the use of natural resources" * (34). Along with the requirements for the development of environmental regulation, environmental monitoring, and other measures, this resolution provided for the need for mandatory planning of measures for nature protection and nature management in the system of state plans for social and economic development. The nature protection plan, approved by the relevant representative body, became legally binding.

Later, on December 1, 1978, another joint resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR was adopted - "On additional measures to strengthen nature protection and improve the use of natural resources" * (35). Taking into account the role assigned to planning as one of the main instruments of regulation community development, in order to improve it, the resolution provided for a new form of pre-planning document - territorial integrated schemes for nature protection.

Efforts to ensure rational nature management and nature protection, undertaken on the basis of natural resources legislation and the above-mentioned government regulations, did not, however, produce visible and tangible results. At the end of the 1980s, the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Government of the USSR realized that the main reasons for the sharp deterioration of the state of the environment in the country were: weak legal regulation of nature management and environmental protection, imperfect organization of state administration in this area, the "residual" principle of financing environmental protection activities, lack of economic incentives for enterprises to rationally use natural resources and protect nature from pollution. On January 7, 1988, the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted a resolution "On the radical restructuring of nature conservation in the country" * (36).

This decree gave a number of significant directives. The main ones are: 1) consolidation of state management of nature management and environmental protection through the formation of the USSR State Committee for Nature Protection (based on subdivisions of natural resource ministries and departments that duplicated each other); 2) improvement of the economic mechanism that ensures the efficient use and protection of natural resources (primarily by regulating payments for natural resources and environmental pollution); 3) a decision to prepare a draft Law of the USSR on Nature Protection.

These directives had to be carried out already in the new political and socio-economic conditions and in fact in the new state.

With the exception of the Law "On the Protection of Nature in the RSFSR", legal regulation regarding nature (environment) as an integrated object was carried out mainly in joint resolutions of the CPSU Central Committee and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

The main general shortcoming of Russian legislation in the socialist period, in addition to significant gaps, was the lack of a "working" mechanism for ensuring the implementation of norms. The low efficiency of legislation, the depletion of natural resources and the constant deterioration of the quality of the environment - these and other factors required new approaches to the legal regulation of nature management and environmental protection.

c) New approaches to the development of environmental law are being implemented at the present stage of development of Russian society. The transition to market relations in the economy, the rejection of ideological dogmas in law, the desire of Russian society to create a legal and social state in the future, to establish legal norms for nature management and environmental protection mainly in laws, and not in by-laws - these are the phenomena in environmental law, which mark the beginning of a new stage in its development.

At the present stage, environmental law is developing taking into account the following major factors: the crisis state of the environment in the country and public needs in restoring a favorable environment; defects in the existing environmental legislation, which is characterized by gaps and fragmentation in the legal regulation of environmental relations; prospects for the creation of a legal and social state; ongoing transformation of social economic relations; introduction of a number of forms of ownership of natural resources; trends in the development of relations between society and nature and environmental law in the world. The most important principle in the formation of environmental legislation at the present stage is its harmonization with the advanced world legislation.

Human activity in relation to nature is aggressive. Unfortunately, Russia is no exception. It remains one of the most polluted countries in the world and faces many serious environmental problems. The main threats to the country's environment, as well as the necessary steps to address them, are described below.

Deforestation

Large-scale fires in and broadleaved forests lead to increased carbon release and an increase in rates. After cutting down, the nature of the lighting changes. Due to the abundance of sunlight, plants that prefer shade die. Fertility is reduced, the process of erosion occurs. When the root system decomposes in the soil, a lot of nitrogen is released. It prevents the growth of new trees and plants. Swamps often form in place of pine and cedar forests.

Wood loss has been proven to reach 40%. Every second tree is cut down in vain. It will take at least 100 years to fully restore the destroyed forest areas.

Energy production and the environment

Thermal power plants are the largest source of environmental pollution. Their boilers burn fossil fuels. CHP emits solid particles into the air and. Due to the large release of unused energy, thermal pollution occurs. The operation of power plants leads to acid rain, the accumulation of greenhouse gases, which negatively affects nearby settlements.

Nuclear power plants bear a high risk of catastrophes. In normal mode, they emit a lot of heat into the reservoirs. During NPP operation, radiation emissions do not exceed permissible limits. But radioactive waste requires complex processing and disposal procedures.

Some time ago it was believed that hydroelectric power plants are incapable of causing harm. However, damage environment yet palpable. For the construction of a power plant, artificially created reservoirs are needed. A large area of ​​such reservoirs is occupied by shallow water. It causes overheating of water, collapse of banks, flooding and death of fish.

Pollution of water and reservoirs

According to scientists, diseases of people living in ecologically disadvantaged areas are associated with poor water quality. Most of the harmful substances flowing into water bodies are completely dissolved in water, which is why they remain invisible. The situation is constantly getting worse. It can turn into an ecological catastrophe at any moment.

A difficult situation has developed in large metropolitan areas, standing on the rivers. Industrial enterprises that are concentrated there poison nearby areas, and even remote areas, with effluents. penetrates deep into the soil and makes underground sources unusable. Environmental damage is caused by agricultural regions. Reservoirs in these places are polluted with nitrates and animal waste.

Every day, water comes from sewage, which contains the remains of detergents, food and feces. They allow pathogens to develop. Once in the human body, it provokes a number of infectious diseases. Most of the treatment facilities are outdated and cannot cope with the increased load. This negatively affects the flora and fauna of water bodies.

Air pollution

Industrial enterprises are the main source of pollution. There are about thirty thousand plants and factories in the country that regularly emit harmful impurities, a large amount of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, formaldehyde and sulfur oxide into the atmosphere.

In second place are exhaust gases. The main source of the problem is used cars, lack of special filters, poor road surface and poor traffic organization. Carbon dioxide, lead, soot, nitrogen oxides are released into the atmosphere. Most of the rest of the exhaust gases suffer large cities with extensive road networks.

The European part of Russia is flat. From the west, polluted air masses from other states freely penetrate here. Due to industrial emissions from neighboring countries, tons of oxidized nitrogen and sulfur regularly enter Russia. Siberia suffers from harmful substances of Kazakhstani industry. Factories in the Chinese provinces are poisoning the Far Eastern regions.

The problem of radioactive contamination

Radioactivity is associated with ore mining, peaceful nuclear explosions, and waste disposal. Quite recently, the natural radiation background was 8 microroentgens per hour. Weapons testing, mining of minerals and nuclear reactions in the energy sector have significantly increased these figures. Leakage of harmful substances can occur during the transportation or storage of sources of radioactive elements. The most dangerous of them are strontium-90, cesium-137, cobalt-60 and iodine-131.

The service life of a nuclear power plant is 30 years. After that, the power units are decommissioned. Until recently, waste was disposed of like ordinary garbage, which caused enormous damage to the ecology of Russia. Today, there are special containers for storage and burial grounds for them.

Household waste

Garbage is conditionally divided into plastic, paper, glass, metal, textiles, wood and food residues. Some materials are not exposed. The country has accumulated billions of tons of waste and the numbers are constantly growing. Unauthorized landfills are a big problem for the environment.

Thousands of hectares of land suitable for agriculture remain under the rubble. Dumping, that is, the disposal of waste in the sea, pollutes the water. Factories constantly emit waste, including radioactive waste. Smoke from garbage burning contains heavy metals.

environmental protection

The State Duma began to actively adopt laws in the field of ecology in 2012. They are aimed at combating illegal logging, provide for tougher penalties for the trade in rare animals and plants, and also strengthen the protection of natural areas. Realization is practically invisible.

The Russian environmental movement is of great importance. The All-Russian Society for the Conservation of Nature regularly conducts raids, inspections of enterprises and various examinations. It is engaged in cleaning recreation areas, planting forests and much more. Security Center wildlife solves environmental problems.

And are of great importance. They not only protect flora and fauna. Their activities are aimed at developing ordinary people culture of responsibility for the environment.

Solving environmental problems

Partially deforestation will be solved by planting new trees. In the field of logging, control over the activities of companies is necessary. State environmental organizations need to monitor the forest fund. Significant forces should be directed to the prevention of spontaneous fires. Businesses should start recycling wood.

Increasingly, plants and factories are trying to improve equipment. On the territory of Russia, the activities of an organization with high levels of pollution emissions have been suspended. Public transport and cars have been converted to EURO-5 fuel standards with low emission standards. Supervision of the activities of hydroelectric power plants is being strengthened.

In the regions, a waste separation program is being actively introduced. Solid residues will subsequently become recyclable. Large hypermarkets offer to abandon plastic bags in favor of eco-bags.

The state needs to take care of the education of the population. People should be aware of the real scale of the problems and the exact numbers. Advocacy for the conservation of nature should be carried out at school. Children should be taught to love and care for the environment.

The ecological situation is rapidly deteriorating. If you do not start to solve problems now, you can completely destroy forests and water bodies, deprive yourself and your children of normal conditions for existence.

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Global environmental problems and ways to solve them.

Today, the ecological situation in the world can be described as close to critical.

Among the global environmental problems are the following:

• thousands of species of plants and animals have been destroyed and continue to be destroyed; the forest cover has been largely destroyed;
• the available stock of minerals is rapidly declining;
• the world ocean is not only depleted as a result of the destruction of living organisms, but also ceases to be a regulator of natural processes;
• the atmosphere in many places is polluted to the maximum permissible extent, and clean air becomes scarce;
• the ozone layer, which protects against destructive cosmic radiation for all living things, is partially broken;
• surface pollution and disfigurement of natural landscapes: on Earth it is impossible to detect a single square meter surface, wherever there are artificially created elements.

The perniciousness of man's consumer attitude to nature only as an object of obtaining certain wealth and benefits has become quite obvious. For humanity, it becomes vital to change the very philosophy of attitude towards nature.

What measures are needed to solve global environmental problems!

First of all, one should move from the consumer-technocratic approach to nature to the search for harmony with it. This, in particular, requires a number of targeted measures to green production: environmentally friendly technologies, mandatory environmental impact assessment of new projects, and the creation of non-waste closed-cycle technologies.

Now there is talk about climate change. Whether this is a consequence of human activity or not, how will it affect a person? There is currently no clear answer to this question.

There is also the issue of environmental threats, attempts to assess the economic and non-economic value of natural resources. Take, for example, a forest. It is clear how much wood, berries, furs cost separately. But it is also clear that the forest is not limited to these resources, it also purifies the air, stores carbon, and so on.

The question is how to evaluate it? This is a huge problem all over the world. In our modern market world, what has no value is not included in the system of civilization, in any protection programs.

Is it possible to single out the main problem of geoecology, one on which answers to particular questions depend?

It can be formulated as follows: is civilization an integral part of the biosphere system or an independent system - a biosphere user?

In the first case, there are mechanisms that regulate the development of civilization, directed from the biosphere to civilization, that is, civilization is included in the system of biospheric processes, in the second case, there are no such mechanisms and civilization "sits" on the biosphere like an octopus.

The survival strategies of mankind depend on the answer to this question. It is clear that a person is a consumer of resources (he himself is not a resource, except perhaps for mosquitoes). There are a lot of consumers (called in ecology first-order consumers, second-order consumers), but they will never be able to “eat” their ecosystem, because there are mechanisms for regulating their numbers. This is illustrated in the following figure:

The top graph shows fluctuations in the number of lynx and hare according to the purchase of skins of these animals by the Hudson's Bay Company. This is a classic pattern of fluctuations in the number of animals in the presence of mechanisms for their regulation. The lynx will never be able to eat all the hares, as there is a regulation mechanism. In a more simplified scheme (upper right), the fluctuations level out and the abundance fluctuates around the average value.

The system behaves in a completely different way if there are no regulatory connections (lower graph). Is there some culture medium, the victim is “sown” there, after which a predator is launched into the test tube, which eats the victim and then dies of hunger itself.

Which of these schemes corresponds to the relationship between civilization and the biosphere?

There are two approaches to resolving this issue.

The first approach, which, unfortunately, until the last time most scientists adhered to, represents a person as a biosphere user. This approach is presented in the classic works of the spouses Daniela and Dennis Meadows and J. Randers, made under the auspices of the Club of Rome (an organization created by 100 largest industrialists, they give orders to scientists who write books on ordered topics). These are the works "Limits to Growth" (1972) and "Beyond Growth" (1992). In the diagram from this book, a person is represented by a system standing on a stream, transferring high-level energy and resources to waste.

Man is presented here as a system standing on a stream, turning high-level energy (solar energy, oil) and resources (wood, minerals) into low-level energy, in a word, resources into waste.

The meaning of the work is that the sources of resources and sinks have their limits. Humanity has come close to these limits, and due to exponential growth, these limits will soon be crossed. Going beyond these limits threatens with catastrophe, destruction of the biosphere, and with it the destruction of humanity as a whole. Just as it was presented with the in vitro predator and prey model.

What are the restrictions on the use of resources? Of the 3.2 billion hectares of maximum possible green resources (that is, if we clear all forests), we use 1.5. Used almost half of the available water resources, a third of forest, etc. According to these calculations, 10% of the drains are already filled.

On the basis of such reasoning, the MIR-3 model was made, which describes the standard scenario for the development of mankind. Above is a diagram of a typical future scenario (the model is developed up to 2100) if nothing is done in the near future. It can be seen that after the depletion of resources, the population will fall many times over.

If we put double values ​​of the limits into this model, that is, if we have 2 times more resources than we think now, and if we have super-powerful, waste-free processing technologies, the picture will not fundamentally change, only shift by 20-30 years.

The diagram of the optimistic scenario is shown above. If in 1995 a population stabilization program was adopted (1 family - 2 children), non-waste and resource-saving technologies were introduced, and the limits were doubled. All this leads to the fact that in 2005 the situation will stabilize. But since nothing has been done, the Meadows developed a model when measures are taken in 2015. Then the situation worsens somewhat, and then stabilizes. And the later the measures are taken, the more the "optimistic" scenario approaches the standard one.

What is offeredin socio-economic terms:

• Stopping population growth as soon as possible (by 2015: 1 family - 2 children, control efficiency -100%).
• Stabilization of industrial production at the level of $350 per person per year (that's roughly South Korea, or twice the size of Brazil in 1990).
• Implementation of “waste-free” and resource-saving technologies (reduction of resource use and pollution to the level of 1975).

Regarding resource use:

• The rate of consumption of renewable resources should not exceed the rate of their regeneration.
• The rate of consumption of non-renewable resources should not exceed the rate of their replacement with renewable ones. (very difficult to do in a practical sense, i.e. increase oil production in such a way as to invest in afforestation so that the amount of energy in new forests is the same as in used oil)
• The rate of emissions of pollutants should not exceed the rate of their natural "processing" (purification).

The requirements are very strict. But they are soft compared to other theory.

The second theory, called the "theory of the golden billion" belongs to the physicist V.G. Gorshkov, developed in 1990-1995. She talks about the following:

1. The biosphere is a system that works according to the principle of Le Chatelier (compensation of external influences by internal mechanisms).
2. The action of these stability mechanisms is provided by “unperturbed biota”, i.e. undisturbed natural ecosystems.
3. The destruction of natural ecosystems leads to the loss of stability of the biosphere, its destruction and the subsequent death of civilization
4. Modern civilization has already exceeded the limits of the disturbance of the biota, which has led to a violation of the Le Chatelier principle (the biosphere losing control - this is evidenced by climate change, disruption / opening of cycles, environmental pollution, etc.).

The stability of the land, in his opinion, was violated in the middle of the 18th century, until the beginning of the 20th century, the stability of the biosphere was maintained at the expense of the ocean, after which it was disrupted globally. The principle underlying the work is completely different, if the Meadows considered resources, then here the thermodynamic model of the biosphere is considered.

Limits of biota disturbance: the area of ​​disturbed ecosystems should not exceed 20% of the land area, and now 60% has already been disturbed, the share of anthropogenic consumption of biosphere products should not exceed 1%, and now it is 10%. That is, here too there are limits, but completely different.

In socio-economic terms, it is proposed to reduce the population by 10 times over several decades to 0.5 - 1 billion people.

With regard to resource use, it is proposed:

1. The actual rejection of the use of non-renewable resources: reducing their exploitation by hundreds of times.
2. Cessation of growth in energy consumption (primarily HPPs and NPPs).
3. Reducing deforestation by at least 10 times.
4. Termination of expansion to yet undeveloped lands and reduction of those already used by 3 times.

How to do this is unknown, including to the author of the theory, it is clear that demographic methods will not be able to do this (if only by measures of physical influence)

What do these two classic works have in common? Very stringent requirements for population and resource use. Moreover, if these requirements are not met in the coming decades, we are in danger of a catastrophe.

This approach is very bleak. Let's say this model is correct. But we are really not ready not only to reduce the population, but even to stop its growth (as China's experience shows). Switching only to renewable resources is also impossible, this is a different civilization. Let's say we agree to take action, and it turns out that the models are wrong.

That is, in any case, whether we accept these requirements or not, according to these models, our civilization will either perish or change radically.

The second approach says that civilization is part of the biosphere. The foundation was laid by the works of Vernadsky, Thiers de Chardin and others. Their theory of the noosphere suggests that a certain center will appear that can control the biosphere with the help of the mind. This approach is shown in the following diagram.

Consider from these positions the relationship of man with resources and with nature. Let's start with resource types, shall we?

There are renewable and non-renewable resources. We can distinguish 4 types:

1. natural renewable resources (air, water, plant and animal biomass):

• they are restored after use to their original state through natural mechanisms
• the performance of natural recovery mechanisms has its limit (the river can process a certain amount of waste per year, and if more, then pollution will begin)
• a person can investfunds to intensify the renewal

2. anthropogenic renewable resources (metals, sulfur, salts, phosphates, Construction Materials etc.):

• restoration is carried out only by the society itself at the expense of its available funds
• in principle, they can be restored after use to their original state, but there are no natural mechanisms for this

3. non-renewable resources ( hydrocarbon energy resources - oil, gas, coal, non-hydrocarbon - uranium, as well as diamonds, etc.). In principle, they cannot be restored after use to their original state.

4. conditionally inexhaustible resources (solar and gravitational energy):

• come from outside the biosphere
• due to them, natural mechanisms of resource recovery function

The ratio between these groups is shown in the figure. It can be seen that the majority of renewable resources, they can be involved in the cycles of "resource - waste - resource" through natural and anthropogenic mechanisms.

Environmental problems and their solutions

Introduction

According to scientists, humanity currently lives at the expense of future generations, who are destined for much worse living conditions, which will inevitably affect their health and social well-being. To avoid this, people need to learn to exist only on the "interest" from the fixed capital - nature, without spending the capital itself.

Since the 20th century, this capital has been squandered at a steadily increasing rate, and by now the nature of the Earth has changed so much that global environmental problems have been discussed at the international level for several decades. In the ecosystem used, even the latest technologies for rational nature management do not allow preserving biodiversity. For this purpose, specially protected natural territories (SPNA) are needed, in which economic activity is completely prohibited or limited. The area of ​​protected areas in Russia is 20 or more times smaller than in developed countries. And in order to preserve the flora and fauna of our country in its current state, it is necessary to increase the territory occupied by protected areas, at least 10-15 times.

The purpose of the work is to consider environmental problems and ways to solve them.

Modern problems of nature conservation

The initial reasons that appeared at the end of the 20th century. global environmental problems were the population explosion and the simultaneous scientific and technological revolution.

The world population was equal to 2.5 billion people in 1950, doubled in 1984 and will reach 6.1 billion in 2000. Geographically, the growth of the world's population is uneven. In Russia, since 1993, the population has been declining, but growing in China, the countries of southern Asia, throughout Africa and Latin America. Accordingly, over half a century, the spaces taken from nature by sown areas, residential and public buildings, railways and roads, airports and marinas, vegetable gardens and landfills have increased by 2.5-3 times.

At the same time, the scientific and technological revolution gave mankind the possession of atomic energy, which, in addition to being good, led to radioactive contamination of vast territories. High-speed jet aircraft appeared, destroying the ozone layer of the atmosphere. The number of vehicles polluting the atmosphere of cities with exhaust gases has increased tenfold. AT agriculture in addition to fertilizers, various poisons began to be widely used - pesticides, the washout of which polluted the surface layer of the water of the entire oceans.

All this has led to many major environmental problems. Global environmental problems are the objective result of the interaction between our civilization and the environment in the era of industrial development. The beginning of this era is considered to be 1860. Around this time, as a result of the rapid development of Euro-American capitalism, the then industry reached a new level. Global environmental problems are divided into several groups that are closely related to each other:

demographic problem (negative consequences of population growth in the 20th century);

energy problem (energy shortage gives rise to the search for new sources of energy and pollution associated with their extraction and use);

food problem (the need to achieve a full-fledged level of nutrition for every person raises questions in the field of agriculture and the use of fertilizers);

the problem of preserving natural resources (raw and mineral resources have been depleted since the Bronze Age, the conservation of the human gene pool and biodiversity is important, fresh water and atmospheric oxygen are limited);

the problem of protecting the environment and humans from the action of harmful substances (there are sad facts of mass casting of whales on the coast, mercury, oil, etc. disasters and poisoning caused by them).

In the last quarter of the XX century. a sharp warming of the global climate began, which in the boreal regions is reflected in a decrease in the number of frosty winters. The average temperature of the surface layer of air over the past 25 years has increased by 0.7°C. The temperature of the subglacial water in the region of the North Pole increased by almost two degrees, as a result of which the ice began to melt from below.

It is possible that this warming is partly natural. However, the rate of warming forces us to recognize the role of the anthropogenic factor in this phenomenon. Now mankind annually burns 4.5 billion tons of coal, 3.2 billion tons of oil and oil products, as well as natural gas, peat, oil shale and firewood. All this turns into carbon dioxide, the content of which in the atmosphere increased from 0.031% in 1956 to 0.035% in 1996 (9. P. 99). and continues to grow. In addition, emissions of another greenhouse gas, methane, into the atmosphere have increased sharply.

Now most climatologists of the world recognize the role of the anthropogenic factor in climate warming. Over the past 10-15 years, there have been many studies and meetings that have shown that the rise in the level of the World Ocean is really happening, at a rate of 0.6 mm per year, or 6 cm per century. At the same time, vertical uplifts or subsidences of coastlines reach 20 mm per year.

At present, the main environmental problems that have arisen under the influence of anthropogenic activities are: violation of the ozone layer, deforestation and desertification of territories, pollution of the atmosphere and hydrosphere, acid rain, and a decrease in biodiversity. In this regard, the most extensive research and in-depth analysis of changes in the field of global ecology are needed, which could help in making fundamental decisions at the very high level in order to reduce damage to natural conditions and provide a favorable living environment.

2. Current state and protection of the atmosphere, water resources, soil, vegetation

Atmospheric protection is regulated primarily by the Convention on Transboundary Air Pollution (1979), the Montreal (1987) and Vienna (1985) agreements on the ozone layer, as well as protocols on the control of emissions of sulfur and nitrogen oxides.

A special place among the international conventions and agreements on the protection of the air basin was held by the Moscow Treaty of 1963 on the prohibition of testing nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, outer space and under water, concluded between the USSR, the USA and England, other agreements of the 70-90s. on the limitation, reduction and prohibition of nuclear, bacteriological, chemical weapons in various environments and regions. In 1996, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty was solemnly signed at the UN.

Modern international cooperation in the field of environmental protection is carried out at three levels:

1. Expanding the exchange of experience. The better nature is protected on the territory of each country, the less effort and resources will be required at the international level.

2. Development and implementation of measures for the protection of elements of the natural environment in limited zones or geographical areas with the participation of two or more countries (bilateral, sub-regional or regional cooperation).

3. Increasing efforts of all countries of the world in solving the problems of environmental protection. At this level, the development and implementation of universal environmental protection measures take place.

The current stage of the international environmental movement ends with the formalization of mechanisms and procedures for implementing the decisions of the World Forum in Rio de Janeiro. In the 21st century humanity enters with a clear understanding of the vital importance of environmental problems and with reasonable confidence in their solution for the benefit of all peoples of the world and the nature of the Earth. Society can live and develop only within the biosphere and at the expense of its resources, therefore it is vitally interested in its preservation. Mankind must consciously limit its impact on nature in order to preserve the possibility of further co-evolution.

3. Rational use and protection of animals

The Law of the Russian Federation on the Protection and Use of Wildlife defines the following types of activities: fishing, hunting for birds and animals, the use of waste products and useful properties of animals, the use of wildlife for scientific, cultural, educational, educational, aesthetic purposes. All of them are covered by licensing. Licenses for their use are issued by the authorities for the protection and use of wildlife, in particular, for wild animals - the bodies of the Okhotnadzor, for fishing - the bodies of the Rybnadzor.

Licenses are also issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources in the event of the sale of animals or projects of their life activity outside the state, and for the export of medicinal raw materials also by the Ministry of Health of Russia.

The license is essential not only as a means of protecting the natural environment, but also as one of the ways to regulate nature management.

4. Ecological crisis. Ecological disasters. Environmental monitoring

The ecological crisis of the biosphere, which scientists are talking about, is not a crisis of nature, but of human society. Among the main problems that caused its occurrence are the volume of anthropogenic impact on nature in the 20th century, which brought the biosphere closer to the limit of sustainability; contradictions between the essence of man and nature, his alienation from nature; continuation of the development of the “civilization of consumption” - the growth of optional needs of people and society, the satisfaction of which leads to an increase in the excessive technogenic load on the environment.

Efforts to protect the environment in all countries are undertaken, however, locally within the generally accepted paradigm of “mismanagement”. It is considered possible to remedy the situation by investing additional funds in improving technology. The "green" movement advocates bans on the nuclear, chemical, oil, microbiological and other industries. Scientists and practitioners of ecology, for the most part, are not engaged in “knowledge of the economy of nature”, but in the development of particular issues - technologies for reducing emissions and discharges from enterprises, the preparation of norms, rules and laws. There is no agreement among scientists in the analysis of the causes and consequences of the "greenhouse effect", "ozone holes", in determining the permissible limits for the withdrawal of natural resources and population growth on the planet. The internationally recognized panacea for the global greenhouse effect is the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, which will require multibillion-dollar costs, but, as will be shown below, will not solve the problem, and senseless spending will only exacerbate the crisis.

Greenhouse effect and "ozone holes"

The greenhouse effect, as some scientists believe, is a modern physical and chemical process of disturbing the thermal balance of the planet with an accelerating rise in temperature on it. It is generally accepted that this effect is caused by the accumulation of "greenhouse gases" in the Earth's atmosphere, which are formed mainly in the process of fossil fuel combustion. Infrared (thermal) radiation from the Earth's surface does not go into outer space, but is absorbed by the molecules of these gases, and its energy remains in the Earth's atmosphere.

Over the past hundred years, the average temperature of the Earth's surface has increased by 0.8 ° C. In the Alps and the Caucasus, glaciers have halved in volume, on Mount Kilimanjaro - by 73%, and the level of the World Ocean has risen by at least 10 cm. According to the World Meteorological Service , already by 2050 the concentration of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere increases to 0.05%, and the increase in the average temperature on the planet will be 2-3.5 ° C. The results of such a process are not accurately predicted. An increase in the level of the World Ocean by 15-95 cm is expected with flooding of densely populated areas of river deltas in Western Europe and Southeast Asia, a shift in climatic zones, a change in the direction of winds, ocean currents (including the Gulf Stream) and precipitation.