Unfortunately, in recent years, the word "ecology" from a neutral has become a well-known concept. “Unfortunately,” because people began to pay attention to the surrounding nature only after it began to give serious “failures” in the form of sudden droughts, hurricanes, and other uncharacteristic phenomena. Therefore, it is not surprising that modern species environmental control constantly improving and becoming more rigid.
The main types
So, according to the legislation in force in our country, control is divided into three large groups:
- State (this includes, in particular, municipal environmental control).
- Production check.
- Public.
Definition of a concept
If we talk about the meaning of this concept, then “control” in this case refers to a whole system of measures that are aimed at identifying and immediately suppressing the facts of environmental pollution. Environmental control also provides for a certain (even criminal) responsibility for non-compliance with the maintenance of the documentation that is stipulated in the relevant regulatory legal acts.
The main objectives of control
The main objectives of control, regardless of its type, are as follows:
- Ensure that organizations fully comply with environmental laws and prevent their non-compliance.
- To achieve compliance with the basic rules for maintaining the world around us, including through the use of judicial and executive mechanisms.
- Also, control in this case is needed to ensure complete environmental safety of production facilities.
What principles should guide environmental control?
Firstly, all activities carried out in this field should be completely independent of external pressure. In addition, regulatory authorities should always act from the position that any economic activity carries a potential threat to the environmental safety of a given area, and all enterprises in this regard are even more dangerous.
The person conducting environmental control must require strict compliance with all legal standards and laws adopted in the field of environmental legislation from the management of companies whose activities pose a direct or indirect danger to the environmental condition of the region. In the matter of environmental control, state authorities, including those for each constituent entity of the Russian Federation, as well as local authorities, must necessarily participate. In addition, the involvement of individuals and legal entities is allowed.
If any economic or other activity is unpredictable in terms of consequences for the environment, regulatory authorities have the right to demand its termination. In addition, these same authorities have the right to lobby for the rejection of those projects (including legislative ones, at the state level), which in the future can lead to the destruction of the natural habitat for plants, animals, and humans themselves. This is especially important if there is the prospect of the complete destruction of the old biocenosis related to the national park, nature reserve, other protected area.
Supervisory authorities are also liable (up to criminal) for compliance / non-compliance with environmental laws.
Subjects and activities of environmental control
Subjects include: all bodies in the field representing state power on behalf of the Russian Federation, the authorities of each constituent entity of the country, as well as local government, individuals and legal entities. It should be remembered that in many cases environmental regulation is possible only on behalf of the direct representative of the federal government in the region. For example, only such bodies can make a decision to terminate the operation of an enterprise whose activities directly threaten the environmental stability of the area.
Environmental monitoring should always be carried out as quickly as possible, clearly and completely. By the way, according to the time of implementation, it is divided into preliminary, current and subsequent. As you might guess, a preliminary one is held before an event (for example, in anticipation of the opening of a new plant). The current is carried out throughout the work of this enterprise. As part of the follow-up control, an audit is already carried out of the environmental measures already taken. Any inspections, respectively, are planned and unscheduled, according to the results of which environmental fines are sometimes imposed.
As for the meaning of all this, it is proactive. Simply put, any environmental monitoring event is aimed at preventing legislation in this area, since these violations can lead to a serious deterioration of the environmental situation in the area, up to its complete unsuitability for human life for several generations.
Explanation of environmental control types
Finally, all types of environmental control involve the organization of the lawful and rational use of all types of natural resources available in a given area (renewable and non-renewable). They differ in subjects, objects of verification used in this method.
State monitoring characteristics
This is the most important type of environmental monitoring (in all countries, and not only in the Russian Federation). Its provisions and measures apply to all public authorities, enterprises, it applies to individuals and legal entities. Thus, it is as if departmental, the Federal Service for Environmental Supervision directly monitors the implementation of its provisions.
However, state control can still influence environmental monitoring bodies, since the government may have the opposite opinion. In particular, environmental organizations may not want to open a new enterprise, but if it is important for the interests of the state, then the opinion of environmentalists may well be neglected. Of course, this does not mean the abolition of continuous monitoring of the plant so that the environment does not cause significant harm during this process.
Who controls the inspectors responsible for state environmental monitoring?
State control can be carried out both by specially created and by general bodies in the government of the Russian Federation. The president is responsible for the placement of personnel at the state level. It is he who appoints key posts of ministers and supervisors. In addition, he also has the right to chair the Government meetings, which allows the president to make significant decisions in the field of environmental legislation. At the regional level, plenipotentiary representatives of the President of the Russian Federation are responsible for environmental monitoring.
But in this case, their authority (mainly) is limited to verifying the development of budget amounts allocated for the purpose of monitoring the ecological condition of the area. Environmental monitoring at the state level is carried out when ministers hear reports from their subordinates in the field, making decisions on further actions.
It should be noted that the following bodies are responsible for the current environmental survey: organizations in the field of environmental management, nuclear and technological supervision, even the Federal Cadastral Service is involved. Its employees are required to comply with land use standards and impede attempts to alienate nature conservation and agricultural land for personal use.
All bodies responsible for environmental monitoring at the legislative level are obliged to constantly interact with each other, as well as with local government, public organizations and movements, as well as with legal entities and individuals. For example, the Federal Cadastral Service is actively working with all of them.
Production Control Features
As you can understand, production control is direct environmental monitoring of the situation directly at the production facility. Oddly enough, but this type of monitoring is higher than municipal. This is indicated by many human rights activists working in the environmental sphere: since the opinion of the heads of production means more than the conclusions of local authorities, situations of abuse and violation of environmental laws are very common.
Industrial control of environmental safety can be carried out only by authorized persons of the industrial facility itself. In general, this is a single example of how the functions of nature management and monitoring are combined in one person. For failure to fulfill his duties, the head of the enterprise may be held liable, including criminal.
Production control objectives
Environmental monitoring at any plant has two most pronounced goals:
- Monitoring the proper use of natural resources, ensuring the safe use of natural resources, preventing emissions and other technological accidents that threaten the life and health of people living in the area.
- Compliance with regulatory and legislative acts in the field of environmental protection in force in the Russian Federation.
The aspects and directions of economic activity covered by the industrial environmental control program are as follows:
- Identification and elimination of factors that may have a negative impact on the environment.
- The study of the impact on the nature of finished products, which are produced by various objects of environmental control (factories, factories, agricultural enterprises).
- Introduction of innovative technologies to reduce the impact on the environment in the production process.
- A warning emergency situations and emissions of toxic substances (like all types of environmental control).
- Conducting five-minute seminars and seminars on environmental safety among staff.
- Similar interaction with the public and public organizations.
- General work in the field of reducing liability risks.
Other goals and objectives
Departmental environmental control also has other tasks for which the responsible person is personally responsible:
- Monitoring of all works in which an emergency will pose a direct threat to the environmental safety of the area.
- Maximum minimization of all types of production risks (again, fraught with environmental difficulties).
- Improving the efficiency of using all types of resources, introducing technologies that can significantly reduce the amount of waste.
- Organization of briefings and other activities that prevent the development of emergencies and other emergency situations at the facility.
- Maintaining all required environmental documentation, its timely completion.
- Quick and timely provision of all environmental information to authorized persons.
- Work with the personnel of the enterprise, its environmental education.
Public environmental monitoring and its tasks
This type of control is carried out by trade unions, labor collectives and ordinary public organizations, as well as caring citizens (on their own initiative). This also includes the environmental police. This type of environmental monitoring is characterized by the fact that its representatives may require a visit and inspection of any object whose activity may be hazardous to the environment. The only exceptions are those cases when these data are classified as state secrets.
The public is valuable in that it can identify those problems that, for some reason (most often - intentionally), were out of sight of public services. In addition, citizens themselves can create effectively functioning alternative information channels through which information on environmental disasters and emergency situations spread much faster. Such ecological control of the environment has proven itself not only in our country, but also in many other countries.
Also, public organizations, which included caring lawyers, often brought to court such cases that corrupt local officials would like to hush up. It is for this reason that the environmental police are very important even at the state level.
Unfortunately, there are not so many legally prescribed levers of influence for public environmental organizations. And therefore, when they need to raise the issue of some serious offense, they often resort to practice when a prominent state or public figure is “connected” to work as an independent civilian consultant. Such organizations can carry out their activities both in parallel and independently of state regulatory bodies. They can use the powers that they have been given by the state at the legislative level.
These are the types of environmental control that exist in our country. If responsible persons carry out their work efficiently, these organizations can prevent all types of serious accidents.
What is the significance of environmental monitoring in recent years?
Over the past 10-12 years, the Russian Federation nevertheless has a tendency to restore the real production sphere. After 20 years of complete decline, many realized that the real economy cannot function without it even theoretically. This is good for the state, but the problem is that the norms and rules of environmental legislation are far from being respected by all.
This is fraught with many problems, the worst of which is the threat of environmental disaster due to the release of toxic or radioactive substances. The significance of environmental monitoring lies precisely in the prevention of such excesses, as well as in the corresponding “processing” of the personnel of enterprises and the population.
In addition, the main task of ecologists is to teach everyone to think that the environment is not something abstract and distant, that natural disasters are a direct threat to the life and health of both one person and humanity as a whole. Unfortunately, many citizens do not think about this at all. It is to rectify the situation that environmental legislation in our country is constantly being developed and supplemented.
