Legal Regulation of Protection of Natural Objects

All types of natural objects are closely interlinked with each other. Deterioration of the quality of one of them inevitably leads to particular consequences for the condition of the other elements of the ecological system. This is why legislation stipulates a range of measures aimed at protecting both the environment in general and its constituent components. Land protection focuses on the preservation of soil fertility. From the analysis of the Forest Code of the Russian Federation it follows that there are nature protection rules of a general nature covering all types of forests and special rules specifying these general provisions for certain categories of forests. In particular, the general environmental rules consist in the fact that all forests are subject to protection from fires, pollution (including contamination by radioactive substances) and other negative impact as well as protection from harmful organisms. The legal regime of water bodies varies depending on whether they are located on the surface of the earth or they are ground water bodies. The Government of the Russian Federation approved special rules for protection of both surface and ground water bodies. The task of water protection is solved by imposing duties on the subjects of water relations – citizens and legal entities as well as public authorities. For the purpose of water protection, environmental and water laws establish a range of general and special requirements. The protection of fauna habitat is one of the areas of fauna protection activities. Legislation establishes two regimes of the protection of animals. The general regime of the protection is established by the Federal Law “On Fauna” (based on the criterion of the possibility of being an object of hunting and fishing, two categories of animals are distinguished); the special regime is established in relation to animals attributed to specially protected ones, including those listed in the Red Data Book of Russia. Researchers point out two main problems in the area of rational use and protection of subsoil. They are the inefficient use of subsoil resources with the increasing complexity of field exploitation and the growing impact of mining on the environment. Finally, the consistent system of legal rules regulating the protection of air from anthropogenic impact is considered at the end of this Chapter

Keywords: Air, Authorities, Citizens, Drilling, Duties, Economic entities, Fires, Forests, Health, Land, Mineral resources, Natural resource, Natural object, Pollution, Protection, Soil, Subsoil, Use, Water, Water protective zones.