Preface

This textbook is written on the basis of a course of lectures given by the authors at Russian higher education institutions. This textbook includes all necessary sections reflecting the fundamental institutions of Russian environ-mental law.

The general part of the textbook deals with issues of the subject of envi-ronmental law, its systems, environmental human and civil rights, and clarifies the peculiarities and functions of environmental management in Russia, the regulation of environmental protection, and issues of the liability for commit-ted environmental offences.

The special part deals with environmental requirements to certain types of activity (in agriculture, transport, waste management, etc.), the peculiarities of protection of some natural objects (water, forests, land, etc.), and the proce-dure for creation of specially protected natural areas (national parks, natural monuments, etc.). Particular attention is paid to protecting environmentally disadvantaged areas (ecological disaster zones) affected by human economic activity.

The specialized part deals with issues of international environmental co-operation as well as the peculiarities of environmental legislation of certain countries of the world (Kazakhstan, Belarus, USA, China).

The textbook will be of interest in terms of scientific studies and can be used in the educational process by students taking courses in comparative law and comparative environmental law. In addition, the book contains infor-mation about the scope of environmental requirements, prohibitions, and re-strictions that can be useful to representatives of commercial organizations planning business in Russia and to public environmental associations intend-ing to implement joint projects with representatives of Russian civil society in Russia.

While writing this textbook, the authors tried not to limit themselves to retelling Russian environmental legislation but to show the complexity and consistency of environmental problems, their universality for all countries of the world, to generalize the valuable experience of other countries, which can be useful for the Russian legislator. In its turn, Russian environmental law con-tains a number of successful rule-making decisions that can be of interest to legislative bodies of various countries of the world.