Environmental damage. Types, sources and causes of environmental pollution Damage to the environment and humans
As a result of the operation of the internal combustion engine, with which every modern car is equipped, the combustion of hydrocarbonate fuel occurs, and a huge number of various chemical compounds are emitted into the atmosphere. Since the mid 60s of the last century, exhaust emissions have become a concern for many people. From this moment, the struggle of humanity begins to reduce these emissions as much as possible.
Greenhouse gas problem
Climate change at the global level is one of the important features of the 21st century. In many respects, these changes are due to the activities of mankind, in particular, in recent decades, greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere have increased significantly. The main source of emissions is vehicle exhaust, 30% of which are greenhouse gases.
Greenhouse gases exist naturally and are designed to regulate the temperature of our blue planet, but even a slight increase in their amount in the atmosphere can lead to serious global consequences.
The most dangerous greenhouse gas is CO 2, or carbon dioxide. It accounts for about 80% of all emissions, most of which are associated with the combustion of fuel in car engines. Carbon dioxide remains active in the atmosphere for a long time, which increases its danger.
The car is the main air pollutant
One of the main sources of carbon dioxide is car exhaust. In addition to CO 2, they emit carbon monoxide CO, hydrocarbon residues, nitrogen oxides, sulfur and lead compounds, and particulate matter into the atmosphere. All of these compounds are released into the air in huge quantities, leading to a global increase in temperature and the appearance of serious diseases in people living in large cities.
In addition, different vehicles emit different exhaust gases, depending on the type of fuel used, such as gasoline or diesel. So, when gasoline is burned, a whole bunch of chemical compounds arise, which consist mainly of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and lead compounds. Diesel engine exhaust contains soot that produces smog, unburned hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides and sulfuric anhydride.
Thus, the harm of exhaust gases to the environment is undeniable. Efforts are under way to reduce emissions from each vehicle and replace the use of gasoline with alternative and more environmentally friendly energy sources such as solar or wind power. Much attention is paid to hydrogen fuel, the combustion of which results in ordinary water vapor.
Impact of emissions on human health
The damage that exhaust gases can cause to human health can be very serious.
First of all, carbon monoxide is dangerous, which causes loss of consciousness and even death if its concentration in the atmosphere is increased. In addition to it, sulfur oxides and lead compounds are harmful, which fly out in large quantities from the exhaust pipe of a car. Sulfur and lead are known to be highly toxic and can remain in the body for a long time.
Hydrocarbons and soot particles, which are also released into the atmosphere as a result of partial combustion of fuel in the engine, can cause severe respiratory diseases, including the development of malignant tumors.
The constant and prolonged effect of exhaust gases on the body leads to a weakening of human immunity, bronchitis. The damage is done to the blood vessels and the nervous system.
Car exhaust gases
Currently, in all countries of the world, cars are subject to mandatory testing for compliance with established environmental standards. In most cases, the following exhaust gases are called, the environmental damage from which is maximum:
- carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide;
- various residues of hydrocarbons.
However, modern standards of developed countries of the world also impose requirements on the level of nitrogen oxides emitted into the atmosphere and on the control system for the process of evaporation of fuel from the fuel tank.
Carbon dioxide (CO)
Carbon dioxide is the most dangerous of all environmental pollutants, as it has neither color nor smell. The harm to the health of automobile exhaust gas is significant, for example, its concentration in the air of only 0.5% can cause a person to lose consciousness and subsequent death within 10-15 minutes, and such a concentration as 0.04% leads to a headache ...
This product of the internal combustion engine is generated in large quantities when the gasoline mixture is rich in hydrocarbons and poor in oxygen. In this case, incomplete combustion of the fuel occurs and CO is formed. The problem can be solved by properly adjusting the carburetor, replacing or cleaning a dirty air filter, adjusting the valves that inject the fuel mixture, and some other measure.
A large amount of CO is released in the exhaust gases during the warming up of the car, since the engine is cold and partly burns the gasoline mixture. Therefore, the vehicle should be warmed up in a well ventilated area or outdoors.
Hydrocarbons and organic oils
Hydrocarbons that do not burn out in the engine, as well as evaporated organic oils, are substances that determine the main harm of vehicle exhaust gases to the environment. By themselves, these chemical compounds are not dangerous, however, getting into the atmosphere, they react with other substances under the influence of sunlight, and the resulting compounds cause pain in the eyes and make breathing difficult. In addition, hydrocarbons are the main cause of smog in large cities.
Reducing the amount of hydrocarbons in the exhaust gases is achieved by adjusting the carburetor so that it cooks neither a lean nor a rich mixture, as well as constant monitoring of the reliability of the compression rings in the engine cylinders and adjusting the spark plugs. Complete combustion of hydrocarbons leads to the formation of carbon dioxide and water vapor, which are harmless substances both for the environment and for humans.
Nitrogen oxides
About 78% of the atmospheric air is nitrogen. It is a fairly inert gas, but at fuel combustion temperatures above 1300 ° C, nitrogen splits into individual atoms and reacts with oxygen, forming various types of oxides.
Exhaust gas damage to human health is also associated with these oxides. In particular, the respiratory system suffers the most. At high concentrations and prolonged exposure, nitrogen oxides can cause headaches and acute bronchitis. Oxides are also harmful to the environment. Once in the atmosphere, they form smog and destroy the ozone layer.
To reduce nitrogen oxide emissions, a special gas emission recirculation system is used in cars, the principle of which is to maintain the engine temperature below the threshold for the formation of these oxides.
Fuel vaporization
The simple evaporation of fuel from a tank can be a serious source of environmental pollution. In this regard, the last few decades have been producing special tanks, the design of which is designed to solve this problem.
The fuel tank must also "breathe". For this, a special system was invented, which consists in the fact that the cavity of the tank itself is connected by means of hoses to a tank filled with activated carbon. This coal is capable of absorbing the resulting fuel vapors when the car's engine is not running. As soon as the engine starts, the corresponding hole opens and the vapors absorbed by the coal enter the engine for combustion.
The performance of this entire system from the tank and hoses must be constantly monitored, since they can leak fuel vapors that will pollute the environment.
Tackling emissions in large cities
Tens of thousands of factories are concentrated in large modern cities, millions of people live and hundreds of thousands of cars drive along the streets. All of this greatly pollutes the atmosphere, which has become the main problem of the 21st century. To solve it, the city authorities are introducing a number of administrative and measures.
For example, in 2003, a protocol was adopted in London against environmental pollution by road transport. According to this protocol, drivers who drive through the city center are subject to an additional fee of £ 10. In 2008, the London authorities approved a new law that began to more effectively regulate the movement of trucks, buses and personal cars in the city center, setting an upper speed threshold for them. These measures led to a 12% reduction in the content of harmful gases in the atmosphere over London.
Since the 2000s, similar measures have been taken in many cities with a population of one million. Among them are the following:
- Tokyo;
- Berlin;
- Athens;
- Madrid;
- Paris;
- Stockholm;
- Brussels and others.
Opposite effect of anti-pollution law
Tackling car exhaust is no easy task, as illustrated by the two dirtiest cities on the planet: Mexico City and Beijing.
Since 1989, the Mexican capital has had a law prohibiting the use of a private car on certain days of the week. At first, this law began to bring positive results and gas emissions decreased, but after a while residents began to purchase second-hand cars, thanks to which they began to drive every day by private transport, replacing one car with another within a week. This situation worsened the state of the urban atmosphere even more.
A similar situation is observed in the capital of China. According to 2015 data, about 80% of Beijing residents have several cars that allow them to move around every day. In addition, a huge number of violations of the law against pollution are recorded in this metropolis.
Incredible facts
It's lunch time, but there is no food at home, so you get behind the wheel and drive to the nearest grocery store.
You stroll among the stalls hoping to buy something. In the end, you choose the chicken and the prepared salad and return home to enjoy your meal.
Consider how a seemingly innocuous trip to the store affected the environment.
First, driving a car contributed to the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The electricity in the store is nothing more than the combustion of coal, the mining of which has ravaged the Appalachian ecosystem.
The lettuce ingredients were grown on a farm and treated with pesticides, which then entered the waterways, poisoning fish and aquatic plants (which help keep the air clean).
The chicken was raised on a very far away poultry farm, where animal waste releases large amounts of toxic methane into the atmosphere. When delivering goods to the store, many types of transport were involved, each of which caused its own harm to the environment.
Even the smallest human actions initiate changes in the environment. How we heat our homes, power our electrical appliances, what we do with our waste, and what the origin of our food is - all of these put a huge strain on the environment.
Considering the problem at the social level, it can be noted that human behavior has significantly influenced the environment. Earth's temperature has increased by one degree Fahrenheit since 1975, and polar ice has declined 9 percent in just one decade.
We've done tremendous damage to the planet, far more than you might imagine. Construction, irrigation, mining significantly spoil the natural landscape and disrupt the flow of important ecological processes. Aggressive fishing and hunting can deplete all stocks of species; human migration can introduce alien species into established food chains. Greed leads to catastrophic accidents, and laziness leads to destructive practices.
10. Public projects
Sometimes public works projects don't actually work for the public good. For example, dam projects in China have devastated everything around them to generate clean energy, causing floods in cities and places where environmental waste accumulates, which significantly increased the risk of natural disasters.
In 2007, China completed 20 years of construction on the world's largest hydroelectric dam, the Three Gorges. During the implementation of this project, more than 1.2 million people were forced to leave their usual habitats, as 13 major cities, 140 ordinary cities and 1,350 villages were flooded. Hundreds of factories, mines, dumps and industrial centers were also flooded, plus the main reservoirs were heavily polluted. The project changed the ecosystem of the Yangtze River, transforming the once mighty river into a stagnant basin, thereby largely destroying local flora and fauna.
Redirected rivers also significantly increase the risk of landslides along the banks, which are home to hundreds of thousands of people. According to forecasts, about half a million people living along the river are planned to be relocated by 2020, since landslides are inevitable, while the ecosystem will continue to deplete.
Recently, scientists have linked the construction of dams to earthquakes. The Three Gorges Reservoir was built on top of two major fault lines and has experienced hundreds of small shocks since its discovery. Scientists have suggested that the disastrous 2008 earthquake in China's Sichuan province, which killed 8,000 people, was also caused by water accumulation in the area of \u200b\u200bthe dam, located less than half a mile from the center of the tremors. The phenomenon of dams causing earthquakes is related to the water pressure under the reservoir, which in turn increases the pressure in the rocks and acts as a softener of the already stressed fault lines.
9. Overfishing
"There are a lot of fish in the sea" is no longer a completely reliable statement. Humanity's appetite for seafood has devastated our oceans to the point where experts fear the ability of many species to rebuild their populations on their own.
According to the World Wildlife Federation, the global catch of fish is 2.5 times the target. More than half of the world's fish stocks and species are already depleted, and one quarter of the species are over-depleted. Ninety percent of large fish species - tuna, swordfish, cod, halibut, flounder, marlin - have lost their natural habitat. According to forecasts, if the situation does not change, then by 2048 the stocks of these fish will disappear.
It is worth noting that the main culprit is the advances in fishing technology. Most commercial fishing vessels today are equipped with fishfinding sonar. Once they find a suitable spot, the fishermen release huge nets, the size of three football fields, which can sweep up all the fish within minutes. Thus, with this approach, fish populations can be reduced by 80 percent in 10-15 years.
8. Invasive species
Throughout the foundation of the world, man himself was a distributor of invasive species. Even though it may seem to you that your favorite pet or plant feels much better in a new place, in fact, the natural balance of nature is disturbed. It has been proven that invasive flora and fauna is the most destructive thing that humanity has done for the environment.
In the United States, 400 of the 958 species are listed on the Red List as they are considered to be at risk from competition with invasive alien species.
Invasive species problems mostly affect invertebrates. For example, in the first half of the 20th century, an Asian mushroom destroyed more than 180 million acres of American chestnuts. As a result, more than 10 chestnut-dependent species have become extinct.
7. Coal mining industry
The biggest threat posed by coal mining is climate change, but it also threatens local ecosystems.
Market realities pose a serious threat to mining coal, especially in the United States. Coal is a cheap source of energy - one megawatt of energy generated from coal costs $ 20-30, as opposed to one megawatt obtained from natural gas - $ 45-60. Moreover, one quarter of the world's coal reserves are located in the United States.
Two of the most destructive forms of coal mining are mountain tops and gas mining. In the first case, mountain workers can "cut down" more than 305 meters of the mountain peak in order to get to the coal deposit. Gas extraction occurs when the coal is closer to the surface of the mountain. Moreover, all the "inhabitants" of the mountain (trees and any other creatures living in them) are exterminated to extract valuable minerals.
Each practice of this kind creates a large amount of waste along the way. Extensive damaged and old forest areas are dumped into nearby valleys. In the United States alone, it is estimated that over 121,405 hectares of deciduous forest has been destroyed by coal mining in West Virginia alone. By 2012, the 5,180 square kilometers of Appalachian forest is said to have ceased to exist.
The question of what to do with this kind of "waste" is still open. Usually, mining companies just dump unnecessary trees, dead wildlife, etc. into nearby valleys, which, in turn, not only destroys natural ecosystems, but also affects the drying up of large rivers. Industrial waste from mines finds refuge in river beds.
6. Human disasters
While most of the ways in which humans harm the environment evolve over several years, some events can happen in an instant, but that instant will have far-reaching consequences.
In 1989, the oil spill in Prince Williams Bay, Alaska, had dire consequences. Around 11 million gallons of crude oil were spilled at the time, killing more than 25,000 seabirds, 2,800 sea otters, 300 seals, 250 eagles, about 22 killer whales, and billions of salmon and herring. At least two species, Pacific herring and guillemot pigeon, did not recover from the disaster.
It is too early to assess the wildlife damage caused by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but the scale of the disaster is incomparable to anything seen in American history. Over a period of several days, more than 9.5 million liters of oil seeped into the bay every day - the largest spill in American history. By most estimates, the damage to the wildlife world is still lower than the 1989 spill due to the lower species density. However, despite this, there is no doubt that the damage from the spill will continue for many years to come.
5. Cars
America has long been considered the land of automobiles, so it's no surprise that cars account for one-fifth of all US greenhouse gas emissions. There are 232 million cars on the roads of this country, with a very small proportion of them powered by electricity, and the average car consumes about 2,271 liters of gasoline annually.
A single car emits about 12,000 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in the form of exhaust gases. In order to purify the air from these impurities, 240 trees are needed. In America, cars emit about the same amount of carbon dioxide as coal-burning plants.
The combustion process in a car engine produces fine particles of nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and sulfur dioxide. In large quantities, these chemicals can harm a person's respiratory system, causing coughing and choking. Cars also generate carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas produced by burning fossil fuels that blocks the transport of oxygen to the brain, heart and other vital organs.
At the same time, the extraction of oil, which is necessary to create fuel and oil for the movement of the car, in turn, also has a serious impact on the environment. Onshore drilling is displacing native species, and offshore drilling and subsequent transportation has created an unthinkable number of problems over the years, as more than 40 million gallons of oil have been spilled worldwide since 1978.
4. Unsustainable agriculture
In all the ways in which humanity harms the environment, there is one general trend: we are unable to make plans for the future. But nowhere is this more evident than in our method of growing our own food.
Current agricultural practices are responsible for 70 percent of the pollution in the country's rivers and streams, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. Chemical runoffs, contaminated soil, animal waste all end up in waterways, of which more than 173,000 miles are in dire condition. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides increase nitrogen levels and decrease oxygen levels in the water.
Pesticides used to protect crops from predators threaten the survival of some species of birds and insects. For example, the number of bee colonies on US farmland fell from 4.4 million in 1985 to less than 2 million in 1997. When exposed to pesticides, bees' immune systems weaken, making them more vulnerable to the enemy.
Large-scale industrial agriculture is also contributing to global warming. The vast majority of the world's meat products are manufactured on industrial farms. On any farm, tens of thousands of livestock are concentrated in small areas in order to save space. Among other things, when untreated animal waste is destroyed, harmful gases are released, including methane, which, in turn, has a significant impact on the global warming process.
3. Deforestation
There were times when most of the earth on the planet was covered with forests. Today the forests are disappearing before our eyes. According to the United Nations, 32 million acres of forest are lost annually, including 14,800 acres of primeval forest, that is, land not occupied or affected by human activity. Seventy percent of the planet's animals and plants live in forests, and, accordingly, having lost their home, they themselves will face the threat of extinction as a species.
The problem is especially acute in tropical forests with a humid climate. These forests cover 7 percent of the land area and provide home to about half of all species on the planet. At the current rate of deforestation, scientists believe the rainforest will be wiped out in about 100 years.
Deforestation is also contributing to global warming. Trees absorb greenhouse gases, so fewer trees mean more greenhouse gases are emitted into the atmosphere. They also help perpetuate the water cycle by returning water vapor to the atmosphere. Without trees, forests will quickly turn into barren deserts, which will lead to even more serious fluctuations in world temperature. When forests burn, trees emit carbon into the atmosphere, which also aggravates the problem of global warming. Scientists estimate that trees in the Amazonian forests have processed an amount of greenhouse gases equivalent to 10 years of human activity.
Poverty is one of the main causes of deforestation. Most tropical forests are located in third world countries, and politicians there regularly stimulate the economic development of weak regions. Thus, lumberjacks and farmers are slowly but surely doing their job. In most cases, deforestation occurs due to the need to create a farm plot. A farmer, as a rule, burns trees and vegetation in order to obtain ash, which can then be used as fertilizer. This process is called slash and burn farming. Among other things, the risk of soil erosion and flooding increases, as nutrients from the soil evaporate over several years, and the land is often unable to support the crops planted for which the trees were cut down.
2. Global warming
The average surface temperature of the Earth has increased by 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 130 years. The ice caps are melting at an alarming rate - since 1979, more than 20 percent of the world's ice has disappeared. Sea levels are rising, causing flooding, and have a significant impact on catastrophic natural disasters that are increasingly occurring around the world.
Global warming is caused by the greenhouse effect, in which some gases channel the received solar heat back into the atmosphere. Since 1990, annual greenhouse gas emissions have grown by about 6 billion tonnes worldwide, or 20 percent.
The gas that has the greatest responsibility for global warming is carbon dioxide, which accounts for 82 percent of all US greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon dioxide is produced when fossil fuels are burned, mainly when running cars and when powering factories and factories with coal. Five years ago, global atmospheric gas concentrations were already 35 percent higher than before the industrial revolution.
Global warming can lead to natural disasters, widespread food and water shortages, and devastating consequences for wildlife. According to an intergovernmental panel of experts on climate change, sea levels may rise by the end of the century by 17.8 - 58.4 cm. And since most of the world's population lives in coastal areas, this is a very big danger for both people and ecosystems ...
1. Overpopulation
“Overpopulation is“ an elephant in a room that no one wants to talk about, ”says Dr. John Guillebaud, professor of family planning and reproductive health at London University College.“ If we ourselves cannot do humane methods of family planning reduce the population, nature will do it for us with the help of violence, epidemics and hunger, "he adds.
Over the past 40 years, the world's population has grown from 3 to 6.7 billion. 75 million people (equivalent to the German population) are added annually, or more than 200,000 people daily. According to forecasts, by 2050 the population of the earth will exceed 9 billion people.
More people mean more waste, more food demand, more consumer goods, more electricity, cars, etc. In other words, all the factors that contribute to global warming will only get worse.
Increasing demand for food will force farmers and fishermen to increasingly harm already fragile ecosystems. Forests will be removed almost entirely, as cities will constantly expand and new areas for farmland will be needed. The list of endangered species will be longer. In emerging economies such as India and China, increased energy consumption is expected to increase carbon emissions. In short, the more people, the more problems.
Excessive consumption of meat products causes harm not only the health of lovers to eat tight, but also surrounding environment. This is the conclusion reached by experts from the Information Research Center of the Brussels Institute surrounding environment. According to the data, the Belgians ... one of the main "culprits" of the pollution of water and land. Moreover, in addition to industrial complexes, surrounding wednesday animals themselves pollute, which in the process of digestion produce methane - one of the gases, ...
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From the age of the child. A document titled Principles for Addressing Children's Health Risks from Pollution surrounding environment”, The fact that the child’s body is more sensitive than the adult’s organism opens up, since it is not only physically ... the prerequisites for the development of lung diseases later in life. About a third of all childhood diseases can be attributed to factors. surrounding environment, scientists say, water and air pollution, pesticides that get into food, pigs in the soil, and ...
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This conclusion was made by British researcher Chris Goodall, who is constantly trying to dispel myths about surrounding environment. The researcher emphasizes that the climate will only benefit if people stop exercising and spend more time watching TV or traveling by car. ... that a lot of exercise and then food intake is bad for global warming. Less food and more driving - safer for surrounding environment.
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The number of twins will double, according to a group of German ecologists. And this will happen due to the increasing pollution. surrounding environment industrial waste. Scientists investigated the fertility situation in one of the regions of Germany in the Rhine Valley. Where are the toxic waste incineration and poll facilities located ...
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The use of bioethanol as fuel for vehicles will entail an increase in the volume of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere, and will also lead to an increase in the area of \u200b\u200blogged forests. Such data were obtained in the course of studies conducted by American scientists Tim Serchinger, Dan Kammen and Jerry Melillo. Previously, it was believed that biofuels are environmentally neutral, but scientists have calculated all the damage caused to the atmosphere during the collection of plants, of which ...
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The damage caused to the planet by man is estimated at 6.6 trillion
Convert to monetary equivalent harmapplied surrounding environment industrial production and predict the future consequences of further industrial growth and company earnings. " As noted in the study, only 3 thousand of the largest companies in the world "are responsible for a third of all the damage caused to the planet." The UN report also notes that by 2050 the total harm surrounding environment could rise to $ 28.6 trillion ...
In accordance with Art. 86 of the Law of the Russian Federation, harm to the environment can be caused by legal entities and citizens by environmental pollution, damage, destruction, damage, irrational use of natural resources, destruction of natural ecosystems and other environmental offenses. Harm means real damage and lost profits. Real damage in the environmental sphere can be expressed in a decrease in forest areas, a decrease in soil fertility, as well as in the costs of their restoration. Lost profit in the environmental sphere can be expressed in lost income, for example, from the economic use of the soil, the fertility of which has decreased.
The damage to the environment can be both economic (destruction of a forest area intended for felling and sale) and environmental. These types of harm are organically linked to each other both by the source and by the method of causing. Unlike economic, environmental is longer in its consequences. This damage cannot always be compensated. Therefore, preventive work to prevent harm is of great importance.
Damage to the environment can be caused both by lawful actions (permitted by the state) and by violation of environmental legislation. Environmental and legal liability for unlawful harm occurs only when it is a direct consequence of a violation of environmental legislation.
Legal regime of nature management. Water pollution.
Pollution, clogging, depletion of surface or underground waters, sources of drinking water or changes in natural properties are considered offenses if they have caused significant harm to the animal or plant world, fish stocks, forestry or agriculture.
Significant is understood as harm caused to the animal and plant world - the occurrence of diseases or death of animals and plants, the destruction of fish stocks, spawning grounds, disease or death of forests, a decrease in land productivity, the emergence of wetlands or saline lands. The assessment of the damage caused is carried out taking into account the stocking of water bodies, the real cost of the costs of restoring work and eliminating the consequences.
Biosphere pollution. Violation of the rules for the emission of pollutants into the atmosphere or violation of the operation of installations, structures and other objects, if this entailed pollution or changes in the natural properties of the air, is punishable. Pollution is: introduction into the composition of atmospheric air, atmosphere or the formation of pollutants in them in concentrations exceeding quality standards or levels of natural content; increased concentration of chemicals; change in thermal conditions, radiation, electromagnetic and noise indicators.
Sources of pollution can be vehicles, industrial enterprises, overhead power lines, distribution substations, power plants, radar stations, cellular and space communications.
Marine pollution -the introduction of substances and materials that worsen the quality of the marine environment, restricting its use, leading to the destruction, depletion, disease or reduction of living resources of the sea. Pollution of the marine environment from sources on land or as a result of a violation of the burial or discharge from vehicles of substances or materials harmful to human health and living resources of the sea or hindering the lawful use of the marine environment is punished.
Violations include:immersion of substances and materials from a ship without an appropriate permit, dumping of unused nuclear fuel from military ships; failure to take measures in the event of an incident with a ship or other entity that entailed or could result in the discharge of oil or other pollutants; discharge into the sea of \u200b\u200bchemicals from sedimentation tanks. These violations occur during the construction of drilling rigs, platforms at sea, transportation of oil products, dumping of waste, conducting military tests, accidents on ships, discharge of chemicals into the sea by enterprises located on the coast. The harm caused to the marine environment can manifest itself in the mass destruction of marine biological resources, the destruction of the food supply for fish, and the pollution of recreation areas for citizens.
Land corruption. Offenses are considered to be poisoning, pollution or other damage to the land as harmful products of economic activity due to a violation of the rules for handling fertilizers, plant growth stimulants, pesticides and other dangerous chemical and biological substances during their storage, use and transportation, which caused harm to human health or the environment.
Destruction or damage of forestsas a result of careless handling of fire or other sources of increased danger is an offense. Forest pollution can occur during the discharge of hazardous substances, as well as the disposal of waste and industrial waste, municipal and other waste, and landfills.
Illegal hunting -tracing for the purpose of prey, pursuit and the extraction of wildlife itself. Being in hunting grounds with a gun, hunting dogs, hunting tools is equated with hunting. It is illegal to hunt without an appropriate permit or carried out in spite of the prohibition or by a person who does not have the right to hunt. The subject of illegal hunting is wild animals in their natural habitat.
Illegal catch of fish, sea animals or other animalsif it caused major damage or was made with the use of a self-propelled vehicle, electric current, chemical or explosive substances, or occurred on the territory of a reserve or in an ecological disaster zone, in spawning grounds or along migration routes, is punished. An offense is illegal hunting of fur seals, sea beavers, seals, and other marine mammals on the high seas or in restricted areas. Prey is understood as the process of catching, slaughtering, extracting and otherwise removing aquatic animals and plants from the natural environment, ending with the seizure of the subject of prey.
Violation of environmental protection rules.
Environmental protection is regulated by the norms established by environmental and environmental legislation. Violation of these standards when designing industrial, agricultural and other facilities by persons responsible for their observance, if this entails a significant change in the radioactive background, harm to human health, mass death of animals or other grave consequences, is recognized as an offense. When placing, designing, building, when laying power lines that have a direct or indirect impact on the state of the environment, the requirements for environmental safety and protection of public health must be met, including measures for environmental protection, rational use and reproduction of natural resources.
All these requirements are detailed in the relevant federal laws, in the articles of the Land, Forest, Water Codes, in the instructions and decrees of construction and design organizations. Failure to comply or improper implementation of them is a violation of environmental protection rules during the performance of work.
Violation of the rules for handling environmentally hazardous substances.
The production of prohibited types of hazardous waste, transportation and storage, burial, use or other treatment of radioactive, bacteriological, chemical substances and waste in violation of the established rules, if this poses a threat of causing substantial harm to human health or the environment, is an offense. Prohibited types of hazardous waste - potent toxic substances; hazardous waste - raw materials, substances and energy that are unsuitable for production or have lost their consumer properties, which can cause poisoning. Violation of the rules for waste management consists in unlawful action or inaction (failure to perform official duties) neutralization, utilization, warehousing, storage, burial, transportation, disposal.
Illicit Trafficking in Potent and Poisonous Substancesthe increased public danger of potent and toxic substances required a special law prohibiting their manufacture, processing, acquisition, storage, transportation, shipment, sale. Special permission is required for their use for scientific and medical purposes. More than 100 types of potent substances, for example, chlorpromazine, sodium clonidine, clofelin, pipradol, tazepam, theofedryl, frenolone, chloroform, ether, are distinguished. There are more than 60 types of toxic substances: methyl alcohol, strychnine, phenol, potassium cyanide, snake venom, some mercury compounds, hydrocyanic acid, etc.
Violation of the rules for the protection and use of subsoilduring the design, construction, commissioning of mining enterprises and underground structures, unauthorized development of areas of occurrence of minerals, if these actions entailed significant damage, is considered an offense.
The bowels are the part of the earth's crust located below the soil layer and the bottom of water bodies. The rules for their protection are regulated by the mountain and geological legislation of the country. Violations consist of flooding, watering or fire, when as a result the quality of minerals decreases; in the discharge of wastewater, the disposal of production waste, pollution of the bowels, the accumulation of industrial waste in places of sources of drinking or industrial water supply. This also includes the failure to recover associated components, non-compliance with the terms of the license for the extraction of minerals, failure to conduct a full study of the subsoil before construction. Development of areas is permitted only in the absence of minerals in the depths of the building site. Damage from violation of the rules for the use of subsurface resources includes the loss of minerals, deterioration of the state of the earth, and an increase in the cost of extracting minerals.
Violation of the regime of specially protected natural areas and natural objects: wildlife sanctuaries, reserves, natural monuments causing significant damage to them is an offense. Objects of protection in this case are land plots, water surface and airspace above them, if they have special environmental, scientific, cultural or aesthetic value and are removed from economic circulation. These are state nature reserves, nature and national parks, botanical gardens, health-improving areas and resorts, where any activity, exploration and development of minerals, the placement of garden plots, the movement and parking of mechanized vehicles, and the extraction of animals are prohibited.
The natural complex is understood as natural- a geographic complex, representing a limited area of \u200b\u200bthe territory in which natural components are in stable interaction. Objects with special status include nature reserves, nature reserves, botanical gardens, and national parks.
Concealment or distortion of informationabout events, facts, phenomena creating a danger to the life or health of people or to the environment, committed by a person, is recognized as an offense.
Events, facts or phenomena that create a hazard include natural, man-made processes that can cause a danger to humans and the environment if the development or absence of control and regulation measures is unfavorable. Information subject to these requirements includes environmentally and medically significant information, information about disasters, accidents at nuclear power facilities, epidemics, hostilities, industrial processes that could pose a danger to humans, the nation as a whole, and the environment.
Concealment - the lack of information to persons entitled to receive it or in need of it, with the aim of influencing events, phenomena. Distortion of information is considered to be a message of incomplete or incorrect data, forecasts, estimates.
Illegal handling of radioactive materials- destruction of radioactive materials is an offense. Nuclear power facilities include nuclear installations, including nuclear power plants, space and aircraft, installations and devices with nuclear charges, storage facilities for nuclear materials and radioactive substances, storage of radioactive waste. Radioactive substances can be in gaseous, liquid or solid state.
Violation of safety rules when handling microbiological agents or toxinsif this entailed causing harm to human health, the spread of epidemics, is considered an offense. Violation consists of active actions or inaction, improper control, release of macroorganisms into the environment, non-use of protective equipment, violation of storage and transportation conditions.
This law applies to the activities of medical, pharmaceutical, research, military organizations involved in genetic engineering, obtaining and growing microorganisms. Dangerous to humans are viruses, bacteria, toxins, genetically modified microorganisms that can cause infectious diseases, health disorders, permanent loss of health and death. Damage from violation of the rules for combating diseases and plant pests consists of the costs of destroying infected forest areas, products and animals, restoring the vegetation of the affected areas, compensation for property damage in the event of the death of perennial cultivated plantations, crops.
Violation of sanitary and epidemiological rules is understood as the use of food without prior control, the use of dirty water, the use of dirty water for cooking, violation of the rules for waste disposal.
Types of liability for environmental offenses.Environmental and legal responsibility is a type of legal responsibility, it differs from other types of legal responsibility and has characteristic features:
All offenses are in the field of the natural environment.
The object of the encroachment is a component of the environment.
Environmental and legal violation as a rule covers two objects - the environment and human health.
It is manifested in the forms of legal responsibility - criminal, administrative, civil, disciplinary and material liability is regulated by the Law "On the Environment". The legal requirements imply the establishment of a clear causal link between the violation and environmental degradation. The subject of environmental offenses is a person who has reached the age of 16 and has violated environmental laws.
An environmental offense is characterized by the presence of three elements:
Wrongful conduct
Environmental damage
A causal relationship between unlawful behavior and environmental harm or the emergence of a real threat of harm.
Disciplinary responsibility occurs for non-fulfillment of plans or measures for the protection of nature and the rational use of natural resources, for violation of environmental standards. Disciplinary responsibility is borne by officials and other guilty workers (Article 82 of the Law "On Environmental Protection"
Liability is regulated by the Labor Code (Articles 118-126). This responsibility is borne by officials and other employees of enterprises, through whose fault the company incurred expenses for compensation for damage caused by an environmental violation.
Administrative liability is regulated as environmental legislation, the RSFSR Code of Administrative Offenses.
Criminal liability for violation of environmental safety rules, violation of the rules for storage, disposal of hazardous substances, violation of safety rules, damage to land, illegal extraction of aquatic animals, violation of the rules for the protection of fish stocks, illegal hunting, illegal felling of trees, bushes, destruction or damage to forests.
(all environmental crimes are highlighted in a separate chapter)
The application of disciplinary, administrative or criminal liability for environmental offenses does not relieve the perpetrators of the obligation to compensate for the harm caused by the environmental offense.
Responsibility for environmental offenses performs a number of functions:
Stimulating responsibility of citizens
Compensating for damage caused
Preventive measure
Environmental offense provides for three levels of punishment:
For violation
For a violation that caused significant damage
For violation resulting in the death of a person.
Types of punishments can be: a fine, deprivation of the right to engage in certain activities, correctional labor, restriction of liberty, imprisonment.
Ecological catastrophy -manifests itself in a serious violation of the ecological balance in nature, the destruction of the stable species composition of living organisms, a complete or significant reduction in their number, in the violation of the cycles of seasonal changes in the circulation of substances and biological processes. An environmental crime can be motivated by misunderstood military or state interests.
HARM OF THE ENVIRONMENT: WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?
Vocabulary
Harm to the environment , - having a monetary value negative change in the environment or individual components of the natural environment, natural or natural-anthropogenic objects, expressed in their pollution, degradation, depletion, damage, destruction, illegal withdrawal and (or) other deterioration of their condition, as a result of harmful effects on the environment associated with violation of requirements in the field of environmental protection, other violation of the legislation of the Republic of Belarus.
Environmental harm - harm caused to the environment, as well as harm caused to the life, health and property of citizens, including individual entrepreneurs, property of legal entities and property owned by the state, as a result of harmful effects on the environment (Article 1 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus from 26.11.1992 No. 1982-XII“On Environmental Protection”).
■ Not subject to proof. The fact of causing harm to the environment is not proved by the state body that established it when exercising state control in the field of environmental protection. However, the user of natural resources can present evidence to refute it.
State bodies exercising state control in the field of environmental protection do not require compensation for harm caused to the environment if the amount of compensation for such harm does not exceed three basic values \u200b\u200b(Article 101 Law no. 1982-XII).
■ Has no statute of limitations. The limitation period for claims for compensation for damage to the environment does not apply. However, claims made after three years from the date of establishing the fact of causing harm are satisfied no more than three years prior to the filing of a claim for compensation for harm caused to the environment (paragraph 101 4 of Law No. 1982-XII).
■ Full refund. In accordance with Art. 933 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter— Civil Code) and Art. 101 Laws No. 1982-XIIharm caused by offenses against environmental safety and the natural environment is subject to compensation in full by the person guilty of causing it.
In the event of harm caused by a person whose activities are associated with increased danger to the environment, liability shall be incurred regardless of fault, unless the harm causer proves that the harm arose as a result of force majeure. The owner of a source of increased danger may be exempted by the court from liability in whole or in part also on the grounds provided for in cl.2 and 3 art. 952 GK (art. 948 GK) .
Damage + Loss \u003d Harm
According to Art. 1 of Law No. 1982-XII, harmful impact on the environment means any direct or indirect impact on the environment of economic and other activities, the consequences of which lead to negative changes in the environment.
The components of harm are damage and loss.
In relation to the natural environment, the harm caused can be represented in the form of real and perceived losses for it. Such losses are expressed in the form of damage and loss.
Damage — real losses in the natural environment (destruction of forests, fauna, depletion of water, reduction of soil fertility, etc.).
Losses — restoration costs disturbed state of the environment (unearned income, environmental losses).
This material is published in part. The full material can be read in the journal “Ecology at the enterprise” No. 7 (85), July 2018. Reproduction is possible only with
