Māris kļaviņŠ, azamat azizov, JĀnis zaļoksnis environment, pollution, development: the case of uzbekistan

 11.1.1.  Law as an environmental protection instrument
Various cultures of the world have different understandings of 
law. The conception of law largely depends on what is recognised 
as the sources of law. The world’s developed countries, including 
European countries, have quite similar conceptions of law. The 
laws of these countries belong to the so-called Western law, 
where ‘law’ usually means a body of legislative sources regulating 
community life. The laws of the Baltic Sea region countries belong 
to the continental European law family or civil law system. Although 
this system may also include unwritten law, the main recognised 
sources of law are written – above all, the laws adopted by national 
parliaments. Generally binding rules of conduct or regulations, 
to a limited extent, may also be issued by executive powers – the 
government and local authorities. The legal provisions of the highest 
legal force – the State Basic Law (Constitution) – are at the top of 
this hierarchy.
In many countries, environ mental protection is a constitutional 
norm. For example, Article 115 of the Constitution of the Republic 
of Latvia stipulates: ‘The State shall protect the right of everyone 
to live in a benevolent environ ment by providing information on 
environ mental conditions and by promoting the preservation and 
improvement of the environ ment.’ Several state obligations can be 
derived from this constitutional provision – to protect the right of 
everyone to live in a benevolent environ ment, to provide for the 
preservation of such environ ment and to promote the improvement 
of the environ ment as well as to ensure public access to environ-
mental information.
The countries that belong to the continental European civil 
law  system  have  codified  laws,  which  are  often  referred  to  as 
codes. In several countries, there are civil and criminal as well as 
environ mental  law  codifications.  For  example,  Germany,  France 
Therefore, environmental 
legal protection is 
associated with both 
environmental and nat‑
ural resource protection 
and sustainable use, and 
the protection of human 
health from harmful 
environmental factors in 
the following environ‑
ment‑related areas:
 
Œ water protection,
 
Œ soil protection, 
 
Œ protection against 
noise in the 
environment,
 
Œ ambient air protection,
 
Œ nature and biodiversity 
conservation,
 
Œ waste management,
 
Œ turnover of chemical 
substances and 
products, including 
biocides and pesticides,
 
Œ turnover of genetically 
modified organisms,
 
Œ various emissions 
and releases into the 
environment,
 
Œ environmental impact 
assessment,
 
Œ access to environmental 
information and 
public participation 
in environmental 
decision‑making at the 
state level,
 
Œ urban and rural spatial 
planning.

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11. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT: LEGISLATION, POLICIES, INSTITUTIONS
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and Sweden have environ mental codes. Latvian environ mental 
regulatory standards are included not just in one but in several laws: 
the Environ mental Protection Law, the Law on Pollution, the Law 
on the Conservation of Species and Biotopes, the Law on Specially 
Protected  Nature  Territories,  the  Protection  Zone  Law,  the  Waste 
Management Law.
The  laws  of  such  countries  as  the  United  Kingdom  and  United 
States, in turn, belong to another group of Western law – the English-
Saxon common law system. In this group of laws, the basic recognised 
sources of law are both the laws adopted by the parlia ment (legislative 
statutes) and judicial precedents. Therefore, in these countries, the 
so-called  rights  of  judges  have  significantly  greater  weight  than  in 
continental Europe.
Human behaviour is governed by different types of rules – from 
etiquette and morality to legal provisions. However, only the latter 
are contained in the sources of law and are binding.
Environ mental laws are primarily focused on solving environ-
mental problems and include measures that should be taken in 
order to prevent known environ mental problems. Compliance with 
the requirements of legal provisions makes possible to eliminate 
environ mental damage or to reduce its impact.
To prevent human-created environ mental problems successfully, 
we need to develop a strategy to change human behaviour, making it 
more environ ment-friendly. Since law is the most effective regulator 
of social behaviour, it is widely applied in order to change social 
behaviour patterns in the use of the environ ment. In general, environ-
mental law is primarily incentive and disincentive rules of conduct 
contained in environ mental legislation. They underpin different areas 
of life. Hence, the law may set a binding framework, within which 
economic, technical, informative, educational and other measures are 
often implemented on their merits.