Environment protection as a determining factor in the contemporary public economic law

Abstract

The starting point for these deliberations are the following four assumptions: (i) ‘environment’ is understood here as the entire universe, together with the natural environment, constituting a common good of the mankind (ii) the man himself and his activity are believed to have the greatest significance for the environment and the nature as well as the man himself and, consequently, (iii) the environmental problems must be considered not only on the micro scale (i.e. locally) but also on the macro scale (i.e. regionally, or even globally) and thus, in practice (iv), in order to facilitate effective realisation of environmental goals using legal instruments, one must first establish a certain axiological base that may be used to form an adequate legal system. In view of this, the rule of ‘sustainable development’ set forth in the final Declaration of the United Nations Conference for the Environment and Development held in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro proved to be the paradigm for all contemporary environmental policies and related legal solutions in the field of environment protection on a global scale and in international law. The implementation of the rule of sustainable development can be achieved through a set of various legal instruments but its practical application each time requires using a certain ‘algorithm’ that enables precise presentation of any consequences, in particular those dangerous to the environment, that may be caused by a given human activity. However, harmonic realisation of goals (ecological, economic and social) that are competing and yet complementary, requires development of a special ethos that will respect the requirements of so-called multi-generation ecological ethics.