Environmental protection during mining in the Arctic: legal aspects
Р.P. Battakhov
Section: Social ecology
The article discusses the main aspects of environmental protection and legal regulation of mining operations in the Russian Arctic regions, as required by Russian legislation and international conventions. The work highlights the distinctive legal, economic and environmental aspects of the Arctic region. Moreover, it points out that the minerals and raw materials base of the Arctic is the foundation of the Russian economy. The author focused on issues within the Constitution of the Russian Federation, that officially authorizes ownership of the subsoil. It is found that extractive industries often cause damage to the Arctic environment. Major environmental disasters, their consequences and possible measures to prevent them were also analyzed. For example, the criterion of proportionality in the extraction of
natural resources, preventive measures, environmental monitoring, improvement of the legal framework, etc. And the special role of the increasing number of environmental disasters is also mentioned. We propose that property liability measures for extractive companies in violating environmental and economic requirements should be stricter. However, extractive commercial organizations must be granted a subsoil license in accordance with Federal Law No. 2395-I of 21 February 1992 “On Subsoil”. Accordingly, it is necessary to replace the auction with a tender-based bidding process in the above-mentioned law. The author has pointed out that an important element in the protection and conservation of the environment is the development of the activities of native minorities of the North as custodians of the Russian Arctic. It draws the conclusion stating the necessity of proposing the passage of a comprehensive law “On environmental protection in the extraction of mineral resources within the Arctic of the Russian Federation”, taking into account the existing international conventions and the Russian Constitution, its structure is defined.
Keywords: Arctic, license for the use of mineral resources, economic activity, subsoil, ecology, subjects
Article published in number 1 for 2023 DOI: 10.25750/1995-4301-2023-1-179-185
ISSN 1995-4301
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