Blog

• 
  + 0 -

  23 jule, 2013

  Ecological police to be established in Novokuznetsk

  Author: Bogdan Novorok, no comments

  No doubt, the initiative of the Novokuznetsk (Kemerovo Region) Mayor deserves all the possible approval. Establishment of the ecological police is a long overdue issue. I would even say it is more than overdue. In our everyday nature protecting activities (in fact, human rights protecting) we encounter with the situation that the number of environmental offences is permanently increasing. And this is connected, strange as it may seem, with the generally positive tendencies.
  
  First, the nature protecting law keeps developing, and offences against the environment, which could earlier be only morally disapproved, now fall under the norms of the law and even the Criminal Code. Second, not only revival of the industry but also its intensive development is going on; and this causes increase of environmental loading as a side effect. This causes additional expenditures for entrepreneurs; routinely, they try to avoid those. And such an obvious fact as consumption growth (i.e., essentially, the level of life) leads to increase of the amount of waste which city authorities often just cannot manage.  In the result of this, the number of unauthorized landfills goes on.
  
  Ecology is a science which studies the most complicated systems; in these systems, any actions can cause feedback, including the negative one.
  
  Absurdity of the situation is that the number of environmental offences goes on, while the environmental police, even where it existed, had been everywhere eliminated. We have been talking about this situation for a number of years; however, the law enforcement agencies (as the legislator itself) do not listen to us. This is either because they are busy with other problems, or just do not understand what this is all about. Some people think that ecological police will be engaged in problems of stray pets; others, that with the problems of unauthorized landfills. But the scale of environmental crimes is a lot broader. And those are much more dangerous.
  
  Yes, the “dog hunter” problem needs to be resolved, because their “activities” lead to growth of irrational cruelty in cities and, ultimately, to growth of criminality. However, this is only one and not the most serious problem. And what shall we do with industrial enterprises which secretly “drain” their wastes in our water reservoirs? Or with those who organize criminal traffic of Red Data Book animals?  And what shall we do with all the rest?
  
  The ecological police have their own, special, and very important zone of responsibility, and the question of its establishment has been on the agenda for a long while.
  
  No doubt, the Novokuznetsk Mayor’s Office has made a very good step. But volunteers or members of voluntary public order squads cannot make it on volunteer grounds. Special units of police professionals who had undergone special training are needed. We also need to develop all necessary regulatory acts. Generally speaking, we need a lot of efforts. And the Year of Environmental Protection gives a very good timing to start this work.
  
  At the Civic Chamber (not only in Moscow but also in the regions) we will carry out a series of events dedicated to the problem of establishing of the environmental police in the country. We hope that the top police commanders not only will hear us but also join to developing the concept of the ecological police statutes.

  Rubrics: Ecology

Leave a comment