Research On Objects Of Protection Of Environmental Law

Environmental law is the law branch which is bringing revolutionary change tothe traditional law. Environmental law scholars and researchers are earnestly payingattention to this kind of change, and are exploring relative problems. The problem,objects of protection of environmental law, is one of the entrance of such research.With many jurisprudential research methods, the author talcs to answer thesequestions: What are objects of protection of environmental law? What arc the legalattributes or status of objects of protection of environmental law? Why have objectsof protection of environmental law bccn developing continuously? And how shouldobjects of protection of environmental law go on developing?1. What are objects of protection of environmental law?Objects of protection of environmental law are the results of the longdevelopment of objects of protection of law. The most important development is theextension of the objects from contemporary people's fights to environment, resourcesand fights of the future generations.Objects of protection of environmental law are what environmental lawstipulates to protect expressly or impliedly, including subjects, objects, properties,rights and social relations, etc. Or they are the natural elements and social elementsthat environmental law stipulates to protect. This is a theoretical view ofenvironmental law in its broad meaning.Objects of protection of environmental law can be classified into many kindsaccording to different criteria, which are the criterion of legal resources, theprotection ranks dcfined explicitly by the law, the forms of appearance of objects ofprotection of environmental law, the legal attributes or status of objects of protectionof environmental law, the criterion of whether or not they are deflncd byenvironmental law, the criterion of whether or not the objects are in existence whenenvironmental law stipulates them. For example, by the criterion of legal resources,objects of protection of environmental law can be divided into these kinds: objects ofprotection of international cnvironmcntal treaties, objects of protection of theconstitution, objects of protection of fundamental environmental law, objects ofprotection of spicific environmental law, and objects of protection of environmental administrative ordinances and local regulations. And by the criterion of the protectionranks defined explicitly by the law, the objects of protection of environmental law fallinto these catogades: key objects of protection and general objects of protection,national objects of protection and local objects of protection, and national objects ofprotection can be further divided into national objects of protection of the first rankand national objects of protection of the second rank, special objects of protection andnon-special objects of protection.Objects of protection of environmental law are different from regulated objectsof environmental law. Regulated objects of environmental law are social relations,which come into existence while people reasonably develop, utilize, protect andimprove the environment, and which can be simply called environmental socialrelations. These social relations include relations between man and man and relationsbetween man and nature, the existence and development of which can not be awayfrom human environment and environmental problems. Objects of environmental lawinclude man, environmental resources, fights, and they as well include good relationsbetween man and man and good relations between man and nature while peopledevelop and utilize environmenatal resources. The concept of regulated objects ofenvironmental law mainly explains the characteristics of the branch of environmentallaw, while the concept of objects of protection of environmental law mainly explainsthe legal status of relative elements.Objects of protection of environmental law are different from controlled objectsof environmental law. Controlled objects of environmental law are those conducts,phenomena or matters that environmental law stipulate explicitly to control in orderto realize the protection to objects of protection of environmental law, includingprevented and tackled objects, forbidden or restricted development and utilization ofresources, pollution and destruction of the environment, etc, which fall into twocatogaries: natural elements and social elements.2. What are the legal attributes or status of objects of protection ofenvironmental law?The legal attributes or status of objects of protection of environmental law refersto the special legal treatment of objects of protection, meaning the recognition byenvironmental law of an object's attrbute, importance, value, significance, function, etc, showing people's knowledge of, attitude toward and protection strength on them.At present, in environmental legislations or theories of law science, there are thefollowing kinds of legal attributes or status of objects of protection of environmentallaw: the first one, assets, meaning all objects of protection of environmental law canbe regarded as assets, which in therory is called "the view of assets"; the second,objects, meaning all objects of protection of environmental law can be regarded asobjects of legal relation, which in therory is called "the view of objects" ; the third,subjects, meaning all objects of protection of environmental law can be regarded assubjects of legal relation, which in therory is called "the view of subjects"; the fourth,other status, such as public goods, environmental capital, relation, order, regime,intersts, etc.The legal attributes or status of objects of protection of environmental law cangenerally be classified into three ranks: the first rank, public goods, assets andenvironmental capital. This rank is a recognition of some degree of environmentalresources while utilizing them in economic activities, which is a higher rank than thestatus that environmental resources are regarded as nothing, ownerless articles or freeassets, being able to offer some protection to environmental resources while it is thelowest status in environmental law; the second rank, objects, order, and interests. Thisrank stresses protection, requiring more restriction on utilizing conducts, and as aresult, it is higher than public goods, assets and environmental capital; the third rank,relation and subjects. This rank offers protection and esteem to environmentalresources, so certainly it is the highest status. If we want to strengthen legal protectionto the environment and realize the harmony relation between man and nature in itstrue meaning, we should raise the legal status of the environment as high as possibleaccording to our realistic demands in our development and protection of theenvironment, making man giving as much esteem as possible to the environment andreducing as much damage as possible to it because of underestimation of it.3. Why have objects of protection of environmental law been developingcontinuously?Objects of protection of environmental law of all the countries in the world andobjects of protection of international environmental law are developing rapidly.The United States'1969 Environmental Policy Act has defined the fundamental framework of its objects of protection, including: the first, human beings, meaningthe contemporary generation and future generations; the second, the safety, health,welfare and environmental fights of human beings; the third, high living standard andbroad convenient living; the fourth, the environment and natural living things and allkinds of resources; the fifth, important heritage of national history, culture and nature;the sixth, the harmonious relation between man and nature. This framework has awide covering, representing a high legislation achievment, and it is worked outconcrete by specific environmental legislation. In the 1990s in the United States, theenvironmental justice legislation movement took place, raising the protection to theweak in the environmental field such as the colored people. Japanese environmentallaw puts stress on pollution prevention and treatment, protecting living environmentand human health. Later, the scope of objects of protection is enlarged continuously,including the enlargement of the extention of the environment, the protection of theinterests of future generations, and the announcement of protection of internationalenvironment. Russia uses a new concept-objects of protection of ecological law,including natural ecosystem, the ozone layer, microorganism, genetic genes, land,underground resources, water, forests, atmosphere, the circle of animals, landscapes,national natural forbidden areas, national protective areas, national parks, naturalparks; forest parks and plant parks, medical healthcare sites and convalescent places,etc.Before 1992, objects of protection of environmental law of our country weremainly living environment, ecological environment and people's health.Environmental Law of the People's Republic of China, which was made in 1989,scientificly defined the environment, expressly determining the scope of theenvironment. With the enforcement of the sustainable development strategy, newenvironmental laws have continuously been being made, and so objects of protectionhave been increasing, e.g. a new concept, the carrying capacity of ecologicalenvironment has come into being.Objects of protection of international environmental law experienced such anenlarging process, as from some spots to a line, from a line to a plane and from aplane to a three-dimension, which is corresponding to the three stages, the embryonicstage, the forming stage and the developing stage of the development of international environmental law. After the principle of sustainable development was established init, the international environmental law has become the promoter of sustainablelegislation, vigorously making international law and national law more and moreecological, and continously enlarging the scope of objects of protection ofinternational environmental law, within the human domain, extention to all poorcotntries and poor people of today in the world and future generations; outside thehuman domain, extention to all the natural things.The causes of the development of objects of protection of environmental law,from the viewpoint of man's will and his participation, are of two classifications. Oneis called the first classification, referring to those without man's intention, includingthe development of environmental problems, the coexistence and mutual support ofliving things, the development of science and technology, the development of therelations between man and nature and the development of the relations between manand man. The other is called the second classification, referring to those with man'sintention, including the development of environmental consciousness, thedevelopment of the theory and practice of human struggle for nature's fights andsubject qualification.4. How should objects of protection of environmental law go on developing?In order to realize man's sustainable development, environmental law shoulddefine objects of protection more reasonbly.Firstly, environmental law should carry out the priciple of environmental justice,which consists of two branch principles, the principle of environmental equity and theprinciple of environmental efficiency.Secondly, environmental law should carry out several concrete principles, suchas, the principle that natural productive forces can not be violated, the principle ofstrenghening protection while developing and utilizing environmental resources, theprinciple of strenghening protection of the weak in the environmental field, theprinciple of combining the protection of the whole and the protection of theindividual.The author tries to put out some suggestions to our country's environmentallegislation. We may amend the Constitution, adding that the natural person, the futuregenerations enjoy environmental rights, and all species have the fight to live. We may modify the Environmental Protection Law, defining the framework of the key objectsof protection needed to be protected earnestly, including everybody's environmentalfight of the freedom from pollution; national special protection to the weak inenvironmental field; protection of the interests of future generations; strict protectionto the entirety of the environment; all the environmental elements and the naturalproductive forces; protection of all the species no matter of their economic value;protection of the environmental capacity and the environmental carrying capacity aswell; protection of good relations between man and man and good relations betweenman and nature while developing and utilizing environmental resources; protection ofgood ecological order, ecological safety and people's legal property gained indeveloping and utilizing environmental resources.From the long view, we should base our efforts on building the ideal ecologicalsociety, make man and nature merging into one thing, protect human beings' rightsand those of the nature, and realize human society's sustainable development whilethe nature grows prosperous and strong.