Rights and Obligations of Citizens and State Power Bodies Relating to the Nature Conservation law

Public ecological associations, other public associations of Belarus exercising ecological functions, have the right:

-to form social associations and foundations connected with environmental protection and to control its status.

- to require and receive reliable information on the status of the environment and measures of its conservation;

- to make suggestions for banning the emplacement, projecting, building, object exploitation, reconstruction of objects damaging for people health or environment.

- to apply to court for losses and health recovery in case of damage resulting from violations of the environmental protection or ecological disasters connected with this.

Legislation of the republic of Belarus also can define other rights connected with the enviromental protection.

Belarusian citizens and other people living on the territory of the republic have the obligations:

• to protect and conserve the nature, to rationally use its resources,

• to observe rules of environmental protection, to cultivate ecological culture in young generation,

• to perform other activities for nature protection in correspondence with the legislation of the Belarus Republic.

Public ecological associations or other social organizations with ecological functions posess the right:

• to develop and to spread out their ecological programmes, to defend rights and interests of people in the sphere of environmental protection, to promote ecological culture of the population, to bring in volunteers to the environmental protection activity.

- to participate by monetary and labour sources in protecting and restorations measures , in conservation and improvement of the environment , to contribute to the environmental protection activities and events, to form public funds with the purpose of environmental protection spending these means for ecological measures and events.

- to participate in the state ecological expertise for the placement, projection, building, commissioning of ecological dangerous objects, to carry out public ecological expertise, to submit proposals, to apply to the court asking for judicial cancellation of solutions on placement, building, maintenance of ecologically dangerous objects, for limitation, stoppage, termination or changing their activity;

- to bring a suit in a court for a compensation of damage to health, property of citizens or public associations, caused by violation of the nature protection legislation.

The right of citizens of the Republic of Belarus and other persons residing on its territory for healthy and favourable environment is provided by:

- planning and a rating of an environmental quality, measures for prevention of ecologically harmful activity, an environmental sanitation, preventing and liquidation of consequences of accidents, catastrophes, natural disasters;

- the state control for the environment status and observing the nature protection legislation, impeachment of executives not meeting the requirements for maintenance of ecological safety of the population;

- insurance of citizens, formation of state, public and other funds aiming to help people damaged by the environment;

- voluntary and legal indemnification of damages caused to health and property of citizens as a result of an environmental pollution or other harmful impacts, including consequences of accidents and catastrophes;

- to make judically answerable individuals intentionally distorting the information concerning environment, preventing citizens and public associations from executing their rights under this law or other warranties under this law or any other legislative acts of the Republic of Belarus.

The Parliament of the Republic of Belarus in the area of environmental protection:

- develops the state and international ecological policy;

- executes international cooperation in the field of environmental protection;

- develops and confirms legislative acts for environmental protection ;

- determines organization and activity of governmental bodies and directing in the sphere of use and protection of natural resources and environmental protection;

- considers and approves the state ecological program in the Republic of Belarus;

- defines territories as zones of ecological disaster;

- determines boundaries of nature reserving objects in the republic and authorizes their change;

- considers matters concerning nature protection and the use of natural resources;

In the sphrere of environmental protection local Soviets of Deputies are involved into:

-planning of enviromental protection activity, planning of financing and organizing material resources for ecological programmes;

• coordinating of activity of ecological service at enterprizes, institutions,

organizations;

• to make decisions for banning of activity for enterprizes, their

subdivisions, productive shops etc. situated on the territory of the Local Deputy Soviet or deprivation of rights to use nature resourses in case of pollution of the environment, breaching the nature protection legislation or sanitary rules and standards;

• organization of public education and culture in the sphere of environmental

protection.

• to provide population with the reliable ecological information;

• other matters concerning environmental protection related to the

competence of local state bodies by the legislation of the Republic of Belarus.

• Local Soviets of Deputies can delegate a part of their rights in the sphere of environmental protection to the bodies of the State Ecological Committee of the Republic of Belarus.