Mechanisms of state regulation of environmental safety in emergency situations
Authors: Koretskyi Yurii 
Published: March 2020

Ensuring environmental security in emergencies in Ukraine continues to be one of the main tasks of modern public policy at all levels of government. Due to the constant increase in the frequency and magnitude of emergencies (Emergency Situations), as well as human and material losses, measures to neutralize and prevent natural and man-made threats are of particular relevance.

The purpose of the article is theoretical and methodological substantiation of mechanisms of state regulation of ecological safety in emergencies and determination of the main ways to improve their formation and functioning.

The modern level of natural-technogenic danger has been investigated and it has been established that 140 – 150 technogenic accidents and catastrophes of regional and national importance occur annually in the territory of Ukraine. According to the UN, in most countries, natural and man-made disasters cause losses of 2 – 4 % in the structure of gross national product.

Environmental risk is related to the following groups of factors: 1) technogenic; 2) natural; 3) socio-economic; 4) military; 5) political; 6) terrorism. In Ukraine there are territories with different levels of environmental safety, namely: ordinary (background), crisis, critical, catastrophic and after catastrophic (rehabilitation). The Chernobyl accident from emergency turned into catastrophic, as it caused a significant increase in cancer of the population, led to the depletion of a 30-kilometer zone for decades and led to radioactive contamination of the territory on 4.6 million hectares.

In order to prevent and respond to emergencies in Ukraine, a Unified State System of Prevention and Response to Emergencies (EMU) has been established, and a number of laws and programs for the prevention and response to emergencies of anthropogenic and natural nature have been adopted.

It is established that the mechanism of functional provision of ecological safety includes such types of state-legal measures as organizational, regulatory, regulatory, executive and enforcement measures.

The main reasons for the deterioration of the environmental situation in Ukraine are identified: insufficient state control over the implementation of nature protection laws and economic incentives for resource and energy conservation, lack of effective laws on environmental protection and by-laws for their effective implementation, acceleration of negative economic, social and political environmental processes and more.

Improvement of the mechanism of state regulation of environmental safety should cover its main four components, namely: economic, production, technical, organizational and state-legal. The most important activities need to be coordinated in terms of both components and time limits. It is necessary to create an effective mechanism for financing measures for the prevention and elimination of the consequences of emergencies, stimulating managers and business owners to reduce the level of natural and man-made hazard at the sites

Today, there is a lag of our country from the developed countries of the world in the level of natural-technogenic security and the lack of a mechanism of state regulation of its provision. Improvement of the mechanism of state regulation of environmental safety should cover its main four components, namely: economic, production, technical, organizational and state-legal.