System of Environmental Management Bodies
Authors: Anisimov Aleksey , Ryzhenkov Anatoliy 
Published: May 2022

In this chapter, it is pointed out that management in the area of
environmental protection lies in the domain of executive authorities of the Russian
Federation and its constituent entities as well as local government bodies. These bodies
aim at regulating the interaction between nature and society to ensure a favorable
environmental quality. Management activity in environmental protection is carried out
exclusively by state executive authorities and local government bodies. Legislative and
judicial authorities do not perform any management functions. In a similar manner,
public environmental associations and other legal entities are not involved in
management. Despite the common goals of environmental management, every level of
public environmental management (the Russian Federation, constituent entities of the
Russian Federation, local government bodies) has its own level of competence.
Management bodies in environmental protection can be classified according to several
criteria. The main criterion is the scope of their inherent authoritative powers.
According to this criterion, they are divided into general and special competence
bodies. Bodies of general competence are distinguished as a special type of public
authorities because decision-making in environmental protection is not their special
and only function; it is performed along with the fulfillment of other management
tasks. The President of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Russian
Federation, executive authorities of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, and
local government bodies are endowed with general competence.

Bodies of special competence are state authorities that are specially authorized by the
Government of the Russian Federation or the President of the Russian Federation to
perform the corresponding environmental functions (the Ministry of Natural Resources
and Environment, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, etc.). According to the nature of
their special competence, environmental management bodies are divided into two
types: interbranch and branch. Interbranch bodies perform a set of nature protection
tasks concerning all (or the majority) of natural objects or types of activities; branch
bodies protect the environment in certain life areas (transport, industry, power sector,
defense). It is pointed out that the Federal Law “On Environmental Protection” itself
does not distribute the powers among specific bodies of general or special competence.
The law lists the powers of federal, regional, and local nature protection significance,
and these powers are distributed inside each level of authority by other laws and
bylaws.

Attention is paid to environmental management functions, i.e., the main areas of
activities of state executive authorities and local government bodies to ensure a
favorable environmental quality and protect environmental human and civil rights
(standardization, licensing, expert review, EIA). The state economic regulation of environmental protection is not less important, and it includes the establishment of the
system of payments for environmental pollution, tax benefits, and other incentive
payments, including measures for the support of environmental entrepreneurship.