On the work of prosecutors in supervising the enforcement of environmental legislation in the first half of 2019.

Significant attention is paid by the prosecutor's offices of the Vitebsk region to the issues of compliance with environmental and land legislation – in order to eliminate identified violations of legislation in this area, more than 170 response measures have been prepared this year, and over 400 individuals have been brought to disciplinary, administrative, and material liability.  

At the same time, isolated violations of water legislation still occur, primarily during the operation of livestock farms and complexes located in water protection zones of water bodies, many of which are not equipped with appropriate devices and structures that prevent the pollution of water resources. Significant amounts of organic matter are also accumulated on the territories of farms and complexes, which leads to runoff into adjacent areas and creates a real threat of pollution of both land and water bodies.

Such violations are characteristic of most regions and were identified in the activities of agricultural organizations in Verkhnedvinsk, Vitebsk, Dubrovno, Chashniki, Glubokoye, and a number of other districts.

Numerous violations of waste management legislation have been established. In particular, target indicators for the collection (procurement) of secondary material resources (SMR) are systematically not met. At the same time, facts of unlawful disposal of SMR at waste disposal sites, an insufficient number of containers and technical means for separate waste collection, including in rural areas, the absence of waste sorting lines in some regions, and low activity of the population and organizations in solving the issue of separate waste collection negatively affect the achievement of these indicators.

Also, isolated cases of non-compliance with established requirements for container sites for solid municipal waste collection and the containers themselves are not uncommon, with container overflow and littering of adjacent territories with waste being allowed (Ushachi, Liozno, Shumiilino, Senno, Vitebsk, Orsha districts, the city of Vitebsk, and other regions).

Despite the measures taken by prosecutors

response, including the submission of a representation by the regional prosecutor's office to the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, isolated violations of legislation in the operation of waste disposal sites still occur. There are frequent cases of finding hazardous waste among waste subject to disposal; due to the absence or unsuitability of disinfection baths, the wheels of vehicles transporting waste are not always disinfected; waste is allowed to contaminate territories adjacent to disposal sites, as well as adjacent woody and shrubby vegetation (Gorodok, Liozno, Senno, Postavy, Chashniki and other districts).

As prosecutorial supervision practice shows, the work on regulating the spread and population of invasive plant species, primarily Sosnowsky's hogweed, is not sufficiently effective in the region. During inspections conducted in May-June of the current year, it was established that, despite the relevance of this issue and the availability of the necessary methodology for carrying out these works, many landowners do not properly carry out the measures provided for by the relevant plans to regulate the spread and population of this invasive plant (unsystematically, incompletely, with violations of deadlines and technology).

This state of affairs contributes to the further spread of Sosnowsky's hogweed, an increase in its growing area, and does not comply with the requirements of the legislation. Similar violations have been identified in almost all regions of the oblast (Glubokoe, Braslav, Vitebsk, Polotsk, Miory, Sharkovshchina districts, Vitebsk city, etc.), in connection with which prosecutors have prepared relevant prosecutorial supervision documents, and the issue of bringing the perpetrators to administrative and disciplinary responsibility has been raised.

The current situation indicates the need for constant and strict accountability in the field of environmental protection, including from local executive committees, which, by virtue of Article 41 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On Local Government and Self-Government in the Republic of Belarus," are called upon

to ensure the implementation of environmental protection and rational use of natural resources control within the supervised territory.

Senior Assistant Prosecutor of the Region
for Supervision of Enforcement
of Environmental Legislation 
E. Kozlova.