Abstract
The article considers international legislation as an instrument in the process of establishment of Geoparks in Ukraine. Because the notion “geopark” is relatively new to Europe, and even newer to Ukraine, it is necessary to study the legal aspects of this issue. It was determined that the establishment of geoparks in Ukraine is hindered by numerous problems, particularly: absence of target-legislation, unproductive dialogue with authorities, from local to national and difficult economic conditions. We found that solving the problems should start from the assessment of state and international normative-regulatory acts and characterization of the impact of the latter in the legal field of Ukraine. We found that domestic scientific works do not have many references to the international legislation. Therefore, the necessity arises of developing an international “legal map” in the issue of protection of geoheritage. For this purpose, we analyzed 14,335 international documents relevant for the territory of Ukraine with their respect to their relationship to the protection of nature, natural and cultural heritage, out of which 79 were analyzed in detail. We determined the peculiarities, according to which the international legal acts can be identified and can characterize them by 3 groups: Treaties between states on collaboration; Treaties between states on particular natural objects; important international documents. We determined that 48 of them have different levels of importance in the issue of establishment of Geoparks. We determined that many international documents recommend, encourage, obligate the authorities to support protection of nature, the natural heritage, including geoheritage. With active use of such documents, it is possible to significantly advance in solving the abovementioned problems of establishing Geoparks. Most characterized normative-regulatory acts which are directly or indirectly related to natural objects and territories that could be included in future Geoparks, making them an important tool in preservation of geoheritage. The presented results correspond to all the recent changes in the legislation as at the beginning of 2019. The results can be used by scientists in the process of establishment of real Geoparks in Ukraine, as well for preservation of geological heritage in general.
Highlights
At a time when the world community, and especially Europe, is moving towards conservation of the geoheritage by establishing Geoparks in the global network, geosites and objects protected by international institutions – there are no such objects in Ukraine
Among the publications of foreign authors, the norms of international law are mentioned and explored, but not entirely, as for example in Azerbaijan, where the aspect of creating Geoparks remains unsolved, the importance of the international law is almost ignored; (Tofig Rashidov, Talat Kangarli, Ilkin Kangarli, 2018) in the articles focused on the study of the legislation, 5 to 10 different international acts are mentioned, for example in the article “Geoconservation legal status and geopark establishment in Greece” (Haidarlis, Sifakis, Brachou, 2017)
The relevance of the results of the studies provided in the article have an exceptional character for Ukraine – because the mentioned documents were signed or ratified by Ukraine, and the methodology of the studies, conclusions, list of international acts and their significance for preservation of geoheritage can be useful for foreign researchers as well
Summary
At a time when the world community, and especially Europe, is moving towards conservation of the geoheritage by establishing Geoparks in the global network, geosites and objects protected by international institutions – there are no such objects in Ukraine. In all the works, there is either only a small number of references to the international legislation, or a complete absence of such references (Tofig Rashidov, Talat Kangarli, Ilkin Kangarli, 2018; Kravchuk, Bohutskyi, Zinko, Brusak, Krychevska, Blahodyr, Shevchuk, 2013; Manyuk, 2007; Maria Helena Henriques, José Brilha, 2017; Shevchuk, 2011) Some researchers explain such pattern by the fact that legal aspects are complex and do not stimulate those who are trying to legitimize geological monuments (Heichenko, Flore, 2014). According to the Vienna Convention on Succession of States in respect of Treaties, Ukraine is successor of all the international normative acts concluded and ratified by the Ukrainian RSR, the agreements signed before the independence have legal force (The Law of Ukraine, 1978). Borders with the territory of Ukraine located on one continent located on another Continent
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