The right to a safe environment for life and health in the aspect of conservation and restoration of natural ecosystems

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the right to a safe environment for life and health in the ecosystem aspect. Based on the analysis of a number international legal documents of environmental orientation, it is substantiating that the relationship between the human right to a safe environment for life and health and the need to preserve and restore natural ecosystems through the implementation of an ecosystem approach as a strategy for the integrated management of land, water and living resources that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way. It is emphasized that the active development of this approach has led to the emergence of a new area of scientific research called «ecosystem approach to health», or in abbreviated form «EcoHealth», which studies how changes in the Earth’s ecosystems affect the life and health of people. It is noted that in Ukraine the specified problems have not yet received universal recognition, however, certain tendencies in this direction, which are primarily associated with the prospects for the implementation of an ecosystem approach to ensure the right to a safe environment for life and health are already traced in the Law of Ukraine «On the Basic Principles (Strategy) of the State Environmental Policy of Ukraine for the Period until 2030», according to which the goal of such a policy is to achieve a good state of the environment by introducing an ecosystem approach in all areas of socio-economic development to ensure the right of every citizen to a clean and safe environment.