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Sustainability Governance: Legal, Economic, and Institutional Mechanisms"

No. 2 Thematic Issue (2025): Thematic Issue Sustainability Governance: Legal, Economic, and Institutional Mechanisms, Guest Editors: Karlis Ketners, Vitalii Kotsur

Legal methods of environmental law enforcement

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3280/riss2025oa21075
Submitted
22 settembre 2025
Published
30-12-2025

Abstract

The relevance of the subject matter of this research study is due to raising issues in the field of environmental law enforcement in the Republic of Kazakhstan as well as the need to improve the existing methods of protecting environmental law and order in the country. The main purpose of this research study is to examine the legal means of protecting environmental law and order in Kazakhstan and the rights of the country’s citizens to protect and enforce environmental law. The methodological approach in this research paper consisted of a combination of systematic analysis and the synthesis with abstraction of research data. The findings demonstrated a whole set of objective prerequisites for the establishment of effective legal remedies for the protection of the environmental legal order in the country. The Republic of Kazakhstan has adopted and successfully applied in practice the Environmental Code, which regulates the rights and obligations of citizens in the field of environmental law and order. At the same time, there is prosecutorial surveillance in the area of natural resource management and environmental protection. It is an effective tool for monitoring compliance with the rule of law in protecting the citizens’ rights in environmental law enforcement. These rights are also under protection of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters. This convention was the subject of ratification by the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The practical significance of the results obtained in this research is in the possibility of their application in the development and practical implementation of effective legal ways to protect the norms of environmental safety in Kazakhstan.

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