Reforming the System of State Environmental (Supervision) Control

Topicality. Considering the inability of natural processes to rectify the consequences of industrial pollution of surface and groundwater, air pollution, and the contamination of large areas with various types of waste, along with the depletion of natural resources, posing a real threat to national security, and taking into account the consequences of military operations, the main cause of the crisis state of the environment in Ukraine is the low level of implementation of environmental policy due to an ineffective system of state governance. The system of state governance in the field of environmental protection does not facilitate full access for Ukrainian citizens to information about the state of nature. There is no transparent mechanism for monitoring the state of the environment and access to a significant amount of environmental data that should be available to the public.Aim and tasks. Given that the current system responsible for enforcing the requirements of environmental legislation in Ukraine is ineffective and imperfect, the purpose of this study is to analyze the current state of the system of state environmental (supervision) control, the problems existing in this area, as well as the prerequisites for its reform.Materials and methods. The study used general scientific and specialized methods: retrospective analysis, systemic analysis, institutional analysis, synthesis, and theoretical generalization. The information base of the study included legislative acts of Ukraine, reports of key international conferences, specialized literature, information-analytical materials, domestic and foreign periodicals.Research results. The paper presents the results of an analysis of the state of environmental policy in Ukraine, the experience of previous reform initiatives, and the legislative framework for reforming the system of state environmental (supervision) control. Deficiencies in the field of state environmental (supervision) control in Ukraine have been identified, the most relevant and urgent issues for resolution have been identified. Ways and means to overcome problems have been systematized, prospects and expected results of the reform of the system of state environmental (supervision) control in Ukraine have been outlined.Conclusion. The state of the natural environment in Ukraine is unsatisfactory, and therefore, the constitutional rights of citizens to a safe environment for life and health are not satisfied. The activities of state executive bodies and local self-government bodies are aimed at fulfilling the state's duty to ensure environmental safety and preserve environmental balance in the territory of Ukraine, for which the institute of state environmental (supervision) control has been introduced. However, environmental control, which should perform the function of environmental conservation and prevention of harm, does not fulfill this function and is practically ineffective. In order to make such a tool as state environmental (supervision) control effective, favorable institutional conditions need to be created.This requires the "revival" and implementation of the Reform of the system of state environmental (supervision) control in the field of environmental protection, which should include a whole range of measures - ways to overcome the inefficiency of state environmental (supervision) control, which are detailed in the paper.