Forensic Environmental Examinations in Cases on Compensation for Harm (Damage) Caused by Environmental Violations: Analysis of Arbitration Courts’ Practice

The article analyses arbitration courts’ practice on the assignment of forensic environmental investigations on cases concerning the compensation for environmental damage caused by various environmental violations. At present, such investigations are assigned quite often. However, in most cases, private experts conduct them since there are very few state environmental experts. The article addresses examples of forensic environmental investigations for particular cases: on the facts of discharge of wastewater and oil products into water bodies, deforestation. It is shown that when determining the amount of harm (damage), non-state experts rely on the methods of calculating approved by the Ministry of natural resources and ecology of the Russian Federation, although many experts point out the shortcomings of these methods. In contrast, the Ministry of Justice system’s environmental experts determine the cost of restoration for specific violated environmental objects.