HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY FORMATION ON THE TERRITORY OF UKRAINE

Abstract

The article examines the historical aspects of the formation of institutions and the legal framework for the implementation of environmental policy in Ukraine from the earliest times until 1991. It also analyzes the key historical aspects that influenced the formation of the ecological consciousness of the population of Ukraine and public opinion on environmental exploitation and protection. It was established that the typical economic activity until the industrial revolution in the XVIII–XIX centuries had an extensive character, i.e., the increase in production was due to the plowing of new lands, cutting down forests, increasing the amount of hunting or fishing without a significant emphasis on increasing their efficiency. The first legislative acts of Kyivan Rus, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Commonwealth regulated land use, hunting, fishing, forest use and other economic activities. Until the beginning of the XX century in most of the territory of Ukraine, except for the partially industrialized regions of Donbas and the oilproducing regions of Galicia, the economy remained mainly agrarian. Issues of environmental protection until the XX century were the work of individual noblemen, enthusiasts and scientists, who developed a network of circles and societies for the protection of nature. At the beginning of the XX century, in particular, during the Ukrainian revolution of 1917–1921, a partial revival of environmental protection was observed. Scientists V. Vernadskyi, M. Charleman, P. Tutkovskyi, V. Taliyev, and others created a significant development in the field of nature management and conservation. Significant damage to the environment in the XX century was caused by two world wars and the Soviet policy of "subjugation of nature". These were the direct consequences of hostilities and the significant increase in demand for resources and food, which forced producers to focus on short-term productivity growth. The revival of the nature protection movement on the territory of Ukraine began at the end of the XX century among dissidents who protested against the barbaric destruction of the environment and ignoring the human right to live in a healthy environment. The Chornobyl disaster of 1986 was a significant stimulus for the rise of this movement. It forced a significant number of active citizens to mobilize for the protection of the environment and lay the foundation for public and political institutions of environmental orientation in independent Ukraine.