Human Environment ‒ Risks and Legal Protection
Abstract: The most relevant factors that affect climate are astronomic cycles ant their effects on planet Earth and Earth’s orbit around the Sun. They have impact on the occurrence of glacial and interglacial periods at generally 100.000-year frequencies, which were affected by orbital shape variations and effects of greenhouse gases.
The youngest geological epoch of the geological history of Earth is Holocene (started with warming) that began approximately 11.000 years BP. In that epoch, the shape of Earth’s orbit around the Sun was nearly circular, close to a perfect circle, and the seasonal contrast was less severe, due to decreased tilt of Earth’s axis from the plane of its orbit around the Sun. However, most scientists are arguing that the causes of rapid climate change are rooted in human activity, and not in its internal orbital variations. The main causes of global warming are increased level of carbon dioxide, but also of methane and chlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere. These gases are responsible for the greenhouse effect, ozone layer depletion in stratosphere and rapid global warming.
In order to set up the legal framework of environmental protection, the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment has adopted Stockholm Declaration in June 16, 1972. About twenty industrial states have ratified in 1987 the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, which has undergone many revisions by London Convention (1990), Copenhagen Accord (1992), Vienna Convention (1995), Kyoto Protocol (1997) and the Paris Agreement ‒ an international universal agreement on climate adopted at the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP21).
Environmental protection in the European Union is provided for by its primary and secondary law, and the most EU environmental regulations were implemented in the Serbian legislation.
Key words: human environment; ice age; climate change; greenhouse effect; global warming; ozone layer; environmental protection.
Životna sredina - opasnosti i pravna zaštita
Rezime: Najvažniji činilac koji određuje klimu su astronomski ciklusi koji deluju na Zemlju i njenu orbitu oko Sunca. Oni utiču na nastanak ledenih epoha/međuledenih epoha koji su, načešće, trajale oko 100.000 godina, a prouzrokovane su promenljivom orbitom Zemlje oko Sunca i delovanjem otpornih gasova staklene bašte.
Najmlađa geološka epoha u istoriji Zemlje ‒ holocen (računa se od otopljavanja), nastala je pre oko 11.000 godina. U ovoj epohi oblik putanje Zemlje oko Sunca sve više liči na krug i godišnja doba su, zbog smanjenog nagiba Zemljine ose rotacije, u odnosu na ravan orbite oko Sunca, slabije izražena. Ipak, velika većina naučnika smatra da je današnja ubrzana promena klime nastupila ljudskom delatnošću, a ne njenom unutrašnjom varijacijom. Glavni uzroci globalnog zagrevanja su: povećan nivo ugljen-dioksida ali i metana te hloro-fluoro-ugljovodonika. Ovi gasovi dovode do efekta staklene bašte, tanjenja ozonskog omotača u stratosferi i naglog zagrevanja Zemlje.
Sa ciljem pravne zaštite životne sredine, Konferencija Ujedinjenih nacija o čovekovoj životnoj sredini usvojila je Deklaraciju Stokholmu, 16. juna 1972. godine. Dvadesetak industrijskih zemalja potpisalo je 1987. godine Montrealsku konvenciju kojom je predviđeno redukovanje CFC jedinjenja, a zatim su usledili Sporazumi u Londonu (1990), Kopenhagenu (1992), Beču (1995), Protokol iz Kjota iz 1997. godine i Međunarodni univerzalni sporazum o klimi COP21 u Parizu iz 2015.
Zaštita životne sredine u Evropskoj uniji predviđena je njenim osnivačkim (primarnim) i sekundarnim pravom, a najveći deo propisa Evropske unije preuzet je u zakonodavstvo Srbije.
Ključne riječi: životna sredina; ledeno doba; promena klime; efekat staklene bašte; globalno zagrevanje; ozonski omotač; zaštita životne sredine.