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of Nature's Beauty in Ukrainian Legislation
O. Listopad Is the beauty of nature protected by Ukrainian law? Only indirectly and to a very limited degree. The Environmental Protection Law of 26 June 1991 only refers to the duty to preserve landscapes and especially areas and objects belonging to reserves, without giving the motives to do so. The Law on Natural Reserves of Ukraine does mention esthetic value in its definition of a natural reserve and requires that areas having objects of outstanding esthetic value be ranked as land of natural reserves. However, it has no provisions as to who has a right to substantiate claims that an area be announced a natural reserve for its beauty, nor gives criteria for qualification an area as eligible. In the absence of precedents for such qualification, this is a major demerit of the law. The Land Code and the Water Code only refer to areas of nature conservation, not mentioning the esthetics explicitly. The Forest Code and the Law on Animal Life are almost as strictly utilitarian, especially because the latter contains an encouraging statement that wildlife is "a source of spiritual and esthetic enrichment and education of people." Experience shows that most people will jump at the idea of "enrichment" and not care about any "spiritual and esthetic" words. In effect, the Law more defends the right of a human being to satisfy any of his or her whims than it protects nature's beauty. It is hoped that the Law on Plant Life, so far not carried, will protect the beauty of a flower exactly because it is the soul of pristine nature, rather than "an object of esthetic education."
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