Chernobyl − Experience and Perspectives of International Cooperation and Environmental Protection

Abstract

The article analyses various stages of the subsequent development of the international cooperation and of Ukrainian legislation aimed at facing the consequences of the explosion at Chernobyl nuclear power plant, on April 26, 1986. It is aimed to assess the impact of Chernobyl accident on law and policies in the field of environmental protection. The reaction to the Chernobyl accident gave in fact a boost to the evolution of international treaty law in various sectors (nuclear safety, emergency preparedness and response, environmental law) and, according to the Authors, contributed to the assertion in general international law of the right to environmental information.More than a thousand legal acts have been adopted in the Ukraine aimed at determining the safe management of the territories affected by Chernobyl accident. Notwithstanding the resulting nuclear contamination from Chernobyl accident still is a priority environmental problem. In this context, the Authors highlight the exceptional interest of the prospect opened by the Presidential Decrees of 2018 and 2019 on the rehabilitation of the territories affected by radioactive contamination. They represent a further important step towards the effective establishment of a biosphere reserve, in the perspective of the creation of a transboundary protected area with Belarus.