New purposes and goals of ecological and legal culture development in Russia

Abstract

This paper shows that ecological and legal culture is an integral part of the generic scientific category ‘ecological culture’, which reveals only partly the relationship between society and nature that falls under the rules of international and national law. Another, no less important, distinguishing feature of the sub-category ‘ecological and legal culture’ is that it assumes the presence not only of knowledge about the state of nature or its internal interrelationships, but also of skills through legal means to protect nature from negative anthropogenic influence. In the context of the emergence of new environmental threats of the 21st century (e.g. climate change, ozone holes, and the impact on nature of bio- and nanotechnologies), it is necessary to form a new public system of values, knowledge and practical skills for legal (including judicial) environmental protection by the citizens of Russia, which will require the alteration of education, training programs and upbringing.