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This article focuses on formation of environmental policy in different periods in Lithuania. The purpose of the article is to analyze main steps of development environmental policy. Some researchers keep opinion that the beginning of environmental policy started in the interwar period. Meanwhile more environmental specialists are following position that in this period had been not founded any specialized environmental institution and the roots of environmental policy cannot be in the interwar years. Actually development of environmental policy started after Second World War in the soviet period when Nature Conservation Act has been adopted and State Nature Protection Committee, and some environmental protection agencies had been founded. The beginning of modern environmental policy started in the beginning of re - establishing of the Independent Republic when Sate Environmental Protection Department has been founded and Environmental Protection Act has been adopted. The adoption of the State Environmental Protection Strategy and the National Environmental Protection Strategy are main current strategic instruments to develop modern environmental policy in Lithuania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the concept of environmental compensation and provides the examples of environmental compensation practices in various European Union countries. The principle of environmental compensation is to avoid, minimize, restore or compensate the damage to the biodiversity due to human activities, however in practice it is almost impossible to achieve no net loss to the biodiversity. European Union has issued Directive that established the principles of environmental compensation already in 2004, however until now the practices of environmental compensation in European Union countries are very fragmented. The implementation of environmental compensation principles in urban development is constrained mainly by factors such as lack of space, and the complexity of environments that are affected. There is a lack of integrated approach towards the strategies how environmental compensation should be implemented in the planning of various projects that have impact upon biodiversity. Furthermore, there is a lack of holistic approach towards the nature in legislation and practices of environmental compensation, as usually focus of instruments is on specific parts of natural environment. Ideally, the principles of environmental compensation should be an integral part of national strategies of sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essence of sustainable development is to attain mutual harmony and compromise of three equal values: environment, economy and social society. In order to achieve this goal none of the values should not be made primary over the others and their coexistence should be ensured by proper conditions. Due to the significance of implementation of sustainable development goals various environmental measures are needed which are based not on state enforcement, but on enabling to avoid environmental law violations and encouraging voluntary compliance with the requirements of environmental law. As a consequence, the balance between the environmental, economic and social society goals can be ensured more effectively. The potentially effective measure to ensure compliance with the requirements of environmental law is public disclosure of environmental information and violators of environmental law. The article considers the importance of the concept of public disclosure of environmental information, Lithuanian practice on this issue, and its importance for the purposes of sustainable development. The author also reveals the concept of public disclosure of environmental law violations, analyzes this topic in the context of Lithuania, and its importance for the achievement of sustainable development goals. The mechanism of public disclosure of environmental information enables the society to control legal entities, so that they do not unduly focus solely on their economic goals, thus denying other values to the society. Public disclosure of information on legal entities which have committed environmental law violations and state enforcement measures applied to them encourages legal entities to voluntarily comply with the requirements of environmental law and not to commit environmental law violations. The author concludes that both public disclosure of environmental information and public disclosure of legal entities which have committed environmental law violations and enforcement measures applied to them by the state encourages legal entities to voluntarily abstain from committing environmental law violations and enables to reduce costs of enforcement. If legal entities voluntarily comply with environmental law requirements, the need for control and supervising bureaucracy apparatus decreases and the aims of sustainable development can be achieved more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The legal regulation of environmental legal relationships seeks to to protect and restore natural resources, protect the environment from any harmful impact and improve the quality of life health protection. These aims may be successfully achieved in case a common and harmonious system of legal regulation is created and implemented. However, such a system of legal regulation of environmental relationships in Lithuania has not yet been created. The article introduces and analyses the environmental relationships, their peculiarities and social importance. It further considers a question of which environmental relationships should be the object of environmental law. In the light of the goal of legal regulation to integrate EU and Lithuanian environmental policy principles into the other fields of social life, the article also characterizes the methods, principles and functional relations with legal norms of other legal branches and legal acts. The current situation of legal regulation of environmental relationships is criticised as too complicated and ineffective. The ambiguity, uncertainty and other shortcomings of the legal regulation are caused by huge vicissitude, frequent amendments, duplication between the EU and Lithuanian laws and other legal acts. As a consequence, preconditions for corruption, law abuses, breach of subjective rights, possibility of public and private interests conflicts are created, which its causes passiveness and legal nihilism of the society. The article suggests to create, enforce and improve the system of legal regulation of environmental relationships, systematize and codify environmental legal norms, raise activity of the society and improve the level of its legal knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]