Legal protection of the environment and rational use of natural resources: implementation of O. S. Kolbasov’s ideas

Abstract

The article analyzes the scientific legacy of corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Oleg Stepanovich Kolbasov, who was one of the founders of a new branch of law – Environmental Law and made a significant contribution to the formation and development of legal environmental protection in our country. Developing domestic science within the walls of the Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences, of which he was an employee for 35 years until his premature departure, O. S. Kolbasov created a scientific school of Environmental and Water Law, whose representatives now work in various scientific and educational institutions throughout the country. Over the past decades, many of his scientific ideas have not lost their relevance in the slightest, on the contrary, their importance for further improving the legal regulation of environmental protection and rational use of nature resources, including in terms of finding a balance between economic, social and environmental interests in society, is difficult to overestimate. It is the ability to look far ahead, having a prognostic view and breadth of scientific thought that puts O. S. Kolbasov on a par with the leading jurists of our country.