INTRODUCTION. The world ocean is the main component of the Earth's biosphere, a key element of the hydrosphere containing 95% of all water on the planet, the most important link in the ecological system, a source of mineral, biological and strategic resources. Nevertheless, the rapid growth of the population, the development of new territories, the rapid development of the economy and the increasingly intensive use of the spaces and resources of the World Ocean in this regard have led to serious and sometimes irreversible consequences that negatively affect its condition. The Russian Federation, being a leading maritime Power, takes an active position in taking urgent measures to ensure the protection and preservation of the waters and resources of the World Ocean. Realizing the impossibility of resolving the environmental problem that has arisen on the basis of exclusively universal or regional agreements, as well as by taking appropriate measures at the domestic level, recognizing that the need to ensure the protection and preservation of the oceans from pollution requires an exclusively holistic approach to the regulatory regulation of this issue, the Russian Federation expressed its desire to cooperate on the most important issues of ensuring global environmental problems, where the protection and preservation of the oceans from pollution is one of the priority areas of activity.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. This study uses the works of both Russian and foreign experts in the field of international environmental and international maritime law. The research used general scientific methods of cognition – analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction. Special legal methods were also used in the work – formal legal, technical legal, the method of legal analogy, as well as the comparative legal method.

THE RESULTS OF THE STUDY. The analysis of the current practice on the implementation of international legal norms in the field of protection and preservation of the world ocean from pollution in the legislation of the Russian Federation allowed us to conclude that the protection of the World Ocean from pollution is a system of legal relations requiring coordinated actions of international law and national legislation.

DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS. Within the framework of the study, the author comes to the logical conclusion that the norms of international and national law should act in unity in order to comply with the natural processes of development of activities in the world Ocean and the interests of states. The protection and preservation of the World Ocean is a complex task that requires both a comprehensive regulatory and legal regulation at all levels, and the formation of a correct public consciousness about its integrity, unity and value of this unique, most important component of the Earth's hydrosphere, allowing the world community to unite in organizing cooperation on issues of ensuring global security of the entire civilization on a democratic basis.

INTRODUCTION. Climate change in the Arctic, caused by global warming, as well as the political processes taking place in the world associated with increased pressure from the countries of the collective West on the Russian Federation, again raise in Western doctrine the question of the validity of the Russian Federation establishing a national regime for navigation in the waters of the Northern Sea Route in accordance with Article 234 of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Doubts have been raised about our country’s compliance with the Convention’s requirement to maintain a balance between freedom of navigation and environmental protection. The purpose of this work is to analyze the validity of claims against the Russian Federation regarding its alleged abuse of the right to establish a national regime for navigation in the Arctic under the guise of environmental protection.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. The problems raised in the work are structurally divided into three main groups. The first of them is related to the analysis of the characteristics of shipping in the Arctic under conditions of a changing climate, as well as the determination of the need to establish a special legal regime for navigation in polar waters. The second is devoted to the systematic interpretation of Article 234 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, in its relationship with other norms of the Convention, identifying the criteria and restrictions established therein in relation to the rules of navigation adopted by the coastal state in ice-covered areas, as well as the legal content of the requirement of “due attention to navigation and protection and conservation of the marine environment.” The third part of the work is devoted to assessing the legislation of the Russian Federation on the regulation of navigation along the Northern Sea Route for its compliance with the requirements of Article 234 and maintaining the balance of freedom of navigation and protection of the marine environment in the Arctic.

RESEARCH RESULTS. The legislation of the Russian Federation on the regulation of navigation in the waters of the Northern Sea Route fully meets the conditions and criteria established by Article 234 of the Convention, and is aimed at ensuring the functioning of a unified and centralized system for managing the safety of navigation in the particularly dangerous conditions of the Arctic, preventing accidents and environmental pollution environment. The restrictions established by Russian legislation are not discriminatory and are based on current and constantly updated scientific data.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. Shipping in polar waters involves enormous risks to human life, valuable property and an extremely fragile and vulnerable environment. The effects of global warming are only exacerbating these risks, leading to increased ice instability and worsening climate problems. In this regard, in ice-covered areas, a centralized navigation management system is objectively necessary, and the establishment of special, uniform legal regulation to ensure the uninterrupted functioning of such a system. A systematic interpretation of Article 234 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea allows us to conclude that the establishment by a coastal state within its EEZ of non-discriminatory laws and regulations aimed at preventing, reducing and keeping under control pollution of the marine environment from ships is not a privilege, but a duty of the state based on its more general obligation to protect the marine environment, established in articles 192 and 194 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The rule of “due respect to navigation” in this regard should be interpreted to mean that the restrictions and requirements imposed by the laws and regulations of the coastal State must be primarily aimed at ensuring the safety and protection of the marine environment in harsh climatic conditions, without being at the same time discriminatory, unreasonable and excessive.

INTRODUCTION. Global plastic production has increased from 1.5 million tons in 1950 to 390 million tons in 2021, of which only 9 % was recycled, 19 % was incinerated, almost 50 % was disposed of in landfills and 22 % was dumped in landfills, where this waste could be openly burned or released back into the environment. Plastics have changed the global economy and the lives of billions of people for the better. However, their use comes with significant environmental and social costs. Plastic waste negatively affects human health and the environment. The life cycle of plastics covers the entire spectrum of activities, from raw material extraction, production, distribution, use, to disposal as waste, and environmental problems can arise at any stage of the plastic life cycle. Most plastic degrades very slowly in the environment. There are currently a number of international commitments to reduce marine litter and plastic waste, particularly from land-based sources, and several applicable international agreements and soſt law instruments related to trade in plastics or reducing impacts on marine life. However, none of the international documents provides a global, mandatory, specific and measurable target to reduce plastic pollution. In this regard, many states, as well as commercial actors and civil society, are calling for the adoption of a global instrument to regulate marine pollution from litter and plastics. In this article, significant attention is paid to the analysis of a future treaty aimed at combating plastic pollution.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. This study is based on the analysis of a large volume of materials, including international legal acts, advisory acts, as well as modern doctrinal studies by Russian and foreign authors. The methodological basis of the study was general scientific (method of logical and system analysis, dialectical method, methods of deduction and induction) and special scientific (historical-legal, comparative-legal, formal legal methods, method of legal modeling and forecasting) methods of cognition.

RESEARCH RESULTS. In the course of the study, various international acts of a mandatory and recommendatory nature were analyzed, the doctrinal positions set out in the scientific literature, put forward by domestic and foreign legal scholars, were summarized, and the main problems of combating plastic pollution were identified.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. Within the framework of this article, an attempt has been made to give answers to the following questions: to what extent the problem of plastic pollution is an important challenge for modern international law, whether current international law effectively regulates the problem of plastic pollution, what should be the content of a new treaty on plastic and what are the positions of states on its content.

INTRODUCTION. The swamps of Iraq are of great ecological, historical and cultural significance, however, a number of political, economic and anthropogenic reasons have caused the problem of draining the swamps, which negatively affects the economy and social sphere of the Republic of Iraq. The purpose of the article is to identify and scientifically analyze problematic issues of determining the status of Iraq's swamps as protected natural areas, within the framework of Iraq's implementation of international norms on the protection of wetlands.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. The research materials included international conventions and other sources of international environmental law, documents of the UN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, acts of the government and ministries of Iraq and others. To reveal the theoretical aspects of the issues under consideration, a system-structural approach, generalization, deduction, methods of scientific abstraction, logical and system analysis were used. Special research methods were also used: historical-legal, comparative-legal and formal-legal.

RESEARCH RESULTS. As part of this publication, the authors analyzed the problems of the legal status of wetlands in Iraq, identified shortcomings in domestic legal regulation and ways to further implement international norms on the protection of wetlands.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. Based on the results of the study, it was established that the international community and the government of Iraq are taking measures to protect the swamps and determine their status as protected natural areas. Proposals for further implementation by the Republic of Iraq of international norms on the protection of wetlands in its legal and institutional components are substantiated.

INTRODUCTION. The Arctic is a unique marine and terrestrial ecosystem. However, the Arctic region is currently experiencing enormous environmental stress. This is due to the following factors. The first factor is the ongoing climate change on the planet as a whole, which is most clearly seen in the Arctic. Researchers claim that some species of flora and fauna are threatened with extinction. For example, the polar bear, the largest specie in the Arctic trophic chain, is currently experiencing great difficulties in finding food due to the abundant melting of glaciers and, as a result, the reduction of its habitat. Global warming is also causing changes in habitats and migration routes not only for Arctic species, but also for other species that have never climbed so high to the north. Nowadays, local fishermen sometimes catch species of fish that have never been seen in Arctic waters before. Cases of Pacific salmon entering the Atlantic Ocean through the Arctic seas have also been recorded. There is another problem related to the climate factor. For many years, a huge amount of toxic waste has been stored in the Arctic coastal areas. Due to the melting of permafrost, pollutants enter the marine ecosystem, accumulate in marine biota and as a result end up on our table. The second factor is the increased anthropogenic impact due to both climate change and the Arctic political strategies of several states at once. The development of the Northern Sea Route (NSR), the increase in the intensity of navigation, exploration and extraction of natural resources, construction of infrastructure facilities and other human activities have a negative impact on the environment. The Arctic ecosystem is facing an increase in production and consumption waste [Kallenborn, Brorstrom-Lunden, Reiersen, Wilson 2018:33001; Jaskolski, Pawlowski, Strzelecki, Zagorski, Lane 2018:2011], noise [Quijano, Hannay, Austin 2019:1228; Stevenson, Davies, Huntington, Sheard 2019:83; Kyhn, Sveegaard, Tougaard 2014:424], light [Ludvigsen, Berge, Geoffroy, Cohen, De La Torre, Nornes, Singh, Sorensen, Daase, Johnsen 2018; Bennie, Duffy, Davies, Correa-Cano, Gaston 2015:2715], vibration, temperature, chemical and biological pollution. The risk of man-made accidents and catastrophes increases, which can lead to even more dangerous consequences.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. We have studied and analyzed international agreements and other documents on the protection of the Arctic marine environment. The texts of these documents were taken for analysis on the official pages on the Internet. Such resources include, for example, the official website of the United Nations Organization (UN), the International Maritime Organization (IMO), etc. Work with Russian legal acts included access to such portals as the official website of the Government of the Russian Federation, the Administration of the Northern Sea Route, the ConsultantPlus Legal Reference System, etc. The international documents were divided into groups, which are presented in a separate table. This made it possible to structure the work, avoid long lists in the text and focus on the most important aspects of the topic under consideration. The research is also based on published works of experts in the field of International law, law of the sea, environmental law, political science, environmental science and other fields of knowledge. Web of Science (webofknowledge. com), Russian scientific electronic library (elibrary. ru), Researchgate (researchgate.net) and other systems became the resources for working with literature. The author also studied law enforcement practice, trends in the development of scientific research in the region, as well as some political processes that are somehow related to the modern legal regulation of marine environment protection in the Arctic. The term “Arctic states” is used in this article as it is given in the [Vylegzhanin 2013]. The term “coastal States” is used in this article as it is given in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

RESEARCH RESULTS. As a result of ongoing climate changes on the planet, as well as due to increased anthropogenic pressure on the region, the fragile ecosystem of the Arctic is currently subject to various types of pollution (noise, vibration, light, radioactive, various types of waste, etc.) and degradation. Both scientists and politicians pay attention to this. We have analyzed the existing international and national norms, regulating relations for the protection of the Arctic marine environment. For these purposes, international documents, depending on the range of regulated issues, were divided into five groups: 1) general; 2) special; 3) agreements regulating liability and compensation issues; 4) environmental agreements that indirectly regulate the protection of the marine environment; 5) Arctic documents. It is determined that the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (hereinaſter referred to as the Convention of 1982) is one of the main “general” agreements, which not only establishes the obligations of participating countries to protect the marine environment, but also provides coastal states with special environmental requirements in ice–covered areas, including the Arctic Ocean. In this regard, the Russian Federation has undertaken an obligation to regulate navigation in the waters of the Northern Sea Route (hereinaſter – the NSR) for the purposes of environmental protection and prevention of pollution from ships.

The issue of the need to develop and sign a separate agreement on the Arctic was also considered by the author, and the conclusion was formulated that there is no need and objective possibility of implementing such an initiative, especially in the current political situation in the world. The author notes that all specialized international Arctic documents have an ecocentric focus, which meets the intentions of the Arctic states, including Russia, to continue the development and development of Arctic territories and waters with mandatory compliance with modern environmental requirements. In this regard, the development of scientific research in the Arctic and the improvement of the best existing environmental technologies are of particular importance. The 2017 Agreement on Strengthening International Arctic Scientific Cooperation is designed to promote the development of joint research and information exchange. However, in light of the suspension of scientific and technical cooperation between the Russian Federation and other Arctic states, we cannot consider its effectiveness today.

DISCUSSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. There is a large number of documents regulating the protection of the Arctic marine environment, which have been developed at the international level. The Arctic ecosystem needs special protection because of its vulnerability. The ongoing climate change and melting of glaciers have led to an increase in anthropogenic pressure on the region. At the same time, it is known that any human activity has a negative impact on the state of the environment. Despite the existence of a large number of international and national documents on the protection of the Arctic marine environment, many issues have not yet been resolved. Today we face the need to fill in the existing gaps. However, the development of regulatory documents should be based on the results of scientific research in various fields of knowledge. This will ensure the validity of the decisions made. The Arctic is subject to international regulation, and the fragile Arctic environment is also protected internationally. The Arctic region differs from the Antarctic: the Antarctic Treaty effectively freezes territorial claims to the South Pole and allows states to protect the environment. The land part of the Arctic belongs to eight Arctic states. Therefore, international cooperation in the Arctic region faces many challenges, and the norms of nternational law, such as the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, are necessary to resolve emerging disputes.

INTRODUCTION. Currently, one of the urgent issues on the agenda is environmental protection. In the 80s 20th Century, due to the sharp degradation of the environment, the world community raised the issue of developing a concept of environmental safety. It has been integrated into the comprehensive system of international security as one of the constituent elements that is becoming increasingly important.

The absence of lasting peace, the spread of armed conflicts, and the accumulation of weapons, including nuclear weapons, are of concern to the international community. Therefore, an important task in improving the system of international legal regulation of environmental protection is to improve its contractual basis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. This study uses the works of both domestic and foreign experts in international law and analyzes international legal documents on disarmament. In the course of the study, general scientific methods of cognition were used, which made it possible to systematically and logically study the subject of research in interrelation, interdependence and interdependence (comparative legal, formal legal methods, analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction).

THE RESULTS OF THE STUDY. Within the framework of this article, the author analyzed the problem of international legal environmental protection in relation to disarmament and made proposals for their solution and further development of international legal regulation.

JUDGMENTS AND CONCLUSIONS. According to the results of the study, it was found that treaties adopted in international law to ensure international security contribute not only to the maintenance of peace, but also to environmental safety, which over the past 30 years has become included in most international legal documents.

INTRODUCTION. Nowadays the issues concerning conservation of marine biological diversity become important for the community of States in the light of the expansion of the scale of economic activity in marine spaces and of the opportunities of using such resources. At the universal contractual level an answer was proposed to a number of questions that have arisen in this area: on March 4, 2023, the text of the Agreement (under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) with a long title: “on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction” was finalized. It is predicted that the entry into force of this Agreement in the future will create a multilateral legal basis for conservation of biological diversity on the high seas, with the orderly use of its biological resources, to protect such diversity based on the principle of cooperation between States.

The purpose of the article is to analyze the legal regime of marine genetic resources conservation based on the text of this Agreement.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. The subject of this study comprises international treaties, international customs, general principles of international law and other sources of international law related to conservation of marine biodiversity in general. The methodological basis of the research is represented by a wide range of research methods, namely: formal-legal, comparative-legal, historical-legal and system-structural methods. In addition, the author applied the methods of analysis and generalization.

RESEARCH RESULTS. The article presents a comprehensive analysis of the international legal regime of marine genetic resources based on the provisions of the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction. The author considers the history of the development of the draſt Agreement, analyzes its main provisions, and pays special attention to its innovative legal mechanisms.

The author proposes their assessment of the content of the draſt Agreement as a universal legal basis for the conservation of marine biological diversity, and suggests some options for strengthening international cooperation in this area.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. As a result of the study, it can be stated that the draſt Agreement, prepared over many years of negotiations and published in March 2023, is a significant political and legal achievement of a universal level in the field of marine biodiversity conservation. At the same time, one can not fail to note the rather general nature of this document, as well as the fact that the entry into force of the Agreement may also require considerable time: objectively, the interests of developed and developing countries in this area are not always close; moreover, each State party to the Agreement accepts the obligation, among other things, that the use of marine natural resources should be linked to the obligation to protect marine environment, and this is always sensitive: a number of developed countries, as is known, under the pretext of economic concern, impose on developing States “green” products of their enterprises, which exacerbates the gap between developed and developing States.

That is why the author comes to the conclusion that the international community, along with the development of a universal international treaty, could take the path of developing regional agreements to clarify such a legal regime, which would also contribute to the strengthening of the legal regime for biodiversity conservation at the universal level.