Protection of the environment through legal instruments

Throughout history, mankind had always asked for a better life and development. Having passed from hunting and collecting to agriculture, they had built cities and settled. Upon the increase of the population, with the intent of meeting the needs, industrial areas had been established and mass production had started. During this period, resources had been depleted and the environment had been harmed by waste release. The contest of economic growth, especially experienced in the Industrial Revolution, became the turning point of the environmental pollution and problems. Mankind, thus, has been seeking various solutions for the environmental problems which increased, intensified and became complicated.The first serious studies on environment began in the 1970s. The UN Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972 was the first important step. The Brundtland Report (Our Common Future) (1987) and then the Rio Declaration (1992) have revealed the most comprehensive, eligible and concrete results on the issue of environment.In this study, it will be discussed what the environmental problems threatened the world and the humanity are, how they occur, what the initiatives and the requirements to solve these problems are. In this context, the importance of the economic, financial, educational, scientific and technological and legal instruments within the environmental protection will be analyzed. Applicability of all protection instruments on individual and society is based on ?right?. In this regard, the aim of the study is to prove the various advantages of the legal instruments for the protection and amelioration of the environment and the environmental rights.Within this framework, the sources of environmental law, technical and legal principles of environmental protection and the principles of environmental law will be studied. Especially the importance of the principles of environmental law, the Environmental Impact Assessment systems and in practice, national and international courts and decisions of these courts will be emphasized.Concordantly, the thesis will consist of three parts. In the first chapter environmental problems will be presented within legal, institutional and conceptual framework. In the second and third chapters environmental protection equipment will be discussed. General instruments will be analyzed within the second chapter and in the third chapter; legal instruments which are the basic discussion issue of the thesis will be studied.The data gathered from the written and visual sources and the contribution of the legal instruments within the gathered data to the environmental protection will be reflected. The importance of the role of the legal instruments to protect the environment and to raise environmental awareness in society will be highlighted. The new initiatives and the solution offer by these instruments for the environmental protection will also be presented.