中国人口·资源与环境2025，Vol.35Issue(12)：1-10,10.DOI:10.12062/cpre.20251042
《环境保护法》的历史坐标与空间向度
Historical positioning and institutional dimensions of the Environmental Protection Law
摘要
Abstract
As a comprehensive and foundational statute in the field of environmental protection,China's Environmental Protection Law(EPL)plays an irreplaceable role in the construction of ecological civilization.However,with the codification of the Ecological and Environmen-tal Code entering a substantive phase,scholarly inquiry has yet to provide an in-depth account of the EPL's historical positioning within this codification process.Nor has there been a systematic analysis of the normative transition from the EPL to the emerging Ecological and Environ-mental Code.In response to this lacuna,it is imperative to reassess the EPL through the lens of codification,to elucidate its developmental tra-jectory and future orientation,and to enable its historical reconfiguration from a foundational environmental statute to the general provisions of the Ecological and Environmental Code.Over the past four decades,the EPL has undergone three historic shifts—from a reactive measure to a comprehensive statute and finally to a foundational law—gradually becoming a central pillar of China's ecological and environmental legal sys-tem.The 2014 revision affirmed the EPL's status as a foundational statute,signaling a trend toward the legislative purpose of public health mo-nism,establishing a principle-rule integrated framework,broadening its regulatory reach to ecological and economic domains,and codifying unified supervisory mechanisms,thereby significantly enhancing its legal effectiveness.Given the elevated expectations for its designation as the basic law within the Ecological and Environmental Code,the EPL still manifests certain deficiencies.It calls for further clarification of fun-damental categories such as rights and obligations,integration of its normative logic,refinement of regulatory mechanisms overseeing both en-terprises and public authorities,and improvement of co-governance structures to achieve a systemic institutional transformation.The transition from the EPL to the Ecological and Environmental Code is not merely a technical refinement or systemic upgrade but a fundamental shift in the paradigm of ecological governance.It requires multidimensional institutional expansion.First,sustainable development should be established as a unifying normative objective,integrating multiple goals and regulatory domains.Second,environmental rights should be affirmatively rec-ognized as core legal categories,with a normative framework that couples these rights with corresponding obligations.Third,institutional design should prioritize the application of preventive and coordinative mechanisms,forming a dual-track governance structure.Fourth,a specialized regime of ecological and environmental liability should be developed to complement traditional forms of legal responsibility.关键词
《环境保护法》/基础法/生态环境法典/可持续发展/环境权Key words
Environmental Protection Law/foundational law/Ecological and Environmental Code/sustainable development/environ-mental rights分类
社会科学引用本文复制引用
侯志强,桂凡,张忠民..《环境保护法》的历史坐标与空间向度[J].中国人口·资源与环境,2025,35(12):1-10,10.基金项目
国家社会科学基金重大专项"生态环境法典化的中国实践和理论创新研究"(批准号:24ZDA095) （批准号:24ZDA095）
教育部人文社会科学重点研究基地重大项目"新时代生态文明机制创新与重点流域、区域、海域生态环境治理研究"(批准号:22JJD820013) （批准号:22JJD820013）
中南财经政法大学中央高校基本科研业务费专项资金资助"生态环境领域‘首违不罚’制度研究"(批准号:2722024BQ029). （批准号:2722024BQ029）
