REGULATION OF USING AND PROTECTION OF THE FLORA: INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ASPECTS

The article is devoted to the peculiarities of the international legal regulation of the using and protection of the flora. In the conditions of the ecological crisis, which covered the whole planet, the international necessity became an international cooperation in the field of nature use and protection of the environment, including flora. The most important direction of international cooperation is international legal protection of the environment, and the main instrument is international environmental law. It was found out that the environmental law of the EU in its documents uses the concept of «flora», rather than «plant world», in contrast to Ukrainian legislation, which considers its constituent parts of flora and vegetation. In addition, in international law and EU law, we are talking about specific parts of the plant world (forests, meadows, rare species of plants), or it acts as an integral part of biodiversity or a particular area, such as a special conservation area, or a halo of animal life. The role played by international non-governmental organizations in international cooperation on environmental issues, including flora, was also explored. International instruments for the use and conservation of flora are international conventions, the provisions of which are developed during the work of international environmental organizations. Therefore, the most important documents related to the issue under study were considered. In addition, the environmental legislation of the EU aims to preserve the natural habitats of wildlife, including representatives of the plant world. Therefore, for this purpose, areas (territories) with appropriate protection regime that are integrated into the European ecological network are created. European ecological system of specially protected areas - Natura 2000 and its analogue. Emerald Network Europe - an ecological network, which includes specially protected areas, is intended to provide the natural conditions for the existence of plant species requiring special conservation measures. According to the authors, the feature of the EU legislation is that it protects not only specific species of flora, but also territories that are the zone of residence of such plants and plant groups, and provides them with natural conditions of existence.