Аннотация
Abstract The protection of the environment and its elements is the responsibility of modern society for the possibility of its development in the future. That is why the issues of protection of this category of relations are relevant today in the legal plane. It is important to establish not only an effective mechanism for punishing the guilty but also for preventing the commission of criminal offenses against natural objects. The purpose of the study is to identify effective approaches for the prevention of crimes related to the use of water bodies. In the study, the methods of analysis and synthesis, comparison, deduction, generalization, formal legal, and abstraction were applied. As a result, it was possible to determine that the current state of water bodies in Kazakhstan is deteriorating, so they may be at a crisis level in the future. In view of this, the paper investigated the composition of a criminal offense related to the illegal use of water bodies. This made it possible to determine the current position of the legislator on the regulation of this issue in the legal dimension. In addition, the methods and tools that are used in Kazakhstan to prevent the spread of this type of criminal offense were established. Based on this, their shortcomings were analyzed, and proposals were developed to improve the process of preventing such crimes. Therefore, the place of environmental crimes in the modern criminal law doctrine was determined, and international experience in preventing such offenses was considered. The practical value of the findings is the possibility of using them to develop new national strategies and programs aimed at countering crimes in the field of water use.