Analysis of the application of the environmental nonregression principle by the supreme federal court in judgments of (in)constitutionality of consolidated rural areas

Abstract

The research analyzes the principle of non-regression in environmental matters in the perspective of its application, by the Supreme Federal Court (STF), in the judgments of the direct actions of (in)constitutionality interposed in face of the creation of the Consolidated Rural Areas, regulated by Law n.º 12.651, of 2012, the Brazilian Forest Law. In this context, an approach is made about the evolution and understanding of the environmental question in the global scenario, of environmental regulation by the Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988 and the creation of Consolidated Rural Areas. From the perspective of affirming the principle of non-regression in environmental matters, at the normative and jurisprudential level, are analyzed the decisions of the Supreme Federal Court on the Consolidated Rural Areas instituted in the Brazilian Forest Law of 2012. The principle of non-regression in environmental matters, as guarantor of environmental achievements, aims to ensure protection of the environment, as well as its unfolding in the duty of progressive protection, whether by state or private bodies. In the decisions of the Supreme Court, the principle is mentioned and analyzed in several passages, however without its effective application. The study is conducted by documentary analysis of decisions and doctrinal construction and concludes that there was an incorrect application of the principle environmental non-regression by the Federal Supreme Court in the case of Law 12.651/2012.