In Defense of the Amazon Forest: The Role of Law and Courts

Abstract

The Amazon Forest is approaching a point of no return from which it will enter an irreversible process of savannization, with the loss of most of the environmental services it provides to the world, and great damage to life quality on the Planet. According to environmentalists and scientists, Brazil is failing to combat deforestation, which has grown at an alarming rate in recent years. This essay demonstrates that ineffective legislative initiatives and a deficient legal framework are in part responsible for allowing this failure. It proposes solutions including: (i) a constitutional amendment to prohibit the regularization of public land invasions that favor land grabbers, (ii) strategies to confront executive inaction through the demarcation of conservation units and indigenous reserves, and (iii) improvement and better enforcement of laws punishing environmental crimes.