Climate Litigation Cases in Latin America and the Caribbean

This Direct Action of Unconstitutionality for Omission (ADO) was filed by the Rede Sustentabilidade (Rede) party against President Jair Messias Bolsonaro and Environment Minister Ricardo de Aquino Salles for failing to combat biomass loss in the Amazon. The party argued that the defendants failed to comply with Articles 23 and 225 of the Federal Constitution, as evidenced by the increasing deforestation in the Amazon since 2019.

Political parties filed an Allegation of Non-Compliance with the Fundamental Precept (ADPF, for its acronym in Portuguese) before the Supreme Federal Court through which they demanded the "Non-operation of the Climate Change Fund" by the Federal Government (the Union).

Political parties filed an Allegation of Noncompliance with the Fundamental Precept (ADPF, for its acronym in Portuguese) against the Union, given that it has not adopted urgent measures aimed at effectively combating deforestation in the legal Amazon and the climate emergency.

The Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) filed a Fundamental Rights Action (ADPF) with a request for an injunction before the Supreme Federal Court (STF). The action sought to correct alleged unconstitutional omissions and inaction by the Federal Public Power that had paralyzed the paving policy for the BR-319 highway, located in the northern region of the country, between Amazonas and Rondônia.

In February 2021, Global Oil Environmental Services Guyana Inc. (GOES) applied for a permit to construct and operate a waste management facility for oil and gas exploration and production waste in Coverden. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was not required for the project and issued the permit in August 2021.

Twenty-five young people from seventeen cities and municipalities in Colombia, with the support of the Center for Studies on Law, Justice and Society (Dejusticia), filed a tutela action against the Presidency of the Republic of Colombia; the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development; the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; Regional Autonomous Corporations with jurisdiction in the Amazon; and fourteen municipalities in the Amazon that concentrate the highest percentage of deforestation in this region, to stop deforestation in the Amazon r

This is a Public Civil Action (ACP) filed by the Public Ministry of São Paulo against the State of São Paulo and the Forest Foundation (Foundation for the Conservation and Production of Forests of the State of São Paulo), in response to the advance of serious erosion processes and ecological imbalance of the State Park Isla do Cardoso, located in the municipality of Cananéia, in the State of São Paulo, which impact the way of life and the security of the traditional communities of the region.

On December 10, 2020, members of the Waorani Nation and non-governmental organizations promoted a protection action before the Judicial Unit in the Amazon region, because the Chinese oil company PetroOriental SA was contaminating ancestral territories and violating their constitutional rights, due to the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) that cause climate change.

This Action for Non-Compliance with a Fundamental Precept (ADPF) was filed by the Rede Sustentabilidade party against CONAMA Resolutions 500/2020 and 499/2020. The first repealed regulations governing irrigation permits and defining Permanent Preservation Areas (APPs) in reservoirs, mangroves, and sandbanks; the second modified the permitting process for burning waste in rotary kilns.

This is a Public Civil Action (ACP), with a request for precautionary measures, filed by the organizations Socio-Environmental Institute, Greenpeace Brazil and Brazilian Association of Members of the Public Ministry of the Environment (ABRAMPA, for its acronym in Portuguese), and the Federal Government, seeking the declaration of nullity of the Interpretative Resolution 7036900/2020 of IBAMA, which eliminated the need for authorization issued by the agency for the export of timber products and by-products of native species.