Defensoria Pública do Estado do Pará vs. Estado do Pará, Instituto de Desenvolvimento Florestal e da Biodiversidade do Estado do Pará (IDEFLOR-BIO) e Terra Meio Ambiente (COP Road)

In July, 2025, the Public Defender's Office of the State of Pará filed a Public Civil Action (ACP) with a request for urgent relief against the state of Pará, the Pará State Institute for Forestry and Biodiversity Development (IDEFLOR-BIO), and the company Terra Meio Ambiente. The aim is to protect the right to land tenure and agricultural activities of the Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes traditional community and other traditional riverside communities that make up the Belém Metropolitan Region Environmental Protection Area (APA Belém). It is alleged that these communities are being illegally impacted by the state's public works for the construction of Avenida Liberdade, known as Estrada da COP. It is alleged that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA/RIMA) prepared by the company Terra Meio Ambiente indicated that the Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes community would be impacted by the road construction, but failed to include preventive and mitigating measures to ensure land tenure and the community's agroextractive activities. It is alleged that the project's environmental permits were issued without due free, prior, and informed consultation with the affected communities, and that the ongoing construction work is affecting families' livelihoods. The Public Defender's Office points out that the communities suffered property damage, as their fundamental rights to housing, work, and food were violated. It also points out that the construction work caused environmental and climate damage, demonstrating the State of Pará's lack of concern for the ecologically balanced environment and social well-being of the area, despite promoting sustainability in light of the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 30) taking place there. The Public Defender's Office found that the road construction resulted in the removal of six hectares of vegetation in the Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes community, generating the emission of 2,235.03 tons of CO₂ into the atmosphere, resulting in R$63,251,349 in climate damages. Despite this, the licensing process lacks an emissions impact study or mitigation measures, as established in the National Policy on Climate Change, the State Policy on Climate Change, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the Paris Agreement. The request for provisional relief is (i) recognition of the residents' collective ownership; (ii) the obligation not to carry out the works until there has been prior, free, and informed consultation with the community, in accordance with ILO Convention 169; and (iii) the submission of a plan for the land regularization of the area held by the communities by the State of Pará and IDEFLOR-BIO within 30 days. The following are requested, in a definitive manner: (i) confirmation of the requests made in provisional relief; (ii) the order that the State of Pará pay the losses and damages and lost profits generated by the families of the Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes community; and (iii) the order that the State of Pará mitigate and repair climate damage through vegetation restoration and extractive projects in the affected community.