Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office v. Sebastião da Costa Mariano (Operation Smoke and climate damage)

On November 26, 2024, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) filed a Public Civil Action (ACP), with a request for an injunction, against Sebastião da Costa Mariano, due to the illegal deforestation of an area of 903.22 hectares in the Municipality of Boca do Acre/AM, which occurred in 2021 and was verified through Operation Smoke. Between 2021 and September 2024, in the same place, the defendant allegedly caused fires in the vegetation with the aim of clearing and maintaining pastures for cattle breeding. The lawsuit argues explicitly about the relationship between deforestation and climate change and its extreme effects at local and regional levels. It points out that Brazil's main source of greenhouse gas emissions is through deforestation, highlighting the situation in the Amazon and Brazil's commitments to reduce deforestation in the biome. It points out that the illegal deforestation in the case in point led to the emission of 534,613.750272 tons of carbon dioxide, which imposes the duty to compensate for material intermediate and residual climate damage. It uses the Amazon Fund's calculation basis to assign the value of US$ 5.00 for each ton of CO2 emitted, resulting in the quantification of compensation at R$ 15,236,491.88. It requests a preliminary injunction to, among other measures, remove the cattle herd from the area in question, suspend access to financing and suspend registration in the CAR. As final requests, it asks for (i) the defendant to be ordered to repair the environmental damage by recovering the area; to be ordered to pay compensation for the intermediate and residual material environmental damage, for the social cost of the illicit act, with restitution of the illegally obtained profits, in the amount of R$ 19,404. 778.48; the obligation to pay compensation for residual and intermediate environmental damage, in the amount of R$15,236,491.88; the obligation to pay compensation for collective moral damage in the amount of R$9,702,389.24 and (ii) the reversal of the amounts of the conviction to the federal inspection bodies (IBAMA and ICMBio).