IBAMA e União Federal vs. João Pereira Lisboa e outros (Illegal deforestation in Lábrea)

In October, 2024, the Federal Government and the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) filed a Public Civil Action (ACP), with a request for preliminary injunction, against João Pereira Lisboa, Almiro Liberato de Moura Junior, Heleno Ferreira de Araujo, and Vanderlei Fiau Pimentel, who, according to data from the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR), own an area in the municipality of Lábrea, Amazonas, that was illegally deforested. The action stems from the work of the AGU-Recupera Environmental Strategic Group, an initiative of the Attorney General's Office, which seeks to act in the legal viability of climate and environmental policies. The case is based on administrative process 02005.002218/2007-69, which investigates the deforestation of 2,623.713 hectares of native Amazon rainforest without authorization or prior license from the competent environmental agency. It is noteworthy that the municipality of Lábrea is the first in order of priority in the Amazon for combating deforestation and the propter rem nature of environmental damage reparation. According to remote sensing images, carried out by the National Center for Environmental Monitoring and Information (CENIMA), the plaintiffs allege that the area continues to be exploited, even though it has been embargoed by IBAMA, without any regeneration measures having been adopted. It is alleged that the defendants caused in-kind environmental damage, interim and residual environmental damage, and collective moral damage, in addition to having incurred unjust enrichment as a result of the damage. As a preliminary measure, it is requested (i) a prohibition on exploiting the deforested area in any way during the course of the proceedings; (ii) the suspension of tax incentives or benefits; (iii) the suspension of access to credit lines granted with public funds; (iv) the freezing of the defendants' movable and immovable assets; and (v) the registration of the existence of the Public Civil Action in the margin of the property registration. Ultimately, the plaintiffs request that the defendants be ordered to: (i) perform an obligation to restore an area equivalent to the deforested area; (ii) pay collective moral damages in the amount of R$ 16,344,934.50 (sixteen million, three hundred and forty-four thousand, nine hundred and thirty-four reais and fifty cents); (iii) pay for the temporary and residual damages caused to the ecological heritage, in addition to compensation for the illicitly obtained economic benefit, the value of which will be determined in the settlement of the judgment; and (iv) register the legal reserve of the property. The amounts corresponding to the indemnities must be reverted to the Fund for the Restoration of Damaged Assets. The preliminary decision mobilized the climate in a more robust way. The court partially granted the requests for urgent relief, ordering: (i) the prohibition of the defendants from exploiting, in any way, the area that is the subject of the action; (ii) the suspension of tax incentives and/or benefits and access to credit lines granted by the Public Authorities; and (iii) the unavailability of movable and immovable property of the defendants, in the amount of R$ 49,034,803.51 (forty-nine million, thirty-four thousand, eight hundred and three reais and fifty-one cents). It acknowledged that this is large-scale deforestation, which entails "severe forest damage, such as loss of flora biodiversity, loss of carbon stocks, illegitimate greenhouse gas emissions, disruption of the Amazon rainforest's hydrological cycles, loss of habitat for various fauna species, among other damages to ecosystem elements and services, in addition to harming public natural assets for carbon credit trading" and damaging the climate and the people of the region. It emphasized that the triple environmental crisis (climate, biodiversity loss, and pollution) makes it essential to preserve the integrity of the Amazon, recalling the commitments made by Brazil under the Paris Agreement.