Maia Filho v. Federal Environmental Agency (IBAMA)

The Superior Court of Justice upheld the Federal Environmental Agency's fine, issued in 1995, of the appellants for burning roughly 600 hectares of land to clear it for livestock grazing. The court concluded that the fine was valid under the National Environmental Policy Act (Law N° 6.938, 1981). One of the judges explained that this particular application of the 1981 Act's restrictions on burning for agricultural purposes was justified in part by the fact of climate change, which informs how the objectives of environmental protection established in the text and environmental norms of the Brazilian Constitution pertain.