Ministério Público Federal vs. Estado do Amazonas (Legal Reserve in the Amazon)

In June 2026, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) filed a public civil action with a request for urgent relief, against the State of Amazonas to challenge the validity of State Decree 52.216/2025, which authorizes the reduction of the minimum Legal Reserve percentage from 80% to up to 50% in certain areas of the Legal Amazon.

According to the MPF, the decree is incompatible with the international commitments undertaken by Brazil, especially the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Paris Agreement, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. By favoring increased deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, and biodiversity loss, the MPF argues that the flexibility brought about by the regulation violates the duty of progress and the prohibition of environmental regression. It argues that several federal technical bodies and scientific institutions – such as INPE, IBAMA, ICMBio, INPA, and MMA – have concluded that the regulation compromises the fulfillment of Brazilian goals, such as those foreseen in Brazil's NDC, in addition to bringing the Amazon closer to its tipping point and fragmenting habitats of endangered species. Based on the principle of conventionality control, the MPF defends the invalidity of the flexibility introduced by the Decree, since international treaties bind all federative entities and prevent the issuance of internal regulations incompatible with their obligations. States cannot invoke its domestic law to disregard international commitments, especially those aimed at protecting the human right to the environment.

In the form of a preliminary injunction, the MPF requests the immediate suspension of the decree's effectiveness, preventing further reductions in Legal Reserve areas and suspending administrative procedures based on the regulation. On the merits, the request seeks a declaration of unconstitutionality and absolute nullity, with retroactive effects, as well as the reinstatement of the minimum 80% Legal Reserve percentage and the invalidation of any reductions granted based on the decree.