Public Defender’s Office of the State of Pará vs. Floyd Promoção e Representação LTDA and others (Project 981 carbon credits and “forest carbon grabbing”)

On July 25, 2023, the Public Defender's Office of the State of Pará (DPE-PA) filed a Public Civil Action (ACP) with a request for injunctive relief against Floyd Promoção e Representação LTDA, Brazil Agfor LCC, Michael Edward Greene, Jonas Akila Morioka, Avoid Deforestations Project Limited due to a project that generates illegal carbon credits sold on the voluntary market. This ACP is part of a set of four lawsuits filed by the DPE-PA on the same grounds, but challenging different carbon credit projects. The Pacajaí project (Project 981), which is the subject of the lawsuit, overlaps with the areas of the Joana Peres II - Dorothy Stang and Joana Peres II - Rio Pacajá State Agro-Extractive Settlement Projects (PEAEX). These PEAEXs are public lands whose real right of use is granted to traditional communities located in the municipality of Portel, in the state of Pará, which did not participate in the contested project. Project 981 generates REDD+ assets (credits generated by avoided deforestation, sustainable management and increased forest carbon stocks), has been certified by an international company and was established in 2008 to obtain carbon credits for forty years. Companies and individuals are sued for being responsible, developers of the project or alleged owners of rural property. The DPE-PA claims that the land covered by Project 981 is illegal because it is located on public land within the perimeter of the settlements and that the project does not have authorisation from the state of Pará, which characterises the grabbing of public land. It is emphasised that the project was implemented without a prior technical study. The DPE-PA argues that the defendants acted in violation of the right to traditional territory, the right to prior, free and informed consultation of traditional communities, did not comply with federal legislation on climate change, payments for environmental services and public forest concessions and did not benefit the communities directly affected by the project. It argues that the defendants' behaviour gives rise to the duty to compensate for collective moral damage. As an injunction, the plaintiff requests (i) recognition of the possession of the lands by the traditional communities; (ii) suspension of Project 981 and an order that the defendants refrain from entering the PEAEX. On the merits, the plaintiff requests (i) confirmation of the requests for an injunction; (ii) recognition of the right to the traditional territory; (iii) the annulment of Project 981 and the legal transactions derived from it; (iv) an order to prohibit the defendants from entering the territories; (v) a declaration that the Public Utility Decree issued by the Municipality of Portel is null and void; (vi) an order to pay collective moral damages in the amount of R$ 5,000,000.00 to be paid into the Eastern Amazon Fund in favour of the communities of the extractivist territories of Portel. In October 2023, Brazil Agflor and Michael Greene filed their defenses. They claimed that the Project's lands were not subject to land grabbing, indicating that the community's areas unduly overlapped private properties. The only mention of the climate issue was limited to the potential role of carbon credit projects in reducing deforestation, mitigating the main cause of greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil. Finally, they request (i) that they be excluded from being a party to the lawsuit; (ii) that the merits of the lawsuit be dismissed in their entirety; (iii) that the value of the lawsuit be challenged and; (iv) that an expert examination be carried out on documents relating to the properties discussed in the lawsuit.