This is an Argument for Failure to Comply with a Fundamental Precept (ADPF), with a request for an injunction, filed by four political parties (Partido Socialismo e Liberdade - PSOL; Partido Socialista Brasileiro - PSB; Partido dos Trabalhadores - PT; Rede Sustentabilidade) against the Federal Union and the states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. The aim is for the defendants to present a plan for fire management and prevention in the Pantanal and to take measures to prevent new fires in the region. The plaintiffs allege that the federal government has been dismantling the policies of environmental protection agencies, which provokes the advance of fires in the Pantanal, including on indigenous lands, as well as failing to present plans to prevent new fires. They discuss the fires that occurred in the region in 2020.

They point out that it is the responsibility of the defendant states, in conjunction with the Federal Government, to inspect and monitor the outbreaks of fire that occur in disagreement with current legislation. They emphasize the importance of the biome, especially for the water cycle in various Brazilian regions, for the communities that depend on it, and for the control of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as for compliance with the National Policy on Climate Change - PNMC (Federal Law 12.187/2009). Thus, the plaintiffs argue that the government's omission goes against the duties set out in articles 225, 231 and 23, caput and items VI and VII, of the Federal Constitution and the principles of legality, morality and transparency. 

As a precautionary measure, they request, under penalty of fine: (i) that the Federal Government present an action plan, measures and Integrated Fire Management (IFM) program to prevent fires in the Pantanal in 2021 and hire firefighters; (ii) that the IFM be reviewed and its implementation monitored by the 4th Chamber of Coordination and Review of the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (Environment and Cultural Heritage); (iii) that the defendant entities be ordered to concentrate information and measures on the fires in a single publicly accessible system; and (v) that the presentation of plans and measures to prevent the recurrence of fires in the Pantanal be ordered. In the final analysis, the precautionary measures should be confirmed.

In April 2024, ADPF 743, 746 and 857 were partially upheld. The Court did not declare the state of affairs unconstitutional, but recognized the existence of structural flaws in the policy to protect the Legal Amazon, imposing a series of measures to combat deforestation so that the Federal Government presents a plan to prevent and combat fires in the Pantanal and the Amazon, with the recovery of the operational capacity of the National System for Preventing and Fighting Forest Fires - PREVFOGO, disclose data related to the budget and budget execution of actions related to environmental protection by the states and the Union during 2019 and 2020 and report, as well as the state governments, on authorizations to suppress vegetation.

Afterward, the ruling was published. It highlights that the Federal Government is reviving environmental protection measures. It highlights the importance of the Amazon and the Pantanal for maintaining climate balance. In his vote, Justice Edson Fachin dissented to recognize the state of affairs as still unconstitutional, joined by Luiz Fux and Cármen Lúcia. Fachin pointed out that climate jurisprudence exists internationally due to foreign cases. He argued that admitting the repeated violation of the right to an ecologically balanced environment without allowing the STF to act promptly to “avoid climate chaos and the compromise of Amazonian biodiversity is not in line with international agreements and the democratic commitment expressed in the Constitutional Charter.”

ADPF 857 (Pantanal Wildfires)

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ADPF 857 (Pantanal Wildfires) - judgment

Filed

Brazil

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ADPF 857 (Pantanal Wildfires) - judgment

Target

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Just transition

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance