In September 2024, Francisco dos Santos Sampaio filed a Popular Environmental Action (Ação Popular Ambiental - APop), along with a request for urgent relief, against the Fundação Estadual do Meio Ambiente e Recursos Hídricos (FEMARH, the Roraima State Environmental Agency) and Glicério Marcos Fernandes Pereira, who at the time was the president of the environmental agency. The lawsuit challenges the irregular hiring of a private company for the commercialization of carbon credits in conservation units in the Baixo Rio Branco region of Roraima. The plaintiff alleges the lack of public participation in the hiring process and, in particular, the absence of prior consultation with the traditional communities that inhabit the region and contribute to its preservation. It is further claimed that there was no proper benefit-sharing from the carbon credits generated, disregarding the rights of these populations. Other alleged irregularities include lack of transparency and favoritism in the bidding process, resulting in environmental and social harm. The lawsuit emphasizes that the actions in question violate administrative morality, the rights of local populations, and environmental balance. As part of the preliminary injunction, the plaintiff requests the immediate suspension of the contracts and activities resulting from the public call, to prevent irreversible damage. On the merits, the plaintiff seeks: (i) annulment of the contracts and the public call; (ii) conducting a new administrative procedure with the participation of traditional communities and the implementation of benefit-sharing mechanisms; and (iii) compensation for the environmental and social damages caused.

The case highlights the importance of adhering to principles of transparency, public participation, and respect for the rights of traditional communities in environmental and carbon credit projects.

A ruling was issued that dismissed the case without a judgment on the merits, due to FEMARH having administratively annulled the contracts because of legal defects.

On July 2025 a judgment was issued dismissing the action without prejudice, because FEMARH had administratively annulled the contracts due to legal irregularities. The decision became final and the case file was permanently archived.

Francisco dos Santos Sampaio v. FEMARH and Glicério Marcos Fernandes Pereira (Carbon Credits and Violation of Prior Consultation)

<p>This entry was provided by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

Francisco dos Santos Sampaio v. FEMARH and Glicério Marcos Fernandes Pereira (Carbon Credits and Violation of Prior Consultation) - Other

Filed

The Climate Litigation Database

Find climate change litigation data and indicators for {text}.

{text} litigation

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides Climate Litigation Database, a comprehensive database of US and Global climate change caselaw

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Search the Climate Litigation Database

An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

People who are less able to respond to the effects of climate change due to having limited financial or physical assets

A subsidy is a direct or indirect payment to individuals or businesses, typically provided as a government cash payment or a specific tax reduction.

Tradable permits are market-based tools that grant permission for specific activities, frequently used to regulate emissions. These permits can be issued within a trading system to manage environmental impacts.

Zoning and spatial planning are both methods for guiding the distribution of people and activities in a space, and are regulatory restriction.

A ban is a legal action that prevents the sale or supply of a product or service, or that recalls a product from the market. Examples are bans on SF6, greenwashing, fossil fuel advertisement or single-use plastics.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Conditions that enhance the feasibility of adaptation options. Enabling conditions include finance, technological innovation, strengthening policy instruments, institutional capacity, multi-level governance and changes in human behaviour and lifestyles.

Actions or measures to adapt terrestrial systems to climate change.

Actions and measures to adapt and increase resilience of societies and the economy to climate change.

Social inclusion is the process of improving the terms on which individuals and groups take part in society—improving the ability, opportunity, and dignity of those disadvantaged on the basis of their identity.

People with different national or cultural traditions from the dominant population

Social and cultural groups that share collective ancestral ties to the lands and natural resources where they live, occupy or from which they have been displaced

People who have left their homes, whether through force, voluntarily, or a mixture of both

woman and genders outside of the gender binary

Households employing domestic workers, for activities like cooking, cleaning and subsistence farming, for their own use.

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

This sector creates and distributes information and entertainment through television, radio, print, and digital platforms.

This sector involves activities that impart knowledge and skills to individuals, including formal schooling, vocational training and educational support.

Activities of government agencies and institutions that provide public services, enforce laws and manage public resources.

Activities that relate to the production of goods and services from forests.

Activities involving the catching, processing, and selling of fish for food, recreation, and industry.

Climate change impacts our society by disrupting the natural, economic and social systems we depend on. Physical hazards and underlying vulnerabilities can lead to increased resource competition for food and water, which can heighten the risk of conflict.

Francisco dos Santos Sampaio v. FEMARH and Glicério Marcos Fernandes Pereira (Carbon Credits and Violation of Prior Consultation) - Other

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Just transition

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance