Impactos das controvérsias jurídicas na implementação do Código Florestal

This briefing by the Climate Policy Initiative/PUC-Rio analyzes how ongoing legal controversies in Brazil are hindering the implementation of the 2012 Forest Code (Law No. 12.651). It details four primary legal disputes: the conflict between the Forest Code and the Atlantic Forest Law, the determination of temporal milestones for Legal Reserve requirements under Article 68, the validity of revising previous environmental commitment terms, and the contradictory criteria for Environmental Reserve Quotas (CRA).

• A conflict exists between the Forest Code and the Atlantic Forest Law (Law No. 11.428/2006) regarding 'consolidated rural areas' (areas deforested illegally in Permanent Preservation Areas or Legal Reserves before July 22, 2008). While the Forest Code offers reduced restoration obligations for these areas, the Atlantic Forest Law is more restrictive. This has led to legal instability in 17 Brazilian states, with some, like Paraná and Santa Catarina, facing judicial suspensions of rural environmental registry (CAR) approvals.
• Article 68 of the Forest Code exempts owners from restoring Legal Reserves if they complied with the laws in effect at the time of vegetation suppression. However, the lack of a clear 'temporal milestone' (marco temporal) for these laws, which date back to 1934, complicates implementation. This is particularly acute in the Cerrado biome, where vegetation was not explicitly mentioned in norms prior to 1989. States like São Paulo, Amazonas, Goiás, and Paraná have created their own rules to define these milestones, but São Paulo's approach is currently being challenged in the Supreme Federal Court (STF).
• There is a legal dispute over whether environmental commitment terms (Termos de Compromisso - TC) signed under the 1965 Forest Code can be revised to align with the more flexible 2012 Code. While Decree No. 8.235/2014 allows for such revisions, many legal scholars view TCs as 'perfect legal acts' that cannot be altered. The Superior Court of Justice (STJ) previously held that the law in effect at the time of the agreement should prevail, and after canceling a repetitive theme (Tema Repetitivo 1062) in October 2021, cases are once again being judged individually.
• The implementation of Environmental Reserve Quotas (CRA) as a mechanism for Legal Reserve compensation is stalled due to contradictory rulings by the STF. The court suggested a criterion of 'ecological identity' for CRAs in one instance, while validating the broader 'biome' criterion in another. Consequently, most states have not implemented CRAs, with Mato Grosso do Sul being the only exception to have a local system (TCRAE), though its legal security is questioned. Most landowners instead use the more bureaucratic method of donating land to public Conservation Units.

APA

Climate Policy Initiative (2022). Impactos das controvérsias jurídicas na implementação do Código Florestal. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/pt-br/publication/impactos-das-controversias-juridicas-na-implementacao-do-codigo-florestal/

Chicago

Climate Policy Initiative. Impactos das controvérsias jurídicas na implementação do Código Florestal. 2022. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/pt-br/publication/impactos-das-controversias-juridicas-na-implementacao-do-codigo-florestal/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Policy Initiative |title=Impactos das controvérsias jurídicas na implementação do Código Florestal |date=25 May 2022 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/pt-br/publication/impactos-das-controversias-juridicas-na-implementacao-do-codigo-florestal/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatepolicyinitiative2022impactos, author = {{Climate Policy Initiative}}, title = {{Impactos das controvérsias jurídicas na implementação do Código Florestal}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2022}, month = may, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/pt-br/publication/impactos-das-controversias-juridicas-na-implementacao-do-codigo-florestal/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }