Environmental protection in Brazil’s High Court: Safeguarding the environment through a rule of law for nature

Abstract

Within the context of risk society and its delocalized, incalculable and non-compensable global risks, environmental controversies have become increasingly complex. Within this scenario, the Brazil’s High Court (STJ, acronym in Portuguese) stands out as it has been recurrently applying environmental hermeneutics’ principles and strategies on its decision-making process and clarifying controversies regarding the interpretation of the environmental legislation. Through bibliographic and jurisprudential research, this article therefore seeks to outline the recent highlights of STJ’s case-law, analyzing more in depth some of the court’s leading environmental cases and its contributions to the evolution of environmental law in the country.