ADI 7146 (Regime of environmental protected areas in urban areas)

On April 18, 2022, four political parties, Workers’ Party (PT), Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL) and Rede Sustentabilidade (Rede) filed a Direct Action of Unconstitutionality (ADI), with a request for a precautionary measure, seeking the declaration of unconstitutionality of Federal Law 14.285/2021, which amends the environmental protection regime of urban protected areas (APPs), conferring on the Municipalities and the Federal District the competence to define the limits of APPs around watercourses in urban areas, regardless of the limits established by Federal Law 12.651/2012 (Forest Code). The plaintiffs argue that the challenged law is materially unconstitutional, as it violates (i) the constitutional regime of distribution of competences in environmental matters (articles 24, VI, VII and VIII c/c 30, II), (ii) the fundamental right to an ecologically balanced environment (article 225) and (iii) the duty of the public authorities to protect the environment (articles 225 and 23, VI and VII), provided for in the Federal Constitution, as well as the principles of prevention and precaution, the prohibition of regression in environmental matters and the prohibition of insufficient protection. They argue that the law represents a relaxation of the protection of urban APPs which, in turn, impacts the management of environmental risks and disasters (such as floods and landslides), increasingly frequent with the intensification of extreme events associated with climate change. They request, as a precautionary measure, the suspension of the effects of Federal Law 14.285/2021 until the end of the judgment of the action, maintaining the applicability of the previous law. On the merits, they request the declaration of unconstitutionality of the law.