Case Name: Defensoria Pública do Estado do Pará vs. Estado do Pará e outros (Roadworks at COP in Belém)

Summary

This is a Public Civil Action (ACP) requesting urgent relief filed by the Public Defender's Office of the State of Pará against the state of Pará, the Pará State Institute for Forestry and Biodiversity Development (IDEFLOR-BIO), and the company Terra Meio Ambiente. The aim is to protect the right to land tenure and agricultural activities of the Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes traditional community and other traditional riverside communities that make up the Belém Metropolitan Region Environmental Protection Area (APA Belém). It is alleged that these communities are being illegally impacted by the state's public works for the construction of Avenida Liberdade, known as Estrada da COP. It is alleged that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA/RIMA) prepared by the company Terra Meio Ambiente indicated that the Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes community would be impacted by the road construction, but failed to include preventive and mitigating measures to ensure land tenure and the community's agroextractive activities. It is alleged that the project's environmental permits were issued without due free, prior, and informed consultation with the affected communities, and that the ongoing construction work is affecting families' livelihoods. The Public Defender's Office points out that the communities suffered property damage, as their fundamental rights to housing, work, and food were violated. It also points out that the construction work caused environmental and climate damage, demonstrating the State of Pará's lack of concern for the ecologically balanced environment and social well-being of the area, despite promoting sustainability in light of the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 30) taking place there. The Public Defender's Office found that the road construction resulted in the removal of six hectares of vegetation in the Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes community, generating the emission of 2,235.03 tons of CO₂ into the atmosphere, resulting in R$63,251,349 in climate damages. Despite this, the licensing process lacks an emissions impact study or mitigation measures, as established in the National Policy on Climate Change, the State Policy on Climate Change, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the Paris Agreement. The request for provisional relief is (i) recognition of the residents' collective ownership; (ii) the obligation not to carry out the works until there has been prior, free, and informed consultation with the community, in accordance with ILO Convention 169; and (iii) the submission of a plan for the land regularization of the area held by the communities by the State of Pará and IDEFLOR-BIO within 30 days. The following are requested, in a definitive manner: (i) confirmation of the requests made in provisional relief; (ii) the order that the State of Pará pay the losses and damages and lost profits generated by the families of the Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes community; and (iii) the order that the State of Pará mitigate and repair climate damage through vegetation restoration and extractive projects in the affected community.The State of Pará contested the claim, requesting, among other things, the rejection of the automatic application of ILO Convention No. 169, due to the lack of proof of a distinct ethnic identity of the riverside community. It also argued for recognition of the regularity of the environmental licensing, with social participation and specific conditions for the plaintiff community.

A partial judgment on the merits was issued, approving an agreement reached between the parties present at the mediation hearing. The agreement addresses the water supply in the Navegantes community (provisional measures, palliative solutions, and a definitive project), compensation (proposals and adhesion procedures), socio-environmental and occupational registration of families directly or indirectly affected by the project, as well as policies to mitigate river siltation.

Later included as a defendant, the Pará Land Institute (ITERPA) filed a defense alleging that it had not committed any irregularities against the community members and that it is not prudent for the Judiciary to issue decisions that delve into the merits of the administrative activity of the public authorities. For these reasons, it requested the rejection of the plaintiffs' claims, especially those of a land-related nature that seek recognition of possession and the completion of land regularization.

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Main norms mobilized

• Article 225 of the Federal Constitution (CRFB/88)
• CONAMA Resolution 237/1997
• Federal Constitution (CRFB/88)
• ILO Convention 169 (Federal Decrees 5.051/2004 and 10.088/2019)
• National Policy for the Sustainable Development of Traditional Peoples and Communities (Federal Decree 6.040/2007)
• National Policy on Climate Change Act - PNMC (Federal Law 12.187/2009)
• National System of Conservation Units Law - SNUC (Federal Law 9.985/2000)
• Paris Agreement (Federal Decree 9.073/2017)
• State Policy on Climate Change - PEMC
• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - UNFCC (Federal Decree 2.652/1998)

Case timeline

Case documents