A Tutela multinível do direito fundamental ao meio ambiente ecologicamente equilibrado: uma análise sob a perspectiva das atividades de silvicultura

Abstract

This dissertation, situated within the Concentration Area “Constitutionalization of Law” and linked to the Research Line “Process of Constitutionalization of Rights and Citizenship: theoretical and methodological aspects,” analyzes multilevel protection as a legal model for safeguarding the fundamental right to an ecologically balanced environment and its application to the environmental regulation of forestry in Brazil. It starts from the understanding that contemporary environmental protection requires coordinated forms of normative and institutional action capable of responding to the complexity of current environmental problems, particularly in light of the worsening of climate change, ecosystem degradation, and increasing economic pressure on natural resources. The research examines how multilevel protection manifests itself in the Brazilian context based on the structure of cooperative federalism established by the 1988 Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil, particularly through the allocation of common administrative powers and concurrent legislative powers in environmental matters. It also analyzes the influence exerted by the international environmental commitments undertaken by the Brazilian State on the formulation of domestic environmental policies and on the constitutional interpretation of the right to an ecologically balanced environment. In the specific field of forestry, the dissertation investigates how forestry activities in Brazil have come to be regulated by a set of constitutional, statutory, and administrative rules structured across multiple levels of environmental protection. The research addresses the role of the National Environmental System (SISNAMA), the framework established by Complementary Law No. 140/2011, the current legal framework governing environmental licensing, the provisions of the Forest Code, and the impacts of the recent amendment introduced by Federal Law No. 14,876/2024, which removed forestry from the list of potentially polluting activities provided for in the National Environmental Policy (PNMA). Based on the analysis conducted, it was concluded that multilevel protection broadens environmental protection mechanisms by allowing different normative and institutional levels to act simultaneously with regard to forestry activities. However, the research also identified difficulties related to normative fragmentation, overlapping administrative powers, and the structural limitations of Brazilian federal environmental cooperation, factors that may undermine the effectiveness of environmental protection. It was further found that the administrative flexibilization introduced by Federal Law No. 14,876/2024 does not remove the constitutional duties of environmental preservation established in Article 225 of the Federal Constitution, and that environmental control mechanisms, administrative enforcement, and the protection of native vegetation therefore remain applicable. Methodologically, the deductive method was adopted, with a qualitative approach, through bibliographic and documentary research involving the analysis of constitutional provisions, ordinary legislation, international treaties, environmental regulatory instruments, and specialized legal scholarship. The dissertation is structured into chapters devoted to the analysis of the theoretical foundations of multilevel protection, its application within Brazilian environmental law, and the legal regulation of forestry in light of the Brazilian cooperative environmental model.