The Rights of Nature in Brazil: From Municipal Law Reform to Rights of Waves and the Movement for a Federal Constitutional Amendment
Latin America is the most active region in the world for the Rights of Nature, including globally recognized firsts such as Ecuador’s incorporation of Nature’s rights in its 2008 national constitution, as well as innovative national RoN legislation in Bolivia and Panama. But what about Rights of Nature in Latin America’s largest country in terms of both population and geographic size—Brazil?
Brazil indeed has its own Rights of Nature (direitos da natureza) movement, including such highlights as the passage of a 2023 law recognizing the rights of the Amazonian Komi Memen River and the 2024 passage of a bill establishing the rights of the Linhares waves.
“Today, Brazil has three rivers that are recognized as the subject of rights, one of them an Amazonian river, and additionally we have three states that have decided to amend their state constitutions,” said Vanessa Hasson, Executive Director of MAPAS (Methods of Support for Environmental and Social Practices), an NGO that helps lead the Rights of Nature movement in the country. “We have more than 23 cases of the Rights of Nature in Brazil, some of which have already been approved, others are in the process of articulation.”
In this blog post, we begin with a brief look at the history of environmental protection in modern Brazil. We then examine the current cases and approvals of Rights of Nature in the country, ending with a consideration of the future of the movement and the potential for a constitutional amendment to codify the recognition of Nature’s rights in the country.
A Brief History of Modern Environmental Policy in Brazil
Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world and is home to the world's largest rainforest, four and a half thousand miles of coastline, and more than 10% of all species worldwide.[I] An outstanding environmental feature of the country is the Amazon, one of the most environmentally and biologically important areas in the world, and although the forest straddles many South American countries, 70% of it lies in Brazil.[II] Given this ecological richness, the country has a long and active history pertaining to its environmental policy.
In 1978, Brazil signed the Amazon Cooperation Treaty as a means of addressing international pressure to protect the environmentally vital area of the Amazon.[III] In the 1988 Federal Constitution of Brazil, the country acknowledged environmental protection and marked an important moment by guaranteeing a "healthy and stable environment to all Brazilian citizens.”[II] The document also created penal sanctions for violations; divided environmental protection in the country among federal, state, and municipal bodies; and described the country’s forests as “national patrimony.”[II] In some ways, Brazilian environmental laws are advanced. Scholars have noted that the country even has “unlimited shareholder liability for environmental harm” and that Brazilian politics has a progressive streak that has “historically materialized in progressive laws.”[III]
An unpaved portion of the Trans-Amazonian highway between Rurópolis and Uruará. Keith Irwin, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.
From the years of 1964 to 1985, however, Brazil was under a military dictatorship that sought for the country to undergo rapid economic development. To do so, it “embarked on a series of road building and colonization enterprises designed to integrate the Amazon region with the rest of Brazil.”[II] This resulted in the building of the Trans-Amazonian highway in the 1970s, which opened the region to new levels of development, land-grabbing, deforestation, and ecocide.[IV]
After the end of the dictatorship period, there continued to be failures in Brazilian environmental regulation and enforcement. One scholar has noted, for instance, that during the 1997 Kyoto Convention on Climate Change, “Brazil refused to recognize publicly the critical role that rainforests play in storing carbon dioxide and the direct impact their destruction has in contributing to global warming.”[II]
Over two decades later, during Jair Bolsonaro's first campaign for the presidency, he argued that protected lands were causing obstacles to economic growth – a view harkening back to the developmental spirit the country saw in the dictatorship. He also promised that, during his time in office, there wouldn't be a "square centimeter demarcated as an indigenous reserve.”[V] Additionally, with regard to the courts, it has been noted that the country’s “traditional legal culture,” alongside insufficient public education and awareness about environmental matters, have led to difficulties for those trying to create “lasting environmental reform.”[II] These difficulties notwithstanding, progressive environmentalism is alive in Brazil, including via the RoN movement.
The Rights of Nature Movement in Latin America and Brazil
The Rights of Nature (RoN) movement aims to include ecosystems and animal species in the legal system, seeking to recognize that Nature has intrinsic value and its own right to exist.[VI] The movement also aligns with many Indigenous Peoples’ conceptions of living in harmony with Nature.
Latin America has long been the most active region in the world in terms of creation and implementation of Rights of Nature laws. Ecuador famously recognized RoN in its constitution in 2008 (and, as of 2025, remains the only country to have done so), noting that Pachamama, or Mother Earth, "has the right to integral respect for its existence.” Similarly, Bolivia has a Law of the Rights of Mother Earth.[VII]
What about the RoN movement in Brazil? The remainder of this blog post covers the two main ways that Brazilian activists, lawyers, and organizations have gone about working towards the RoN: 1) municipal amendments to organic laws and 2) recognition of rights for specific natural features. We also consider the future of the movement, especially as regards a proposed amendment to Brazil’s Federal Constitution.
Amendments to Municipalities’ Organic Laws
One of the most prevalent ways that the RoN movement has progressed in Brazil is through the introduction and passing of amendments to municipalities’ organic laws. Organic laws are the governing legal framework of municipalities, which were given the right to govern given each area’s internal affairs by article 29, chapter IV of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Brazil.[VIII][IX]
Bonito and Paudalho – municipalities in the state of Pernambuco – approved amendments to their municipal organic laws that adopted RoN as early as 2017 and 2018, respectively. Bonito’s article 236 approved the recognition of RoN to exist, prosper, and evolve, and that people should act in ways that ensure all members of the community, human and nonhuman, have the right to a healthy and balanced ecological environment, for present and future generations.[X] Both the Bonito and Paudalho amendments additionally mention necessary ecosystem services, as well as the municipal and community importance of defending and preserving nature.[X][XI] Florianópolis, Santa Catarina followed in 2019, recognizing that both humans and nonhumans are guaranteed quality of life, as did the municipality of José de Freitas, Piauí in 2023, noting that Nature has rights.[XII][XIII]
The state of Mato Grosso, in central Brazil, saw three municipalities propose amendments to their respective organic laws in 2023. In December, Alto Paraguai approved an amendment recognizing the Rights of Nature (RoN) and the intrinsic rights of bodies of water.[XIV] Earlier, in June, the municipality of Rondonópolis passed an extensive bill focused on its environmental code. While the document does not explicitly mention “rights of nature” (direitos da natureza), it names harmony with nature as a guiding principle and spans 183 articles covering a wide range of environmental concerns. These include emissions control, pollution, hazardous activities and substances, incentives for environmental action, monitoring systems, and penalties. The law also includes distinct sections addressing flora, fauna, air, and water, along with discussions of legal reserves, Indigenous lands, and Quilombola territories.[XV]
In June 2023, the municipality of Cáceres in Mato Grosso, located on the border with Bolivia, approved an amendment to its organic law. The amendment acknowledged Bolivia’s influence—particularly its 2011 national Mother Earth Law, which recognizes the rights of Mother Earth—and also recognized the Matogrossense Pantanal, a unique wetland spanning parts of Mato Grosso do Sul, Bolivia, and Paraguay that fluctuates with seasonal changes.[XVI][XVII] Like other municipal RoN amendments, the Cáceres amendment emphasized the importance of harmony with nature.[XVIII][XIX] However, in August 2023, just two months after its approval, the amendment was repealed in full, revoking the rights of nature previously recognized.[XX]
Specific Bodies as Rights Bearers
A second major trend in Brazil’s RoN movement has likewise taken place primarily at the municipal level, but instead of granting rights to Nature broadly, it focuses on recognizing specific natural features as rights-bearing entities.
For example, in 2023, the Komi Memen River—known outside the Indigenous region as the Laje River—in Guajará-Mirim, Rondônia, was proposed as a subject of rights in a bill introduced by Francisco Oro Waram, an Indigenous council member of the Oro Waram subgroup of the Wari’ people.[XXI] The Oro Waram are a subgroup of the Wari’ people who live in this area, part of the Western Amazon, and rely on the river heavily for their livelihoods. The Wari’, like many Indigenous groups in Brazil, face ongoing threats from land grabbing and deforestation driven by soybean and cattle industries. The Komi Memen River was not only the first river in Brazil to be granted legal personhood in Brazil but also the first such river in the Amazon as a whole.[XXII]
The law begins by acknowledging the river as essential to food and water security not only for the Indigenous population but for all beings dependent on its course. As the river originates in the Igarapé Laje Indigenous Territory—currently under threat from invasions and illegal land grabbing—the law affirms the efforts of Indigenous peoples to protect the surrounding forest and river in order to preserve its ecological balance.[XXIII]
The legislation recognizes the river’s intrinsic rights, including the right to maintain its natural flow and quantity, be nourished by nearby forests, and engage with humans through spiritual and cultural practices, such as traditional fishing. It also establishes a guardian committee to defend the river’s rights. While community members can be nominated and elected to serve, several positions are mandatory, including a representative from the Oro Wari’ people and one from the Federal University of Rondônia. The committee meets annually to report on the river’s health to the local community and municipal authorities.[XXIII]
Following this, two more rivers in Brazil—the Mosquito River in Minas Gerais and the Vermelho River in Goiás—were also granted legal personhood in 2024.[XXIV] The bill for the Vermelho River drew inspiration from the Laje River legislation, likewise establishing a guardian committee and outlining the river’s rights to maintain its flow, remain ecologically balanced, and sustain its relationships with human communities.[XXV]
Councilwoman Elenízia da Mata de Jesus, who introduced the Vermelho River bill, saw it pass unanimously with nine votes in favor. Like the Laje River, the Vermelho has been damaged by human occupation, agricultural expansion, and commercial infrastructure. While the legislation marks a significant step, Elenízia has emphasized the importance of extending protections across the river basin, potentially through partnerships with other municipalities in Goiás.[XXVI]
Other natural features in Brazil have also been recognized as rights-bearing entities. In the municipality of Santo Antônio do Itambé, Minas Gerais, an amendment to the organic law not only acknowledged RoN but also designated January 21 as Pico do Itambé Day. The amendment celebrates the state park and its rivers, as well as the significance of the surrounding mountains that form part of the Serra do Espinhaço, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, underscoring their connection to Itambeana cultural identity.[XXVII]
Glauco Umbelino from Diamantina, Brasil, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.
State Park Pico do Itambé, located in Santo Antônio do Itambé (MG), Serra Azul de Minas (MG), and Serro (MG). C.R. Malaquias, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Delta of the Doce River in the Atlantic Ocean. Source: Eol.Nasa
Also in 2024, a groundbreaking law in Linhares, Espírito Santo, recognized the rights of a set of ocean waves at the mouth of the Doce River. These waves, prized by surfers, had stopped breaking properly following the 2015 Mariana dam collapse, which released mining waste and altered the river’s flow. The silt and mud “built up over time, shifting the river’s flow, reducing its power, and eventually weakening the waves at its mouth,” and returned in 2022 only after a flood.[XXVIII]
The new law mandates the preservation of the river’s natural flow, ecological balance, and protection from pollution—not only for the waves themselves but also for the connected water systems.[XXVIII][XXIX] It also created a guardian committee to represent the waves’ interests, with members including local Indigenous leaders, the founder of the Doce River Alliance, and others with deep ties to the area. The aim is to blend traditional ecological knowledge with contemporary conservation efforts.[XXX][XXVIII]
According to Vanessa Hasson of MAPAS, the Doce River initiative is one of the most emblematic RoN cases in Brazil. She noted that, despite ongoing spiritual and socio-cultural impacts—such as a continued ban on fishing—the river is “starting to recover.”
Conceição Lagoon Case as Precedent for Courts’ Role in Brazilian RoN Movement
Conceição Lagoon (Lagoa Conceição). Cleison Cipriani, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Brazilian judiciary has also begun to engage with the RoN framework. In 2021, a lawsuit in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, claimed that the Conceição Lagoon, protected under a 2019 organic law amendment, was suffering due to mismanagement and ecological harm.[XXXI] The case, filed by Costa Legal, UFECO, and Associação Pachamama, sought a formal “declaration of the Lagoon as a natural entity with specific rights” and the creation of a governance system to monitor and protect it.[XXXII] The case is notable as it referenced the amendment to Florianopolis's organic law in 2019, thus showing how such municipal amendments can influence court decisions.
An injunction established an advisory group, the CJ-PLC, tasked with recommending ways to measure and maintain ecological balance. Although a later ruling clarified that the CJ-PLC does not hold the same authority as a state agency and lacks decision-making power over other parties, the group’s creation and its role in the process were ultimately upheld.[XXXII][XXXIII]
State and Federal Constitutional RoN Efforts
Pireneus State Park, Morro Cabeludo, Goiás, Brazil. Angeladepaula, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.
In some cases, a groundswell of municipal-level RoN initiatives has led to broader efforts at the state level. In Minas Gerais, for instance, Councilwoman Karine Roza de Oliveira Santos of Serro worked with the NGO MAPAS to pass a local organic law amendment recognizing the Rights of Nature and explicitly promoting the protection and revitalization of the Cerrado and the Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica).[XXXIV] Hasson emphasized that both biomes are “very important for the production of water in the Amazon.”
Elsewhere in the state, a commemorative law in Belo Horizonte noted that the Serra do Curral park is recognized as a subject of rights.[XXXV] Building on these local developments, a Workers’ Party legislator proposed a constitutional amendment to the Minas Gerais state assembly in 2023 that would enshrine the intrinsic and perpetual Rights of Nature. The proposal remains pending.[XXXVI][XXXVII]
Santa Catarina also saw a proposed constitutional amendment in 2023.[XXXVIII][XXXIX] The proposal notes that the federal constitution’s article 225, which is devoted to the environment, states that “all have the right to an ecologically balanced environment” and that the “Government and the community shall have the duty to defend and preserve it.”[VIII][XL] Under this claim, the amendment to Santa Catarina’s constitution proposed an inclusion of recognition for RoN; however, a legal conflict arose, and the proposal has not advanced further.
The most ambitious effort to date is a proposed federal constitutional amendment introduced in 2024 by Representative Célia Xakriabá, an activist, educator, and member of the Xakriabá people from Minas Gerais.[XLI][XLII] The amendment would recognize Nature as a subject of rights and additionally recognize the role of Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities as interrelated to Nature, and granting them a “guaranteed right to maintain their ways of life.”[XLIII]
According to Hasson, the amendment is grounded in a framework that centers Indigenous Peoples, Quilombolas (descendants of Afro-Brazilian slaves who escaped from slave plantations that existed until abolition in 1888), and other traditional communities. While agribusiness and other dominant influences in Brazil’s current Congress are likely to resist the proposal, MAPAS and allied organizations are prepared to wait for a more favorable political climate—a time, as Hasson put it, when there is a more “conscious Congress.”
Citations:
I - Brazil’s Geography and Biodiversity
II - The Brazilian Legal Tradition and Environmental Protection: Friend or Foe
III - Threats to the Brazilian Environment and Environment Policy
IV - Brazil Seeks to Privatize Key Stretches of Amazon Highways
V - Threats to the Brazilian Environment and Environment Policy
VI - What are the Rights of Nature?
VII - The Rights of Nature Movement
VIII - CONSTITUTION OF THE FEDERATIVE REPUBLIC OF BRAZIL
IX - The Forum of Federations Handbook on Local Government in Federal Systems
X - Câmara Municipal do Bonito/PE
XI - Câmara Municipal de Paudalho/PE
XII - Câmara Municipal de Florianópolis
XIII - Câmara Municipal de José de Freitas, Piauí
XIV - Câmara Municipal de Alto Paraguai
XV - Município de Rondonópolis
XVI - Presidente Constitucional del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia
XVII - The Pantanal
XVIII - Câmara Municipal de Cáceres
XIX - Cáceres City Council, in English
XX - Cáceres Repeal
XXI - Câmara Municipal de Guajará-Mirim
XXII - Indigenous leader inspires an Amazon city to grant personhood to an endangered river
XXIII - Câmara Municipal de Guajará-Mirim, Rio Laje
XXIV - Câmara Municipal de Porteirinha/MG
XXV - Municipality of Goiás law on the rights of the Vermelho River
XXVI - Vermelho River in Brazil is now a subject of rights
XXVII - Câmara Municipal de Santo Antônio do Itambé-MG
XXVIII - For the First Time, Part of the Ocean Has Been Granted Legal Personhood
XXIX - In a First, Brazilian City Grants Legal Rights to Waves
XXX - Municipality of Linhares Law on the Rights of the Waves
XXXI - Florianópolis Brazil court case on the rights of the Conceição Lagoon
XXXII - Sabin Center, November 2023 Updates
XXXIII - ONG Costa Legal and others vs. Municipality of Florianópolis and others
XXXIV - Lei Organica de Serro - MG
XXXV - Lei N 11.397 Belo Horizonte
XXXVI - Proposta de Emenda à Constituição n. 12/2023
XXXVII - State of Minas Gerais proposed constitutional amendment
XXXVIII - State of Santa Catarina proposed constitutional amendment
XXXIX - Santa Catarina Constitution Amendment in English
XL - Santa Catarina Amendment Proposal Portuguese
XLI - Célia Xakriabá Amendment Proposal
XLII - Célia Xakriabá
