Towards a critical and liberating legal-environmental analysis in Brazil

Abstract

The present article deals with the possible contributions arising from the critical analysis of Brazilian constitutional environmental law for the protection of vulnerable groups. The healthy environment is considered a fundamental human right to guarantee dignity and quality of life, and thus, the Federal Constitution of 1988 enshrined it in its article 225 as a right for all. However, it is observed that certain groups - historically constructed - bear disproportionately the environmental impacts and risks, and also have unequal access to environmental resources. In this sense, the specific objective of this study is to apply the idea of "Political claim to Justice", by the Argentine philosopher Enrique Dussel, as a tool for analyzing the Brazilian constitutional environmental protection, precisely because of the inequality of the aforementioned groups in accessing the right to a healthy environment. This is an article of a qualitative methodological approach, based on decoloniality and environmental justice with bibliographic and documentary research.