Conflitos ambientais e poder judiciário: a jurisdição ambiental no estado da Bahia

Abstract

The dissertation investigates the relationship between environmental conflicts and the Judiciary with a focus on environmental jurisdiction in the State of Bahia, based on the analysis of the situation of lawsuits in progress between 2019 and 2022 in the area covered by the 3rd Regional Court of Agrarian and Environmental Conflicts, which is provided for by law, but has not yet been installed. The research starts from the discussion of the role of the Judiciary and the jurisdictional protection of environmental litigation in Brazil in the context of the environmental crisis, to then analyze the current functioning of environmental jurisdiction and describe the profile of lawsuits involving environmental conflicts and, finally, to propose a model of environmental jurisdiction applicable to the Judiciary of Bahia. The research has an exploratory-descriptive character, with a qualitative-quantitative and interdisciplinary approach, based on legislation and procedural information collected from the SireneJud interactive panel. The study demonstrated that the option of the Bahian legislator in 2007 for specialization in the 1st degree was correct, as the largest number of environmental lawsuits are in this degree of jurisdiction, but the non-installation of the Regional Courts of Agrarian and Environmental Conflict contrasts with the pioneering spirit of the state. In the absence of the installation of the 3rd Regional Court of Agrarian and Environmental Conflicts, most environmental processes are processed in courts that process and judge various matters and without the necessary specialization to deal with the complexity of environmental conflicts. A scenario was identified that compromises the speed and effectiveness of environmental justice due to the high concentration of cases in final instance districts, the fragmentation of a significant portion of the collection among initial instance districts (with less structure, often lacking a titular judge), an accumulation of pending cases and a low proportion of judgments in relation to the volume of cases. Thus, the specialization of jurisdiction and the installation and proper functioning of the Regional Courts of Agrarian and Environmental Conflict are a promising solution to deal with the complexity of environmental conflicts and promote environmental justice in the state.