Summary
On May 19 2021, the Research Group on Environmental Law and Political Ecology at Risk Society, Florianópolis (Federal University of Santa Catarina) and the NGO’s Costa Legal and Associação Pachamama filed a class action lawsuit in the Sixth Federal Court of Florianópolis (a city of over 1 million people in Brazil) which aims at recognizing Lagoa da Conceição as a subject of rights and developing a new socio-ecological governance for protecting the region. The plaintiffs claimed that repeated inertia, inefficiency, and ineffectiveness of management and ecological governance resulted in damage to the Conceição Lagoon ecosystem, and that the Lagoon is subject to ecological rights under the terms of art. 133 of the Organic Law of the Municipality of Florianópolis.
The Conceição Lagoon (Florianopolis Island) is an urbanized saltwater lagoon naturally connected to the Atlantic Ocean through a channel, with a stratified bottom saltwater layer and an upper freshwater layer. Coastal lagoons comprise 12.2 % of South America’s coastline, and despite being among the most productive coastal environments, they are one of the most threatened marine ecosystem by human-driven pollution. In January 2021, the central section was contaminated by wastewater treatment plant waters that severely altered the ecosystem.
The idea of Public Civil Action for the Conceição Lagoon as a subject of rights, as well as the rights of present and future generations, emerged from the Environmental Law and Political Ecology in Risk Society Research Group (GPDA/UFSC) from the Federal University of Santa Catarina/Brazil, formed by professors, researchers, lawyers, undergraduate/graduate students, masters, doctors and post-docs.
The plaintiffs claimed, “The unconstitutional state of affairs, characterized by organized irresponsibility in the functioning of the existing institutional structure, implemented in a fragmented and non-systemic way, has been unable to implement federal, state, and municipal legal and regulatory protection in environmental matters, being insufficient to safeguard the socio-ecological integrity of the Lagoon of Conceição.” The court ordered the application of the reversal of the burden of proof as to the factual set related to the conservation of the ecosystem and the Lagoon of Conceição, the measures necessary to protect the ecosystem, and the lack of a proper governance structure, while keeping the precautionary principle in mind.
Involved Organizations
Related Initiatives
Suggested Citation:
Kauffman, Craig, Catherine Haas, Alex Putzer, Shrishtee Bajpai, Kelsey Leonard, Elizabeth Macpherson, Pamela Martin, Alessandro Pelizzon & Linda Sheehan. Eco Jurisprudence Monitor. V2. 2026. Distributed by the Eco Jurisprudence Monitor. https://ecojurisprudence.org/initiatives/conceic%cc%a7a%cc%83o-lagoon-lawsuit/.
When using our data, please follow the FAIR and CARE Principles for data governance outlined in our Ethics Statement. We are doing our best to be correct in the information we provide, but if you notice any omission or inaccuracy, please report this to us immediately at info@ecojurisprudence.org so we can correct it.
Eco Jurisprudence Tracker is licensed under CC BY 4.0
