Proteção Ambiental e Expansão do Agronegócio : os Limites Da Competência Legislativa Municipal À Luz Da Constituição Federal De 1988

Abstract

The relationship between economic development of agribusiness and environmental protection constitutes one of the main challenges of contemporary Brazilian federalism. This dissertation investigates the limits and possibilities of municipal legislative competence in environmental protection in face of agribusiness expansion over protected areas, in light of the 1988 Federal Constitution. The central problem lies in the apparent omission of the constitutional text, which establishes common competence for environmental protection (art. 23), but excludes municipalities from concurrent legislative competence (art. 24), allowing them only to legislate on "local interest" (art. 30, I) and to supplement federal and state norms. The research uses qualitative methodology with hypothetical-deductive method, divided into exploratory phase — with bibliographic review on constitutional competences, conceptualization of protected areas and analysis of IBGE data on agricultural expansion — and hypothesis testing phase through analysis of Brazilian Supreme Court rulings (Themes 145, 970, 1056 and ARE 748.206), in addition to the paradigmatic case of Law No. 5,200/2006 of Rio Verde (GO). The theoretical framework articulates Critical Theory of Law (Wolkmer and Warat), criticism of José Rodrigo Rodriguez, theory of competences by José Afonso da Silva and environmental doctrine of Édis Milaré and Paulo Affonso Leme Machado. The results confirm that municipalities have valid environmental legislative competence when demonstrated predominant local interest, compatibility with general norms and foundation on concrete territorial needs. The Supreme Court has recognized that the municipality, due to territorial proximity, has privileged conditions to regulate local environmental impacts. The research proposes inversion of the "pyramid of environmental competences", positioning the municipality as structural basis of ecological protection, especially in the Cerrado, where ecological heterogeneity requires contextualized regulation that federal or state norms cannot adequately capture