Brazil’s Supreme Court to weigh cases that could weaken Amazon protections

play Live Sign upShow navigation menuNavigation menuNewsShow more news sectionsAfricaAsiaUS & CanadaLatin AmericaEuropeAsia PacificMiddle EastExplainedSportOpinionVideoMoreShow more sectionsFeaturesEconomyHuman RightsClimate CrisisInvestigationsInteractivesIn PicturesScience & TechnologyPodcastsTravelSponsored Contentplay Live Click here to searchsearchSign upNews|ClimateBrazil’s Supreme Court to weigh cases that could weaken Amazon protectionsListenListen (3 mins)Save xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogleAdd Al Jazeera on GoogleinfoTrees line the Oiapoque River on the border between Brazil and French Guiana, March 10, 2026 [Eraldo Peres/AP]By Al Jazeera Staff and APPublished On 11 Aug 202611 Aug 2026Brazil’s Supreme Court is set to hear several cases that could reshape protections for the Amazon rainforest, after a mostly conservative Congress overrode several of leftist Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s environmental vetoes. The court will take up the cases on Wednesday, as lawmakers and environmental groups remain divided over how Brazil should balance economic development with environmental protections. Deforestation in the Amazon has fallen to its lowest level in a decade during the first half of 2026. The cases put some of Brazil’s most consequential environmental fights before the country’s top court. On Friday, Brazil’s Supreme Court began reviewing final motions seeking clarification of a 2025 ruling that rejected the “time limit” thesis. The legal theory, backed by Brazil’s agribusiness lobby, restricts Indigenous land claims to territories occupied or under legal dispute when Brazil’s 1988 Constitution took effect. The agribusiness caucus argues that a cutoff date would provide legal certainty for landowners. Indigenous groups say it ignores decades of forced displacement and violence that pushed communities from their ancestral lands. Indigenous communities across the Amazon, including the isolated and uncontacted Kawahiva people, could be affected by the ruling. The justices are considering motions that seek clarification of the court’s ruling, addressing questions about compensation and possible deadlines for completing Indigenous land demarcations. On Wednesday, the court will consider a legal fight over the future of Brazil’s soya moratorium, an agreement that barred major traders from buying soya grown on land deforested in the Amazon after 2008. The agreement has been credited with helping curb deforestation, even as Brazil became an agricultural powerhouse. But states that are major soya producers passed laws in January revoking tax incentives for participating companies, prompting the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries (ABIOVE) to withdraw from the moratorium. Brazil is the world’s largest producer and leading exporter of soya beans. The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change has defended the soya moratorium, saying it helped reduce Amazon deforestation even as Brazil expanded production. The court will also consider on Wednesday a challenge to a new environmental licensing law that took effect in February. The law fast-tracks approval for projects including mines, highways and industrial plants, prompting environmental groups to warn that it could weaken safeguards in one of the world’s most important ecosystems. Suely Araujo of the Climate Observatory said the law is already having tangible consequences in the Amazon, citing the paving of a controversial highway and plans to dredge the Tapajos River without adequate prior environmental review. Advertisement AboutAboutShow moreAbout UsCode of EthicsTerms and ConditionsEU/EEA Regulatory NoticePrivacy PolicyCookie PolicyCookie PreferencesAccessibility StatementSitemapWork for usConnectConnectShow moreContact UsUser Accounts HelpAdvertise with usStay ConnectedNewslettersChannel FinderTV SchedulePodcastsSubmit a TipPaid Partner ContentOur ChannelsOur ChannelsShow moreAl Jazeera ArabicAl Jazeera EnglishAl Jazeera Investigative UnitAl Jazeera MubasherAl Jazeera DocumentaryAl Jazeera BalkansAJ+Our NetworkOur NetworkShow moreAl Jazeera Centre for StudiesAl Jazeera Media InstituteLearn ArabicAl Jazeera Centre for Public Liberties & Human RightsAl Jazeera ForumAl Jazeera Hotel PartnersFollow Al Jazeera English: