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Summary Author: Sophie Sklar

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PSB et al. v. Brazil (on Climate Fund) 

Date: 1 July 2022

Court: The Brazilian Federal Supreme Court

Citation: ADPF 708

Short summary  

Brazil’s Supreme Court became the first in the world to recognize the Paris Agreement as legally equivalent to a human rights treaty which supersedes national law. The Court ordered the Brazilian government to reactivate its Climate Fund, holding that not abiding by its national climate policy constitutes a breach of the Federal Constitution, which requires the State to protect the environment for current and future generations. 

Summary by: Sophie Sklar 

Link to Original Judgement

Click here to open the case in PDF format

Weight of decision  

This case is binding on the government of Brazil and may be influential in other countries.  

Key facts 

This case was first filed in 2020 by four political parties: the Workers’ Party, the Socialism and Liberty Party, the Brazilian Socialist Party and the Sustainability Network. 

The petitioners argued that Brazil’s Climate Fund – created as part of the country’s national climate policy plan – violated the Federal Constitution by not supporting any projects that mitigate climate change. The plaintiffs sought a declaration of “unconstitutional omission” for failing to reactivate the Fund. (While Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment is obligated to prepare an annual plan for the Climate Fund within Brazil, it had not done so since 2019.) 

This case was brought within the context of Brazil’s negligible efforts to combat climate change, both domestically and abroad. The presiding judge cited the high rates of deforestation of the Amazon, and Brazil being the world’s fifth-largest carbon emitter as evidence of the Brazilian climate crisis. 

The federal government made two main arguments in response: 

  • First, that the Court’s interference in this matter would violate the separation of powers doctrine, as this judgement would compel the executive branch to reactivate the Climate Fund via the legislative branch. 
  • Additionally, that, since the Climate Fund was derived from multilateral treaties on climate change and was not Brazilian law, the federal government was not bound by it. 

The petitioners claim that abandoning the Climate Fund violated the Brazilian Federal Constitution, citing the obligation of the Union, the States, the Federal District, and Municipalities to “protect the environment and fight pollution in any of its forms” and “to preserve forests, fauna and flora.” 

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Case of the Indigenous Community Yakye Axa v. Paraguay 

Date: 17 June 2005 

Court: Inter-American Court of Human Rights 

Citation(s): IACHR Series C no 125 (Official Case No) IHRL 1509 (IACHR 2005) 

Short summary  

The Yakye Axa Indigenous Community brought a complaint against the state of Paraguay, alleging failure to acknowledge and enforce their right to own and occupy their ancestral lands. In ruling for the Community, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights recognized that the realization of the right to life is necessarily linked to and dependent on the physical environment. The result was a state obligation to adopt positive measures to fulfill a standard of dignified life.  

Summary by: Sophie Sklar

Link to Original Judgement  

Click here to open the case in PDF format

Weight of decision  

This case holds substantial weight in Paraguay and precedential authority in other Inter-American disputes, insofar as it reaffirms the Inter-American Court’s broad interpretation of right to life, which includes consideration of health, environment, education, and food standards.  

Key facts 

The Yakye Axa Indigenous Community had a land claim under consideration since 1993 without resolution. This made it impossible for the Community and its members to own their territory or have adequate access to food and health care.  

Esteban Lopez, leader of the Yakye Axa Community, testified to the Inter-American Court that: 

“Living conditions of the members of the Yakye Axa Community at the place where they currently live are difficult. The settlement is surrounded by cattle ranchers’ land, which they are not allowed to enter. They cannot hunt freely, they have problems finding food and protecting themselves in the country to avoid conflicts with the white persons. The men of the Community cannot feed their children regularly. The witness has to go elsewhere to obtain water and food for the boys and girls. Most members of the Community are jobless.” (¶ 15) 

Previous instances  

On March 3, 1997, the Yakye Axa Indigenous Community filed a suit against firms which had rented the land claimed by the Community, invoking the Paraguayan Constitution, as well as the provisions of Article 14 of Law 234/93 that ratified the International Labor Organization Convention No. 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries. On April 17, 1997, the Civil and Commercial Trial Court, tenth rotation, Secretariat No. 19, dismissed this action on time of filing grounds.1 

In a separate but related proceeding, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights filed before the Inter-American Court an application against the State of Paraguay. The Commission alleged that the State has not ensured the ancestral property rights of the Yakye Axa Indigenous Community and its members. The Commission filed the application based on the American Convention on Human Rights, for the Court to decide whether Paraguay breached Articles 4 (Right to Life); 8 (Right to Fair Trial); 21 (Right to Property) and 25 (Judicial Protection) of the Convention with respect to their treatment of the Yakye Axa. The Commission asked the Court to order the State to take certain steps as reparation and to reimburse costs and expenses. 

Summary of holding 

The Court had to establish whether the State generated conditions that worsened the difficulties of the Yakye Axa and, if so, whether it took appropriate positive measures to fulfill its obligations. 

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