Climate Litigation and Indigenous Activism: a perspective from the Brazilian case

Abstract

The objective of this article is to present research on climate litigation from the perspective of Brazil, using the international Climate Change Litigation Database, which covers court cases involving climate issues in the Global  North and South. There is growing interest in studies focusing on climate litigation in the Global South, and today
Brazil is the country with the highest volume of cases, standing out even in relation to countries in the Global North. We defend the importance of analyzing Brazilian court cases beyond procedural aspects, considering the legal-institutional and sociopolitical context in which climate issues are embedded in the country. Based on an overview of the procedural aspects of climate litigation in Brazil, we seek to understand its specificities, especially with regard to the growing judicial activism on the part of actors who claim a leading role in climate issues in Brazil: indigenous associations. We believe that this approach can bring the issue of climate litigation in the Global South closer to a more in-depth debate on climate justice.