The environmental question is the moment topic of contemporary human civilization and, probably, that with the greatest potential for questioning and transformation in the trajectory of the civilizing process. If, on one hand, it introduces the possibility of redirecting the path of development for the benefit of future generations, the mechanisms conceived for reaching such an objective can, on the other hand, bring serious problems for the survival of the current generation of family farmers. In the Brazilian case, the instruments of public environmental management are the essence of the subject, composed of command instruments and control or, in other words, rules and standards to be followed, imposing penalties on those who do not comply with them. Paradoxically, this fact has damaging repercussions for the global development of society. In particular, for the rural element, since it aggravates even more the already precarious situation of survival for a large portion of the family farmers in the southern region of the Country. Burdening the agricultural productive process and not providing the basic elements that permit the public involved fulfilling its obligations are stronger reasons. The present work is an analysis of the public instruments of Brazilian environmental management in light of empirical studies, two of them occurring in the central region of Rio Grande do Sul state and one in the forest area of the northern coast of Paraná state. The analysis of this problematic question is made from the following starting points: the repercussions from the application of a rigid legislation that reaches all agriculture linearly, ignoring effects of restraint by certain practices on the economic and social reproduction of farmers; and theoretical and practical incongruities of environmental legislation.
environmental legislation; family farming; environment
