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The ecological transformation of Damage Law and the imprescritibility of environmental damage in Brazilian jurisprudence

Abstract

Through the inductive method and bibliographical research, this work aims to propose the emergence of a so-called ecological transformation of the Damage Law, understanding it as part of an ecological approach of rights, which, in Brazilian law, considers made possible by the jurisprudence of the higher courts. It is argued that the scenario of accelerating biodiversity loss on a global scale - even in the face of the proliferation of normative instruments - suggests that legal norms can still collaborate to face existential threats, if the limits of the planet can be adequately respected by Law. Thus, it is argued that the confirmation of the thesis of the imprescriptibility of environmental damages, affirmed by the Superior Court of Justice, and more recently by the Federal Supreme Court, suggests a path of progressive reduction in the cases of exclusion from liability for environmental damages, together with a way of facilitating the damage imputation relationship. In addition to this understanding, the consideration of the in dubio pro natura principle by higher courts has made it possible to propose that, in the field of repairing environmental damage, the particularities of its effects provide an interpretation of the rules that favors the protection of nature, together with need to offer greater protection to victims.

Keywords
Imprescriptibility of environmental damage; Tort Law; Environmental damage; In dubio pro natura principle

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