Assumptions for the Ecological Rule of Law and reflections on pesticides in the context of environmental setbacks

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the founding assumptions of the Ecological Rule of Law and the new perspective from Justice and Law as an alternative to the challenge that pesticides represent in the context of environmental setbacks. Using the deductive method and the documental and bibliographic procedures, the paper develops an approach about the elements necessary for the construction of the Rule of Law for Nature, interconnecting it with the concept of ecological justice and with the general principles of environmental law. Then, we outline some of the environmental setbacks of the last decade in Brazil, encompassing the use and mode of operation of pesticides and their adverse effects on the social and ecological dimensions as an example of these retractions. The research verified that the wide use of pesticides in Brazil, in addition to being harmful to human health and to ecosystems, also potentially violates basic rights and is closely associated with a mode of appropriation of land income that perpetuates the concentration of power and generates ecological injustices. It was concluded that the Ecological Rule of Law represents a viable alternative to the better regulation that Law must provide to combat environmental setbacks and to guarantee the integral protection of human dignity and the integrity of ecosystems. Grounded in integrative epistemological bases for nature and in an extended concept of Justice for the entire planetary community, this aspect of Law represents the most effective protection of the environment and joint guardianship between the ecological environment and the human species.