From Environmental Constitutionalism to Latin American Ecological Constitutionalism: Brazilian Socio-Environmentalism in the Face of the Buen Vivir Paradigm

o socioambientalismo brasileiro diante do paradigma do buen vivir

Abstract

This article analyzes the formation and limitations of Brazilian socio-environmental constitutionalism based on the Federal Constitution of 1988, with particular attention to Article 225, relating it to recent transformations in Latin American ecological constitutionalism. The study begins by recognizing that the second half of the twentieth century was marked by growing international concern over the environmental crisis, which stimulated the development of legal instruments aimed at environmental protection and sustainable development. In this context, Brazil incorporated environmental protection into its constitutional framework, establishing an ecologically balanced environment as a fundamental right of a diffuse nature. However, despite important institutional and normative advances, the Brazilian constitutional model remains strongly oriented by an anthropocentric perspective, in which nature is protected primarily for the sake of human well-being. In contrast, recent Latin American constitutional experiences, particularly in Ecuador and Bolivia, have introduced an innovative approach grounded in the recognition of the rights of nature and in the philosophy of Buen Vivir, which proposes a more integrated relationship between society, culture, and nature. Through bibliographic review and theoretical-legal analysis, the article examines the convergences and divergences between the Brazilian socio-environmental paradigm and the emerging ecological constitutionalism in Latin America, highlighting the theoretical and institutional challenges involved in overcoming anthropocentrism and advancing toward a legal rationality guided by ecocentric principles and socio-environmental Sustainability.