Environmental property seizure

Abstract

The Federal, State, and Municipal governments, as well the Federal District government, in the exercise of their ordinary administrative powers over the environment, can carry out their basic obligation to preserve, recover and protect environmental assets by seizing property. The environmental seizure of property was already topically anticipated in the Brazilian legal system by means of individual provisions; the mechanism was reinforced by the law of conservation units, which marks a trend to make such spaces public. The environmental variable already guides the social function of the rural property, with the consequent seizure of such property for social interest. Hence, delege ferenda, the provision of a new and special modality of environmental property seizure, on the grounds of failure to fulfill the social-environmental function of the private property, seems interesting. In this case, it can subject to the sanction of the law the owner of a property who doe´s not given such property its legally institutionalized environmental vocation. The indemnity must be satisfied in public securities redeemable after a certain period.