The trial court was persuaded by the Federal Prosecutor, who had filed a civil proceeding against the group responsible for draining and clearing a mangrove forest and putting a landfill and various structures in its place. The Forest Code of 1965 and article 225 of the Federal Constitution of 1988 provided the legal basis for the court's decision. Before ordering the defendants to restore the forest, the court noted that mangroves serve a variety of functions--ecological, social, and economic--and that sea level rise makes it especially important to preserve them. The trial court's decision was upheld by the Regional Federal Court of the Fourth Region, and upheld again by the Superior Court of Justice.

Key environmental legal questions:

Declaration of illegality of, and injunction to correct, destruction of mangrove area for use as landfill and development site