BILL N. 2.787/2019: proposal of an ecocide crime

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the proposal to enact a ecocide crime, as stated in Bill n. 2,787/2019. The methodology used was the bibliographic review of works and articles on the subject, the files related to the Bill n. 2,787/2019 and legislation, with emphasis on the Environmental Crimes Law (Law n. 9,605/1998), following a logical-deductive method. It began with a resumption of the history of the conceptual construction of “ecocide” and the functions assigned to it, in a descriptive and normative sense, at an international and national level. Next, we proceeded to the concrete examination of the Bill for the insertion of a criminal figure of "ecocide" to, finally, carry out a systematic analysis under the light of the criminal principles of guarantee of Criminal Law. It was concluded that Bill n. 2.787/2019 violates the principle of taxation and two legitimate alternatives were offered according to a proposal for legislation that is intended to be rational: ecocide as a criminal offense with a list of concretely described conducts and the creation of an increase in the offense of qualified pollution;