THE FOREST THE LAW DOES NOT SEE: ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, COMPLEXITY, AND THE LEGITIMACY OF AGROECOLOGICAL LAND TENURE IN THE AMAZON

Abstract

This research analyzes the disconnect between "Legal Brazil"—embodied in official registries and land titles—and "Real Brazil," constituted by the forest inhabited by traditional communities. Operating under the aegis of state "blind intelligence," the study’s central inquiry asks to what extent deconstructing the "black box" of modern property law allows us to overcome the normative reductionism that renders Amazonian territorialities invisible. The overarching objective is to propose an epistemological revision of the social function of property, thereby legitimizing agroecological possession as a key instrument for environmental justice. The findings reveal that technical tools, such as the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR), have frequently been weaponized as a "technology of degradation" to legitimize land grabbing and territorial dispossession. Furthermore, regional courts—such as the TJPA—maintain a strictly civil-law and property-centric bias that ignores the reality of rural areas and undermines traditional forms of land possession. The study concludes that the legal recognition of the "home, farm plot, and forest" triad—facilitated by the Real Right of Use Concession Agreement (CCDRU) in line with the Jaú Agreement (2025)—embodies the "ethics of reconnection" essential for a transgressive sustainability. Thus, the aim is to ensure that Brazil’s normative framework finally aligns with the reality of the inhabited forest.