Direito ambiental e cosmopolitismo: uma crítica à colonialidade e à desigualdade ecológica em busca da reparação perpétua

Abstract

This study departs from the hypothesis that the environmental catastrophe stems from a historical-colonial mode of inhabiting the world and that modern law, structured around property and formal equality, has endorsed and reproduced this rationality of exploitation; given the transboundary nature of the crisis and the limitations of international law, it asks to what extent the dialogue between Environmental Law and a decolonial approach to legal cosmopolitanism can guide juridical responses to global ecological inequality and what limits such dialogue encounters. The objective is to map convergences, tensions, and reciprocal contributions between these frameworks, with particular attention to the protection of the so-called ecological class. The methodology is theoretical-analytical, combining (a) a critical bibliographic review, (b) analysis of international datasets such as IPCC and ND-GAIN concerning responsibility, exposure, and adaptive capacity, (c) examination of paradigmatic cases, and (d) a critical assessment of the institutions and norms of International Environmental Law. The work is divided into three chapters: "From the Cutting of the Veins to the Selling of the Blood," which analyzes the colonial foundations of Environmental Law; "Justice in Ruins," devoted to ecological inequality and the limits of international law; and "Between Universalism and Pluriversality," which explores possibilities for a decolonial environmental legal cosmopolitanism, followed by final considerations. The conclusions suggest that the crisis arises from enduring colonial structures, that current Environmental Law tends to manage risks without transforming its own foundations, and that a decolonial approach to cosmopolitanism can reconstruct universality from the margins, although it remains constrained by obstacles such as state sovereignty, international hierarchies, and corporate power.