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One of the decision by Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Flávio Dino It promises to help safeguard protected areas and, at the same time, unlock the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR), a pillar of the country's main environmental legislation: the new Forest Code (Law 12.651/2012).

On the other hand, it risks making the registration of quilombola territories and other traditional populations even more difficult, by not establishing rules for the registration of these areas that take into account their specificities, according to social movements.learn more below).

On March 2nd, Dino ordered the federal government to notify more than 2,100 holders of CARs (Rural Environmental Registry) overlapping Indigenous Lands (TIs) and Conservation Units (UCs), so that they can be corrected within one month, under penalty of suspension.

The minister also ordered the federal government to develop a tool to allow state governments to automatically and en masse modify, move, and suspend inconsistent registrations. The mechanism should allow for the correction of records through integration with the databases of the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra) and the Federal Revenue Service.  

Today, the Rural Environmental Registry System (Sicar) is managed by the Ministry of Management and Innovation (MGI) and the Brazilian Forest Service (SFB), which is linked to the Ministry of the Environment (MMA). However, each state also has autonomy to manage or create its own system.

According to the decision, states must notify those responsible for incomplete registrations within three months of the tool being implemented by the MGI. Those who fail to respond will also have their registration suspended.

The intention is to enable the analysis and cancellation of irregular CARs (Rural Environmental Registry) more quickly, in an automated and large-scale manner. The back-and-forth of responsibility between the federal government and the states regarding who should do this was one of the reasons that motivated the STF's (Supreme Federal Court) decision.read more below).

The Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) was established in the new Forest Code as a mandatory, self-declaratory electronic registry for all rural properties in the country, gathering and integrating environmental information about them. It identifies areas of land that can be deforested and those that must be protected, such as the Legal Reserve (RL) and Permanent Preservation Areas (APP).

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The goal is to allow for the environmental regularization of properties and the control of deforestation. The slowness in examining and validating registrations is considered by experts and environmentalists to be one of the main obstacles to the application of the law. Registration also allows access to public policies, such as agricultural credit.

Land grabbing and quilombos (settlements of escaped slaves)

Almost 14 years after the legislation was enacted, only 10% of the CARs (Rural Environmental Registry) have been analyzed, according to the latest data. Forest Code Observatory (OCF) bulletinThe problem “increases the risks of registration inconsistencies, undue overlaps, and land conflicts,” says the document. The publication points to a 9% growth in registrations overlapping with Conservation Units, for example, a number greater than the growth of registrations themselves (+5%), between 2024 and 2025.

This happens because the CAR (Rural Environmental Registry) has been used to invade and illegally seize land, especially in Indigenous Territories, Conservation Units, Quilombola territories, and territories of other traditional populations, particularly in the Amazon. In these cases, the registration is presented to land agencies, in land purchase operations, and to notary offices as a document that supposedly proves legitimate occupation – even though it does not serve this purpose, according to the legislation.

While Conservation Units and Indigenous Lands are already in the Sicar system, the territories of traditional peoples and communities still need to be registered, but the The process is stalled.which facilitates land theft in these areas.

The National Coordination of Rural Quilombola Black Communities (Conaq) points out that the lack of training and other forms of support for communitiesAs required by law, and the difficulty of accessing the internet ultimately make accessing the CAR (Rural Environmental Registry) impossible.

Although the Sicar system and some state systems have special modules for registering traditional collective territories, there are currently no specific national standards for their registration. Conaq demands that the federal government establish rules that respect the ancestral land management practices of the populations occupying these areas, such as crop rotation. The organization argues that the mandatory registration of Legal Reserves (RLs) and Permanent Preservation Areas (APPs), for example, interferes with and may criminalize the agroforestry practices of these communities. It also points out that these practices have a low environmental impact, unlike conventional large-scale agriculture.

Linked to the Ministry of the Environment (MMA) and with representatives from the federal administration and social movements, the National Council of Traditional Peoples and Communities (CNPCT) drafted a decree to regulate the matter, but so far the government has not given the proposal any internal follow-up.

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'Cartographic racism'

“As it stands today, in practice, if a land grabber holds any type of land registration or title, even if flawed or irregular, the system will automatically penalize the traditional community, suspending the collective registration,” warns Francisco das Chagas Sousa, advisor to Conaq. “Although it may intend to improve the administration of the CAR, the STF's decision could end up operating a kind of 'institutional cartographic racism',” he continues.

Chagas points out that quilombos (settlements of escaped slaves) are one of the main barriers against deforestation, with a high degree of conservation, as demonstrated by the panel. Quilombola Amazon, a partnership between Conaq and Socioenvironmental Institute (ISA)"By facilitating the individual CAR (Rural Environmental Registry) of invaders, to the detriment of traditional territories, the State may promote an undue transfer of environmental assets," he points out.

He argues that the Supreme Federal Court (STF) should define safeguards to guarantee the registration of quilombos (settlements of escaped slaves), such as the implementation of filters and special deadlines, as well as the possibility of re-evaluating registrations involving these areas.

Due to this situation, the ISA and other organizations that are part of the Climate Observatory (OC) requested that Minister Flávio Dino establish rules for the registration of these territories within the scope of the ADPF (Arguição de Descumprimento de Preceito Fundamental - Claim of Non-Compliance with a Fundamental Precept), but he did not comment on the matter. The organizations are amici curiaeThat is, someone who requests to participate in a process to provide information and technical support to the court.

The lawyer of ISA Diogo Rosa Souza emphasizes that the omission of the federal government and the Supreme Federal Court is exacerbating the invisibility of quilombola territories. “The intention behind the decision to stop land grabbing is positive. But it is imperative that the actions determined in the registration systems be preceded by a filtering process so that the records of territories belonging to traditional populations are not affected,” he warns.

“Automatic and block-by-block suspension without this qualified analysis can generate legal uncertainty and curtail fundamental rights, transforming the automated 'cleaning' of registries into a new way of preventing the regularization and protection of these areas,” he assesses.

“A specific decision would be fundamental to giving visibility to the structural difficulties faced by quilombola communities, such as the lack of land titles, land conflicts, and overlaps in the CAR (Rural Environmental Registry),” reinforces Daniele Bendelac, technician at the Coordination of Associations of Quilombola Remnant Communities of Pará (Malungu).

Bendelac notes that improvements in the analysis of registrations and the control of overlaps may benefit quilombos to some extent, especially by reducing irregular registrations. However, he agrees that, without specific rules, this technical advancement will be insufficient to guarantee the rights of these populations.

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ADPF 743

Flávio Dino is the rapporteur for the Argument of Non-Compliance with Fundamental Precept (ADPF) 743, presented by Rede Sustentabilidade in 2021, to compel the then government of Jair Bolsonaro to take measures against the wave of forest fires in the Amazon and the Pantanal.

The trial concluded in March 2024, with the Supreme Federal Court (STF) acknowledging structural flaws in environmental policies and ordering the Federal Government to present and implement plans to strengthen environmental oversight, territorial management, and the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR). Following this, the Court began monitoring compliance with the measures, requiring periodic reports and holding technical evaluation meetings. Dino scheduled the next meeting for April 14th.

In the decision made in early March, the minister also prohibited state governments from reopening CAR (Rural Environmental Registry) analyses for properties already registered and validated for cadastral updates, except in cases already provided for by law. This practice had also been used to commit fraud.

Following the example of what he did with the Union, Dino gave the states of the Amazon and Pantanal 60 days to develop a plan to promote the analysis and validation of the CAR (Rural Environmental Registry), with deadlines, goals, indicators, and semi-annual reports.

In the text of the decision, the minister recounts an exchange of accusations between the federal and state governments: for the former, the cancellation of CARs overlapping with Indigenous Lands and Conservation Units would be the responsibility of the states, while for the latter, the task would be the Union's. State representatives also argued that, even if they wanted to cancel the registrations, this would be impossible because Sicar only allows access to one at a time, which would make it impossible to achieve economies of scale in the procedure.

The federal government also justified in the lawsuit that it could not invalidate registrations overlapping Indigenous Lands due to the enactment of the so-called "Temporal Framework Law" (14.701/2023), which created a series of restrictions on Indigenous territorial rights. According to the Union's representatives, the law "preserves the right to compensation for farmers, in good faith, who were on Indigenous lands at the time of their creation." 

The decision made in early March was intended precisely to resolve this entire mess.

Also on Thursday (26), the governments of Mato Grosso do Sul and Roraima filed appeals against some points of the determination. The Mato Grosso do Sul administration insisted that the responsibility for the suspension and cancellation of registrations lies with the Union. It also requested more time to present its CAR acceleration plan and that the notification of those responsible for incomplete registrations be made only after the federal government implements the mechanism that will allow the system to be managed automatically and on a large scale.

The government of Roraima has requested an extension of the deadlines for analyzing registrations, arguing that it began the work less than two years ago and has a significant shortage of staff to carry it out. It also requested that the registrations of family farmers not be suspended immediately, as this could affect their access to rural credit.

The report by ISA [The Ministry] contacted the MGI's press office, which is responsible for the operational management of Sicar. "The federal government's positions will be expressed in the court records and at the scheduled hearing," the ministry responded.

O ISA The agency also requested a statement from the Pará State Secretariat for the Environment, which historically accounts for a significant portion of deforestation rates in the Amazon. The agency only stated that it “has its own system for managing the Rural Environmental Registry and is making efforts to comply with the court order within the established legal timeframe.” The Pará system includes a special module for quilombola territories and other traditional populations.