Environmental Protection in the Amazon: Constitutional Dialogues for International Cooperation

Abstract

Taking into consideration the increasing relevance that environmental constitutionalism has currently assumed, the aim of this article is to critically analyze the constitutional protection of the environment in the Amazonian countries. It seeks to identify whether there is a common language among the constitutions concerning environmental protection in order to improve international cooperation. The hypothesis states that: 1) the Amazon environmental constitutionalism follow the epistemological opening of contemporary constitutionalism, by assimilating innovations in each new constitution; and, 2) the constitutions establish normative elements for the improvement of international cooperation in the region. The reflection is grounded on the field of comparative constitutional law, in dialogue with international constitutional law and constitutional theory, in a functional-structural perspective, focusing the “legislative” formant.