Ecological Modernization and Risk Society: Theories on Scarcity and Their Reflections in Brazilian Environmental Legislation

Abstract

This article aims to construct a legislative framework that highlights the significant influence of the theories of "Ecological Modernization" and the "Risk Society" on Brazilian environmental legislation. Through a bibliographic review, the key points of these currents, which propagate the notion of natural resource scarcity associated with sustainable development, and which still underpin environmental hermeneutics in Brazil, are highlighted. The text also synthesizes the contributions of critical theories from "Political Ecology" and "Environmental Justice," which oppose these dominant theories. Based on the ideas presented, the article develops an original legislative framework and promotes a qualitative assessment of the effects of the sustainable development ideology on environmental legislation, pointing to the urgent need for legislative and hermeneutic restructuring that addresses, in addition to technological efficiency, the socio-environmental conflicts and structural inequalities related to the various social and economic forms of natural resource appropriation.