BIODIVERSITY

JURIDICAL NATURE

   According to recently studies showed by Conservation International – IC, Brazil is considered the country of biggest life’s diversity in the world, what makes our environmental responsibility increase.
     Biodiversity is defined in the art. 2º of the Biological Diversity’s Convention as the variability of live organisms of all origins, consisting, among others, the terrestrial ecosystems, marines and another aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes, from which they are part; still consisting the diversity in the species, among species and of ecosystems.
    By its definition, we can notice that biodiversity is part of our environment, and it is a good of the people’s common use, as disposed in the art. 225 of our Federal Constitution, that must be protected and inspected by everybody.
    In our juridical system, the goods are divided in relation to their destination, in public and particular, as art. 65 of Brazil’s Civil Code, being public the goods of national domain, which belong to the Union, States, or Towns and particular are the others that belongs to people. The inc. I from Civil Code’s art. 66, says that are public the goods of people’s common use, as seas, rivers, roads, streets and squares.
    Later, the Federal Constitution established in its art. 225 environment ecologically balanced is a good of people’s common use and essential to life’s quality; in other words, lifted environment up to public good. However, recently, in view of the appearing of diffuse interests and rights, sacramented and foreseen in the art. 81, I, of the Consumer’s Defence Code, it has been firmed in the doctrine another form of good, the one that has diffuse characteristic, in other words, the one which the owner is indeterminable and belongs to all the collectivity as the ecologically balanced environment is, and for having this characteristic, it is considered as an ampler good than an only public good (also think so: Celso A. P. Fiorillo and Marcelo A. Rodrigues, in “Manual de Direito Ambiental e Legislação aplicável”, “ed. Max Limonad”, 1997, p. 87/92, quoting another authors too).
    Environment is legally defined as being “the joint of conditions, laws, influences and physical, chemical and biological interactions, that permit, protect and rule life in all its forms (art. 3º, I, Law 6.938/81). As biodiversity can be defined as the joint of live organisms in any of its forms, that just can exist if there is inter-relation between them and environmental conditions, we can conclude that biodiversity is inserted in the environment’s concept, because without the live organisms that compound it, it wouldn’t be possible the existence of environment as it is known.
    Therefore, the elements or species that form biodiversity are so integrants of the environment as an everything, in a way that biodiversity is also characterized as a diffuse good, because as environment’s part it must have the same juridical destination, and can juridically be defined as: A joint of goods of people’s common property with diffuse nature.
    So, biodiversity cannot be considered as anyone’s property or from some entity or from the Public Power, because the elements that compound it are part of the environment and so are from collectivity’s common use and any person can defend it, because of its diffuse character, in a way that the Public Power, the authorities and the collectivity must be well-informed about their juridical condition of an everybody’s common use good, with diffuse characteristic, for not occurring abuses or eventual irreparable damage to the nation’s patrimony.