Research Institute for Sustainability Helmholtz Centre Potsdam

Giovanni Mascarenhas

Giovanni Mascarenhas

Fellow

Giovanni M. A. Mascarenhas was born in Goiás, Brazil. Giovanni holds a Master's degree in Agrarian Law and a Law Degree from the Federal University of Goiás. He is a fully qualified lawyer in Brazil with experience in the fields of business, corporate nd environmental law, having worked in private practices as well as in government bodies.

Giovanni's research is focused on the legal and political relations between commodities production and environmental protection in Brazil. Amongst his most important publications are peer-reviewed articles analyzing the relationship the right to adequate food and the use of pesticides, the effects of the so called "green revolution" in the agricultural border in Brazil, and well as the effects of Brazil's policies and laws concerning agriculture and cattle farming on climate, biodiversity and environmental protection.

He is currently a fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Climate Protection Programme, developing research focused on the legal and political protection of the Brazilian Amazon. His research is part of the research group "Democratic Governance for Ecopolitical Transformations" led by Maria Cecilia Oliveira at the RIFS.

  • Master in Agrarian Law - Federal University of Goiás (2021);
  • Law Graduate - Federal University of Goiás (2019);
  • Lawyer with experience in the fields of business, corporate and environmental law, having worked in private practices as well as in government bodies;
  • Main author of the peer-reviewed articles "The environmental non-regression principle and its application by the Federal Supreme Court in face of the (un)constitutionality analysis of the Consolidated Rural Areas", "Right to the environment and Climate Change: brazilian constitutionalism and the Paris Agreement" and "Pesticides, domination and borders:signification, relations and perspectives on the agricultural technological package and the Brazilian Amazon", amongst others.
  • Speaks Portuguese (native speaker), English (C1), French (B1), Spanish (A2), and German (A1)

  • Environmental Law and Politics
  • Agrarian Law and Politics
  • Social and minority rights and affairs
  • Climate, environmental and biodiversity protection
  • Democratic alternatives towards environmental and social protection

Publications prior to joining the RIFS

  • VII Congress on Science, Technology and Innovations (Pontifical University Catholic - Goiás): Lecture "False dilemmas on development"
  • Environmental Symposium: the role of international relationships to promote socio-environmental development (External Relationships Journal): Lecture "Brazil's NDC's and the right to adequate environment".