This research aims to analyze the Free Babassu Law as a strategy to preserve the cultural
heritage of babassu nut breakers in Northern Brazil. During the study it was possible to analyze
the conception of different authors, who have understood the Law as a pioneering strategy of a
new right, which aims to overcome the right to property. And has collaborated with the
emergence of the rights from below (buen vivir - vivir bien), originating from the pre-
Columbian indigenous people. The Free Babassu Law was analyzed as a phenomenon that aims
to promote legal pluralism and bring legal and social awareness to legislative processes. The
stories and achievements involving the quest for preservation and free access to babassu groves
are highlighted, covering land conflicts in northern Brazil since the 1970s, a fact that motivated
women extractivists and rural workers to organize themselves to defend their interests against
the state and landowners until the present. It presents the difficulty that women babassu nut
breakers have in promoting the enforcement of the Law after its approval, and their articulations
with the Judiciary and environmental agencies to restrain those who do not respect the Law.
The study concludes that the major obstacle is to achieve the common usufruct and free access
to babassu groves on private lands, since property rights coexist with cultural rights. The
methodology has a descriptive and analytical character, based on bibliographies and documents
surveyed in the collections of the Federal House of Representatives and the Legislative
Assemblies of the states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Pará. Thus, the work has as its main
sources Laws and Bills of Laws (PLs), which have passed and are still passing through the
legislative sphere in search of approval. Other sources, such as court decisions taken from the
Superior Court of Justice (STJ) and the Maranhão State Court of Justice (TJMA), show that
after the approval of the Laws the struggles for their effectiveness and execution continue,
because groups whose interests diverge from the legal norm do not respect it. Finally, this study
contributes to the scientific collection, bringing new perspectives about the Free Babassu Law
and new possibilities of safeguarding the cultural heritage of this community, helping other
minority and traditional Brazilian communities to understand their role in society, giving them
the knowledge base to seek legal protection of their memories, practices, identities, and means
of subsistence, contributing to the promotion of respect for cultural diversity.
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