The evolution of the protection of the Legal Forestry Reserve in Brazil and legal safety

The objective of this article is to deal with the relevant legal framework of the Brazilian Law, since its inception, its legislative changes reaching its current characterization in the new Forest Code (Law 12.651/2012). The current legislation came from many discussions of ruralists, environmentalists and scientists bringing innumerable innovations, and questions about their applicability, considering legal certainty. Legal security is an institute evidenced in the Rule of Law, aims to protect the hyposufficient, avoiding abuses or insecurities. It will be sought to understand its applicability in relation to the legislative changes of the percentages of legal reserve, for those who have complied with the legislation at the time. In addition, environmental law has its peculiarities, adopting the perspective that the environment is fragile (hyposufficient) and should be protected always against the arbitrariness of the State, the community and individuals, projecting even a possible Legislative changes, in the case of statutory reserve percentages, to achieve past events as regards the guarantee of a fundamental right to an ecologically balanced environment. For this research the exploratory research method was used with bibliographic and documentary procedures.