ESPM 168 paper 1

Stephanie J. Crawford

ESPM 168

Professor Peluso

11/15/11

Saving Forests, but what about people? Conservation in Costa Rica and Its Political Costs

Costa Rica has been the darling of the environmental movement, known internationally for successful conservation policies. The motto pura vida which means pure life, is important to Costa Ricans who understand the value of conservation. Yet though Costa Rica cares so much for its biodiversity, as well as many other actors throughout the world, they do not care for their people in the same way.

In an effort to conserve much of its natural biodiversity and rainforests, Costa Rica started to demarcate land for protection. Twenty five percent of Costa Rica’s land is now protected. La Amistad National Park now known as La Amistad International Park is one such places.

Like most places, Costa Rica and the La Amistad Park went through a colonization period were disease was spread to indigenous people and (expand more) (cite)

When the park was established an additional buffer zone was thought as an important step to conserve, though it has conflicted with the ability of subsistence farmers to live off the land as they once did. Local residents living around La Amistad International Park who had already established settlements before the instatement of the park, were interviewed to get a sense of their values and what is going on. Though many of the residents understood the park’s value they also viewed their lack of access as unfair. (Pfeffer 1996)

Subsistence farmers and those living off the land in and around La Amistad International Park include the Indigenous populations of Costa Rica, which face extreme poverty. This is due to the primitive accumulation that occurred during the Colonization period of the park

After being dispossessed for decades the Indigenous populations land rights were finally protected by the Costa Rican government in the 1970s. Though, much was left to be desired with the enforcement of the laws. (Utting)

Encroaching on Indigenous Reserve land, non-indigenous settlers and various mining operations had occurred on the land, as well as oil exploration, hydroelectric project and the growth and production of sugar cane and coffee. And in 1983 the Asociaion Indigena de Costa Rica claimed that a North American company had obtained a permit to develop 10,000 hectares of Indigenous forest. (Burger, 1987)

Though the people living here were not dispossessed of their land per say, they were dispossessed of access to its natural resources. Outside interests, sometimes international, from corporate operations to UNESCO World Heritage List influenced the way that the park is managed and accumulation was allowed to occur from outside agents which could afford the permits. And now many people who used to live off the land are being disallowed to do so.

Regulations and laws which prohibit tree felling and __________ within the land are enforced with burdensome fines which they cannot afford or jail time, many could not afford the legal way of an extremely expensive permit. (Pfeffer 1996) Many native, though not necessarily Indigenous peoples, feel extreme pressure… Some have had to resort to separating themselves from their land and offering themselves up for wage labor in order to survive. (Pfeffer 2005)