Population Characteristics
Labor Characteristics
Local and National Economies
Governmental Characteristics and Structure
Land Use and Colonization

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Population Characteristics for all of Costa Rica (World Almanac 1995 and CIA Fact Book 1995)

• Population = 3,342,000; 1,000,000 in San Jose
• Age distribution: <15 years old = 36%, >65 years old = 5%
• +2.5% annual growth
• Birth rate = 24.88/1,000
• Death rate = 3.47/1,000
• Infant mortality = 10.3 deaths/1,000 live births
• Religion: 95% Roman Catholic
• Ethnicity: 96% white/mestizo, 2% black, 1% Indian, and 1% Chinese
• Free education and health care
• 93% literacy rate

Population Characteristics in Heredia Province (McDade 1994)

• ~50% live in government sponsored porjects, which occupies ~40% of the land

Labor Characteristics in Costa Roca (World Almanac 1995, CIA Fact Book 1995)

• Per capita GDP $2,000
• 27% agriculture, 35% imdustry and commerce, 33% service and governement
• Low migration due to consistency of tropical climate and long term land use of most crops
• Large booms (e.g. bananas) may cause temporary fluxes in labor forces
• Widespread under-employment

Local and National Economies (Butterfield 1994a, Montagnini 1994)

• Agriculture: Bananas, Cacao, Cattle, Dairy, Black Pepper, Oranges (
• Increase in the Banana business from American and European sectors
• Banana plantations are using increased levels of herbicides, insecticides, and nematocides to reduce human capital. This run-off has been observed in local and regional (e.g., pelagic species) water supplies
• Tourism is one of top three primary sources of foreign capital
• Apparently. most of tourism (at least ecotourism) dollars go to non-local or native persons
• Major draws are natural beauty, species diversity, and bird life.
• Local crafts increase with tourism
• At local wildlife refuge: 322,148 national visitors in 1994 and 378,286 international visitors
• Ecotourist resorts in study area: Rara Avis, Selva Tica, Selva Verde
• Increased privitization with pressure from IMF
• New subsudy programs for large export companies -> land consolidation
• Most profit made from Costa Rica is exported (multinationals, e.g. Standard Fruit)

Governmental Characteristics and Structure (World Almanac 1995, Nygren 1995)

• Democratic republic
• Large deficit ($4 billion) with 30% of government revenues going to pay interst. Has lead to cuts in national welfare programs. They have pariticpated in debt for nature swaps.
• Country divided into 7 provinces
• Defense 0.5% GDP in 1989
• IDA - administer government incentives to colonize land.
• DGF (Ministry of Resource and Mines) - Forestry
• Ley Forestal Bill 1990
• Policies are constantly changing and are hard for peasants to keep track of
• Many policies are corrupt
• Generally understaffed

Land Use and Colonization (Butterfield 1994a)

• Growth of the national population and of commerce which has lead to increased colonization and roads
• Government incentives (e.g. IDA)
• Agricultural frontier closed - in the 1980’s the last of the unoccupied, free lands were claimed. Has lead to organized invasion of under used land, institutional land reform, and land redistribution
• 1942: Accion Nacional de Trabajo. Distributed 20,000 ha in 100 ha parcels to farmers, but because of lack of infrastructure project failed
• Pre-1950’s: frontier. Isolated with only subsistence farming. Transportation by foot, mule, or water.
• Early 1950’s: First dirt road (15 hr to San Jose) > commercial farming (e.g. rice)
• 1950’s: 2 penal colonies
• 1962: Insituto de Tierras y Colonizacion (later became IDA) formed to regulate and promote colonization to utilize more of land base and create an outlet for the increasing population. Built roads and bridges
• 1967: Standard fruit metered to establish banana plantations and brought improved roads and increase employment
• IDA & bananas started land rush that was accelerated by cattle market in 1970’s
• 1970’s: increased infrastructure, telephones, national bank
• 1970’s boom in cattle prices coupled with readily available credit for investors yielded large cattle ranches
• 1980’s: permanent medical facility
• 1980’s: Frontier closed; colonization from homesteading to squatting. IDA began land redistribution by buying key lands. These lands were often being squatted upon, often politically motivated, and often poor site quality with no agricultural aid.
• to legally claim land, portion needed to be improved (cleared and farmed).
• From 1963 to 1983, population increased 289%
• In 1994, many small farmers, but 50% of the land is owned by large farmers

Conservation/Sustainable Forestry (Butterfield 1994a)

• Money from conservation from foreign sources with urban and political support, but little local support. No national consensus.
• To date (1994), low conflict between conservation and agriculture because of adequate farm land, this is now changing.
• Need national conservation initiatives that encompass socioeconomic incentives.
• Example: Biosphere reserve - core, buffer, restoration, and ecodevelopment zones (no legal status). Cordillera Volcánica Central Biosphere Reserve formed in 1988 by UNSECO with the original goals emphasizing the study of natrual systems to furhter biologic conservation. (di Castri and Loope 1977). In 1995, the involvement of local peoples and a concerted effort towards sustainable development was formalized as a primary objective (UNESCO 1995).



Figure 1 History of the La Selva biological station.

History of Forestry (Butterfield 1994b, Nygren 1995)

National Parks and Reserves

• 20% of study area
• Biosphere reserve

Indigineous Peoples

• Guaymi Indians inhabited the area when Spaniards arrived in 1502

Organizations

• National: Costa Rican National Parks Foundation, National Parks Service (education campaign coordinator)
• International (non-commercial): US Peace Corps, USAID, CIDA (Canada), DANIDA (Denmark), NORAD (Norway), World Wildlife Foundation, Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, World Bank, UNESCO
• International (commercial): Chaquita, Dupont, Inter American Development Bank, European Economic Community, Castle and Cooke, Del Monte, Dole Fruit, Uniban, Chiriqui Land Co., Union of Banana Exporting Countries, GATT, CORBANA

Land uses and disturbances (Montagnini 1994)

Pre-Columbian:

• Subsistence agriculture including tubers (cassava and tiquisque), pejibaye, cacao, maize,
• Slash and burn agriculture for 2-3 years with long periods of forest regeneration and low population densities

Post European Colonization (Butterfield 1994a, Reiners et al. 1994)

• Cattle pastures (5% of countries beef cattle); exported since 1957
• Agricultural frontier (unclaimed forest land) closed in 1980’s
• Tree plantations, ornamentals
• Primary forest
• Secondary forest
• Of the area in farms 48% is forested!
• Differences in land owner behavior for large versus small farms
• 83% loss of forest land; in 1982 3.9% per annum (600 km^2/year)
• Deforestation greatly accelerated
• Agricultural colonization from spontaneous migrations, establishment of banana plantation s (U.S. companies), and government colonization policies (IDA) Roads (Butterfield 1994a, Montagnini 1994)
• As late as 1950’s no roads for motorized vehicles, used horses and rivers
• In early 1950’s first dirt roads to Puerto Viejo (15 hrs to San Jose)
• 1960’s regular bus service to San Jose (9 hrs)
• The Standard Fruit Company improved infrastructure beginning in 1967
• Paved in 1986 History of logging and disturbance (Butterfield 1994a and 1994b)
• One of highest relative rates of deforestation in Central America
• 1943: 70 to 75% of land was forested
• 1987: 29% of land was forested (66% within protected areas)
• 60-90% of forest reserves are privately held and can be converted to other land uses
• Projections of remaining 504,000 ha of unprotected forest will be gone by 2000
• Northern region (Atlantic lowland) has 15% of the countries forest, but largest area of unprotected forest which will be cleared and logged.
• To initiate a land claim, some land needed to be cleared and put into productive agriculture (grazing cattle is the easiest)

Figure 2  Changes in land use over two decades in Sarapiqui canton (Butterfield 1994).

Sustainability and Conservation issues

• Most land holders feel that they have a surplus of trees
• 60% of farmers interviewed in reforestation projects have participated because of environmental concerns, but projects goal was commercial
• large scale farmers want land distributed to small farmers to relive social pressures on commercial farms
• Land is hedge against inflation
• To hold title land, it most be cleared and used
• Poor agricultural workers press for land to meet subsistence and income needs
• Peasants are a less significant impact on natural resources than timber companies or agricultural operations

References

Butterfield, R. P. 1994a. The regional context: Land colonization and conservation in Sarapiqui. In L.C. McDade, K.S. Bawa, H.A. Hespenheide, and G.S. Hartshorn (eds.). La Selva: Ecology and Natural History of a Neotropical Rain Forest. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

-----. 1994b. Forestry in Costa Rica: Status, research priorities, and the role of La Selva Biological Station. In L.C. McDade, K.S. Bawa, H.A. Hespenheide, and G.S. Hartshorn (eds.). La Selva: Ecology and Natural History of a Neotropical Rain Forest. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

CIA World Fact Book. 1995. Central Intelligence Agency, Washington, D.C.

McDade, L.A. 1994. La Selva's human environment. In L.C. McDade, K.S. Bawa, H.A. Hespenheide, and G.S. Hartshorn (eds.). La Selva: Ecology and Natural History of a Neotropical Rain Forest. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Montagnini, F. 1994. Agricultural systems in the La Selva region. In L.C. McDade, K.S. Bawa, H.A. Hespenheide, and G.S. Hartshorn (eds.). La Selva: Ecology and Natural History of a Neotropical Rain Forest. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Nygren, A. 1995. Deorestation in Costa Rica: An examination of social and historical factors. Forest and Conservation History 39(1)

Reiners, W.A., A.F. Bouwman, W.F.J. PArsons, and M. Keller. 1994. Tropical rainforest conversion to pasture: changes in vegetation and soil properties. Ecological Applications 4(2): 363-377.

World Almanac and Book of Facts. 1995. St. Martin's Press.