Analyzing Protected Area Bureaucratic Institutions to Understand Barriers to Local Participation in Biodiversity Conservation: The Costa Rican Example
Abstract
The importance of local participation in biodiversity governance was recently recognized
by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) through the incorporation
of Indigenous Community Conserved Areas (ICCAs) as a protected area category. This
paper explores what barriers might ICCAs face in their successful implementation within
already existent protected area systems. I look at this issue in the context of the
descentralisation of biodiversity governance in Costa Rica and examine the internal
make up of four different conservation areas within the National System of Conservation
Areas. Findings suggest that it is not enough to enact legal reforms allowing and
encouraging local participation. Successfully involving local participation requires
attention to the class-based relationships within the protected area bureaucracy that
create incentives (or not) to link with the local rural citizenry affected by these
areas. In three out of four conservation areas, the dominant social class and urban-rural
dynamics combined with a lack of accountability mechanisms have discouraged any real
rural involvement and empowerment for decision-making. The strategy of the one area
that succeeded at sorting these obstacles to incorporate local participation is described
in-depth.
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