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Tropical Forest Research Network |
VOLCAN ARENAL NATIONAL PARK AND THE COMMUNITY OF EL CASTILLO: THE NEED FOR IMPROVING THE LINKS BETWEEN PARKS AND PEOPLE IN COSTA RICA
By Juan Antonio Aguirre González
Costa Rica has, at present, 155 protected areas in seven management categories which together cover 1.288.565 ha or 25.2% of the country. Thirty-two of these operate within the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC). Here, many communities depend on various forms of nature-based tourism for their livelihood. A five-year research effort aims to study the state of relations between park managers and local communities, with a view to finding out how multi-stakeholder partnerships work out in practice. The project is now in its third year and has thus far covered 23 communities in about ten National Parks. It shows that the partnerships have so far benefited little from globalisation or localisation .
Volcan Arenal National
Park
One of the cases studied refers to one of Costa Rica best-known parks, the Volcan
Arenal National Park and the community of El Castillo - a small community of
around 36 households nestled inside the park. This case provides an example
of how interests of different stakeholders may conflict, thus complicating the
formation of partnerships aimed at the conservation of the park and the improvement
of people's livelihoods. The complication arose because the park administration
has to deal simultaneously with a variety of stakeholders, such as neighbouring
communities, merchants, hotel and restaurant owners, farmers, tour operators,
independent tour guides, bureaucrats from the Ministry of the Environment, illegal
hunters, local transportation companies, taxi drivers and local and national
politicians - all of which want to share in the tourist expenditures in one
form or another. When one has so many interests to reconcile in order to work
on conservation matters, conservation becomes a major challenge.
The need for decentralisation
and international donor support
Although the park was created in 1992, a coherent set of conservation practices
is still lacking due to conflicts between park managers and stakeholders. The
problem is difficult to deal with because park managers have to follow central
policies and directives that in many cases reveal little understanding of local
conditions. The absence of local policy initiatives and decentralised decisions
makes it difficult for local people to understand the behaviour and decisions
of park managers, resulting in a generalised feeling that park managers have
no understanding and/or do not care about community problems. A major problem
is the government's inability to pay for the land confiscated to create the
park. As a result, people are unable to move out of the park, while at the same
time being restricted to develop their land freely because of outside environmental
pressure. Government officials from the Ministry of Energy and the Environment
complain about the indifference of the international community when they ask
for monetary aid to solve these problems. Such requests are often refused, with
the argument being that Costa Rica is a relatively developed country vis-à-vis
other third world countries.
People's perceptions
The results of interviews with 33% of the households in El Castillo indicate
that the average monthly income per household amounted to 125 thousands colones
(approx. US$ 330) and that 83% of the work is related to tourism. One third
of the interviewees felt that their circumstances have improved since the creation
of the park; 59% of the households are making more money now than before the
park was created (albeit only during the tourist season). One third of the people
have lost their land and have been compensated fairly and promptly. Twenty-five
percent of the respondents were positive about the park because it generated
jobs and 33% because they considered tourism to be the best land-use option.
These figures indicate that the majority were less positive about the creation
of the park. Roads and transportation were regarded as the community's main
problems by 75% of the people interviewed. One third felt that the creation
of the park put restrictions to development. Fifty percent of the people expect
little improvement because most money generated by the park goes to the central
government.
Involvement
People's involvement with the park is moderate. Although 75% of the respondents
considered the park to be part of the community because they are neighbours,
67% stated they were not involved in the park and 17% said they were involved
or visited the park only because they live inside the park. As much as 92% of
the interviewees said they did not participate in park decisions. Eighty four
percent regarded the relationship between park and community as poor and almost
half of the interviewees expressed the wish for a change in attitude and more
interaction between the park managers and administrators and the community.
Lessons learnt
The study of the relations between the management of Volcan Arenal Park and
the community of El Castillo showed that:
It is understood that making people, park managers and administrators work together is not easy since a lot of actors are involved and there are a great many conflicting interests. In the end, co-management may fail. It is not fair, however, to suffocate communities by inflexibility and a lack of participation in the event of unilateral policies and decision-making and the incapability of governments to properly confiscate and pay for the land, as is the case in Costa Rica.
Further information:
Dr Juan Antonio Aguirre G.
The School for Field Studies, Centre for Sustainable Development
Apartado 150-4013
Atenas, Alajuela,
Costa Rica
E-mail: jaguirre@racsa.co.cr
http://www.fieldstudies.org