National Strategy for
Conservation and Sustainable Development of Wetlands in Costa
Rica
M.Sc. Rocío Córdoba M.
Technical Assistant
Wetlands and Coastal Zones Program for Mesoamerica
Some 320 wetland areas have been identified
in Costa Rica. Occupying approximately 5% to 7% of national territory,
these areas include examples of the most common ecological units:
herbaceous swamps, mangroves, flood forests, palm forests and
lakes.
Total mangrove extension is estimated at around
39000 Ha within1,460 km of coastline (1,248 on the Pacific and
212 km on the Caribbean.) Thanks to joint efforts by the Ministry
of Environment and Energy (MINAE), the IUCN-ORMA Wetlands and
Coastal Zones Program for Mesoamerica, and other academic and
non-governmental organizations, seven internationally important
wetland areas have been incorporated into the Ramsar Convention
database:
- Palo Verde National Park
- Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge
- Tamarindo Wildlife Refuge
- Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge
- Térraba-Sierpe National Wetland
- Northeast Caribbean Wetland (Tortuguero Conservation Area)
- Isla del Coco World Heritage Site
Wetlands conservation and management criteria
applied in Costa Rica have been included within the different
management categories for protected areas, and the nations
Organic Law of the Environment now includes a category on wetlands
management. Nevertheless, despite efforts to protect these ecosystems,
many are now degraded or managed in ways that are unsustainable.
A Strategy for Conservation and Sustainable
Development of Wetlands in Costa Rica
According to the document, "CARING
FOR THE EARTH: A Strategy for the Future of Life," published
by IUCN, the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) and the World
Wildlife Fund (WWF), the objective of a conservation strategy
is to achieve a combination of comprehensive sustainable development
and conservation. In addition, a strategy is a process for reaching
a series of pre-defined objectives; these are based on a diagnostic
appraisal of reality to identify opportunities and threats, and
determine what decisions must be made and carried out by actors
in the area concerned. Proposing a conservation strategy requires
identifying and diagnosing the main problem and its consequences.
In the case of Costa Rican wetlands, the main
problem has been identified as the loss and degradation of these
ecosystems due to the absence of effective resource conservation
and management, with the principal causes being:
- A lack of understanding regarding the
benefits wetlands provide;
- The absence of an integrated management
of wetlands resources; and
- The absence of comprehensive planning.
MINAE developed the National Strategy for
Conservation and Development of Wetlands in Costa Rica with technical
support from IUCN/ORMA, through its Wetlands and Coastal Zones
Program for Mesoamerica, and with funding from the Royal Embassy
of the Netherlands. The objective of this strategy is to establish
basic guidelines for defining the role of wetlands and their management
in Costa Ricas development. To do this, efforts have been
made to:
- Mobilize the necessary public opinion and
concern regarding sustainable management and efficient conservation
of wetlands, and ensure that the institutions and communities
involved have a better understanding of the resources sheltered
by these ecosystems;
- Make available the appropriate instruments
(scientific, socioeconomic, legal and administrative) for sound
planning on wetlands use and management;
- Strengthen and solidify the agencies responsible
for management and control of wetlands in Costa Rica, by developing
the necessary technical and administrative capacity in target
groups; and
- Promote participation by government, the
private sector and civil society in the preparation of local
and sub-regional strategies for wetlands-based sustainable development.
At this stage of the Strategy, special emphasis
is being placed on the first three objectives in order to assemble
information and instruments. Likewise, workshop-courses on these
instruments have been provided for the different target sectors,
and formulation of specific proposals has been promoted to implement
strategies at the sub-regional level.
Since this is a national strategy, the target
group is extremely broad, and consists of:
- government institutions involved in the
conservation and development of resources in wetlands and
in adjacent zones, particularly the staff of the National
System of Conservation Areas, under MINAE;
- human settlements that make use of the
goods and services generated by wetlands, or persons living
in these areas;
- non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
involved in the conservation and development of wetlands and
adjacent areas;
- the Costa Rican people; and
- other countries in the region that could
use some of the products generated by wetlands.
Principal activities developed in order to
achieve Strategy objectives include the following:
- Consultations with national and international
experts to prepare baseline information on wetlands and their
management in Costa Rica;
- An inventory being made of the countrys
most important wetlands areas based on existing data in documentation
centers and on the result of surveys sent to the Conservation
Areas;
- Incorporation of personnel from these
Areas in the process, through field visits and consultative
workshops;
- Compilation of existing legal information
regarding wetlands and the preparation of a draft bill for
a law on wetlands conservation;
- Preparation and dissemination of instruments
(documents, maps, electronic databases, inventory, administrative
and legal information) for wetlands conservation and management;
- Preparation of a proposal for the second
stage of the Strategy, whose main objectives involve the following:
- Promote a movement to create an awareness
of the importance of these ecosystems at every level;
- Implement concrete field actions
in selected Conservation Areas;
- Promote the preparation of an official
document containing the "National Strategy for Wetlands
in Costa Rica";
- Allow local communities to take ownership
of processes for managing these ecosystems and for making
decisions with respect to their resources.
All of these actions are being carried out
with very close coordination among institutions involved in the
process. This helps to strengthen these institutions as the agencies
responsible for wetlands conservation and management at the national
level.
Products Generated by the Strategy
- Incorporation and motivation of Conservation
Area personnel within the Strategy process
- Directory of specialists and institutions
involved in Costa Rican wetlands and coastal zones
- Procedural guide for wetlands management
in Costa Rica (one technical version and another non-technical
version entitled, "What are Wetlands and How Can They
be Used Correctly?"
- Manual on legal aspects concerning wetlands
in Costa Rica
- Draft bill for the Wetlands Conservation
Law
- Maps scaled 1:750,000 and 1:200,000 (printed
and electronic versions)
- National wetlands inventory and databases
- Manual on wetlands identification and
classification
- Video of Costa Ricas wetlands
- Document systematizing experiences during
the process
- Proceedings of the workshops for training
and information dissemination (including a workshop for environmental
journalists)
Principal Lessons from the Process
- There is a greater lack of understanding
than originally perceived regarding the goods and services
these ecosystems provide.
- During the second stage of the "Strategy"
a larger investment of financial and human resources should
be made in training for all sectors involved with these ecosystems.
- Experience was acquired in interdisciplinary
and inter-institutional coordination (government institutions,
NGOs, and the private and academic sectors) and in working
with Conservation Area personnel. Actions took longer than
planned while different mechanisms for communication and coordination
were tried out.
- A need was detected for a document containing
conservation and management policies for these ecosystems.
Information generated during the first stage of the project
will provide the foundation for this document.
- The process for systematizing experiences
should have been set up from the very beginning for a more
orderly compilation of lessons that can be applied in future
processes.
- Participation by the different sectors
interested in decision-making regarding wetlands management
in the country has improved. IUCN and MINAE have made joint
presentations on the "Strategy" at internationally-important
forums such as the 6th Meeting of Signatories to the Ramsar
Convention (March 1996). This made it possible for Costa Rica
to be designated as the site of the next meeting, an indication
of international interest in this type of strategic action.
The "Strategy" as a Process
This project has demonstrated that a strategy is a dynamic
process, and not simply the production of a document. Concrete
products make it possible to evaluate the process along the way
and to compile lessons from the experience. Nevertheless, the
actions of all those involved are what keep the process moving.
This process of ownership and strengthening of decision making
is the strategy itself in action.
It is through the actors own willingness
and efforts--the basic elements of truly sustainable development--that
wetlands will be incorporated as ecosystems with importance, not
only for conserving biodiversity, but also for the countrys
socioeconomic development.
Actions carried out during the "Strategy"
strengthen this working principle within a process that never
ends, and which is and will continue being implemented by all
the actors in integrated and participative ways. This is the main
objective of the Second Phase of the National Strategy for Conservation
and Sustainable Development of Wetlands in Costa Rica.
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