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State Policies and the Preservation of Forest Cover: Lessons from Contrasting Public-Policy Regimes in Costa Rica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2022

Charles D. Brockett  and
Robert R. Gottfried
Charles D. Brockett
Affiliation:
University of the South
Robert R. Gottfried
Affiliation:
University of the South
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Abstract

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This study evaluates the impact of state policies on forest cover in Costa Rica, focusing on the influence of public policies on private incentives for preserving forest cover. Three periods are analyzed: the “laissez-faire period” when high rates of deforestation were largely unrestrained; the “interventionist period” when state policies created protection for some wildlands, especially with the creation of parks and reserves, but when many regulatory policies produced mixed results at best; and the current “hybrid period” featuring major policy changes and mixing market-oriented and interventionist approaches but not always in a coherent design. Despite significant successes, current policies appear unlikely to provide sufficient incentive to maintain the desired amount of forest cover unless the international community compensates Costa Ricans for the benefits that their forests provide the world.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , 2002 , pp. 7 - 40
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 by the University of Texas Press

Footnotes

*

This study is based on annual field trips throughout the 1990s and on Robert Gottfried's participation in the Universidad Nacional's study of Costa Rican forest policy for the Consejo Centroamericano de Bosques y Areas Protegidas, from August 1995 through May 1996. We acknowledge the following for their assistance in arranging site visits and interviews and for sharing their insights: Mel Baker, Asociación Talamanqueña de Ecoturismo y Conservación (ATEC); Enrique Barrau, former natural resource officer with USAID/Costa Rica; Dr. José Joaquín Campos, former director of Bosques de la Península de Osa (BOSCOSA), now with the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigaciones y Enseñanza (CATIE); Guiselle Méndez of the Area de Conservación Guanacaste (AGC); and Miriam Miranda Quirós of the Universidad Nacional. We are also grateful to David Kaimowitz, Deborah McGrath, Ken Smith, and the LARR anonymous reviewers for their comments on earlier drafts and to Barry Allen, William Davis, and Olman Segura for their insights in many conversations.

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