Biocultural Diversity in Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast (BDCR)

The participatory integration of indigenous communities in the conservation and management of the ecosystems in the Golfo Dulce region

Austrian project partner:

Österreichisches Lateinamerika-Institut (LAI)

Local project partner:

Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR); Vicerrectoría de Investigación Escuela de Antropología; Programa Institucional Osa Golfo Dulce (PIOSA)
Estación Tropical La Gamba S.A., La Gamba, Costa Rica

Project manager:

Dr. Georg Grünberg

Costa Rica is one of the leading states in the conservation of tropical forests and in the promotion of measures and legislation towards this aim. In most cases, the importance of the participation of local populations in the management of resources and national parks is acknowledged. Nevertheless, conservation and protection of natural resources often starts from a biological, positivist scientific viewpoint in which humans are external factors to “natural” ecosystems and possible threats to them. Subsequently, when the people in areas relevant for conservation or in their borderlands are taken into account for conservation, co-management is often limited to the establishment of economic alternatives that are less damaging and less threatening for biological diversity. Anthropological research, on the other hand, has shown that a wide range of non- Western societies and human groups – many of whom we subsume under the category of indigenous peoples – maintain ways of coexistence with their ecological environment that are more compatible with its preservation than our Western capitalist modes of production.

This studies emphasize the link between biological and cultural diversity, that is biocultural diversity. The BDCR-project considers that, first, co-management of natural resources should take into account the specific indigenous and local forms of co-existence with the natural environment; and second, that indigenous communities need to be supported in their efforts to participate in strategies for conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources. By establishing a sustainable interinstitutional cooperation of the Austrian Institute for Latin America (LAI), the University of Costa Rica (UCR) and the Tropical Research Station La Gamba the project aims at (1.) supporting the indigenous communities of the Ngäbe in the Golfo Dulce area in order to explore the possibilities for their integration into the strategies for conservation of the TRS La Gamba and the University of Costa Rica; and (2) setting up a network for inter-institutional and interdisciplinary research for conservation and sustainable development in the Golfo Dulce area. The project will use participatory methods of conservation in order to (1) elaborate a strategy how to integrate indigenous peoples into the efforts for conservation in the Golfo Dulce area, (2) co-develop locally relevant methods of conservation with the indigenous communities, (3) produce school books, educational material and maps in the local Ngabere-language, (4) build up a network of interinstitutional and inter-disciplinary research for conservation for the Golfo Dulce area, and (5) coordinate the project activities with other stakeholders and institutions in the region in order to promote the inclusion of indigenous communities.

Further information:

Österreichisches Lateinamerika-Institut (LAI)
University of Costa Rica
Lateinamerikaforschung Austria, Boletín 2010, Nr. 21. pages 19-20 German, 115.42 kb