sector to protect livelihoods and biodiversity in Costa Rica

Investigación transformadora y desarrollo de capacidades en el sector

educativo para proteger los medios de subsistencia y la biodiversidad en

Costa Rica

educacional para proteger os meios de subsistência e a biodiversidade na

Costa Rica

dennis.wilke@uos.de

Johannes Halbe

johannes.halbe@uos.de

Abstract

aspects related to conservation, sustainable land use and community

development. Currently, the project conducts research on social-ecological

conflicts in the Costa Rican pineapple production and its impacts on biological

diversity across the land-sea interface. The inter- and transdisciplinary project

approach to research and education generates tangible knowledge among

researchers, students, and non-scientific local actors.

Keywords: Biodiversity Conservation, Research, Education, Socio-ecological

Conflicts, Sustainability.

Resumen

esta asociación. Este artículo presenta el enfoque del proyecto sobre la

relación entre los aspectos culturales, económicos y políticos relacionados con

la conservación, el uso sostenible de la tierra y el desarrollo comunitario. En

la actualidad, el proyecto investiga los conflictos socioecológicos en la

producción de piña en Costa Rica y su impacto en la diversidad biológica en la

interfaz tierra-mar. El enfoque inter y transdisciplinario del proyecto en

materia de investigación y educación genera conocimientos tangibles entre

investigadores, estudiantes y actores locales no científicos.

Palabras claves: Conservación de la Biodiversidad, Investigación, Educación,

restaurar e proteger a biodiversidade. Na Costa Rica, podem observar-se

muitos conflitos socio-ecológicos persistentes. O caso do Golfo de Nicoya

oferece um campo de ensaio adequado para as abordagens desenvolvidas no

âmbito desta parceria. Este artigo apresenta o enfoque do projeto na relação

conservação, a utilização sustentável da terra e o desenvolvimento

comunitário. Atualmente, o projeto realiza investigação sobre conflitos

socioecológicos na produção de ananás da Costa Rica e os seus impactos na

diversidade biológica na interface terra-mar. A abordagem inter e

transdisciplinar do projeto à investigação e à educação gera conhecimentos

tangíveis entre investigadores, estudantes e actores locais não científicos.

Palavras-chave: Conservação da Biodiversidade, Investigação, Educação,

Conflitos Socio-ecológicos, Sustentabilidade.

Background

transdisciplinary approaches in research and education to involve stakeholders

in the generation of holistic knowledge and the implementation of actions to

restore and protect biodiversity in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica is known as a biodiversity hotspot and, in contrast to other

countries in the region, has invested heavily in environmental protection over

the past two decades. In 2019, the Central American nation received the

Champions of the Earth award, the UN’s highest environmental honour, for its

role in the protection of nature and its commitment to ambitious policies to

combat climate change. Thus, Costa Rica is internationally recognized as a

increasingly to the detriment of the former.

The International Convention on Biological Diversity highlights the challenge

of developing viable strategies for biodiversity protection (UN, 1992; CBC,

in research, public awareness raising and the involvement of stakeholders in

decision-making. The global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem

services further stresses that transformative changes are required to halt the

steady decline in biodiversity and ecosystem services (IPBES, 2019). Inter-

and transdisciplinary research can play a key role here to involve stakeholders

in the generation of holistic knowledge and implementation of actions to

preserve biological diversity whilst sustaining local livelihoods.

A German-Costa Rican Cooperation in Research and Education

CRLiveDiverse is jointly carried out by the Osnabrück University (UOS) in

of the highest level, whose main function is to provide scientific and

technological criteria to contribute to the reduction of the asymmetries

presented by the current development model and its impact on the

environment and society. The concepts of sustainable development and

fundamental human needs as well as the Sustainable Development Goals

(SDGs) serve as a frame of reference. With its actions, it seeks to strengthen

research, transfer, implementation of education and training programs,

informative modules, publications, sale of services as well as to serve as an

institutional platform for the implementation of academic activities related to

sustainable development, which implies ecological balance and economic and

their solutions are the focus of the institute’s activities. IUSF understands

environmental systems as dynamic interplay between nature and society. The

institute develops the knowledge base for understanding, assessing and

transforming concrete systems. A variety of methods is used in an integrated

environmental problems linked to biodiversity protection, often with a focus

on water, energy and food systems, using systems science methods in order

to find integrated and locally-adapted solution strategies (e.g., Pahl-Wostl,

2015; Gorris, 2019; Halbe and Adamowski, 2019). Moreover, research

addresses human-environment interactions through narrative analysis (e.g.,

Schlünder, 2018, Koch et al., 2021). In all its work, IUSF strives to combine

disciplinary depth with a holistic understanding of environmental systems, also

at the level of young scientists, and thus to contribute effectively in

interdisciplinary teams to solving important social and ecological challenges.

This partnership creates strong synergies.

supports education in these areas at both universities by allowing students

and researchers to gain experience in and a good understanding of the

linkages between biodiversity and development issues through first-hand

experience in research and teaching. Through the exchange on sustainability

innovation and leadership skills, this partnership contributes to accelerate

transformational change in Costa Rica as well as in Germany in terms of the

protection of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

The Gulf of Nicoya: An example for the challenge to reconcile

biodiversity conservation objectives and sustaining local livelihoods

development and biodiversity protection. The case of the Gulf of Nicoya offers

a suitable testing ground for the approaches developed as part of this

partnership.

tropical estuaries in the world, is a paradigmatic example of such a social-

ecological conflict and associated trade-offs. The Gulf is Costa Rica's main

fishing area for artisanal fishing and highly attractive for tourism due to its

high level of biodiversity (Herrera Ulloa et al., 2011). However, declining

tourist numbers in recent decades have forced local communities to find

alternative sources of income in the fishing and agriculture sectors, often with

adverse effects on biodiversity. The depletion of fish stocks has forced

authorities to implement a strict fishing moratorium to protect aquatic

biodiversity, which has however further constrained the livelihood

opportunities of local communities. Thus, innovative strategies and measures

are needed to achieve poverty reduction (SDG 1) and protection of maritime

marine ecosystem in the Gulf of Nicoya (Láscarez 2012; Palacios & Villalobos

2007), which is relevant for over 15,000 fishers. Mangroves in the gulf host

high levels of biodiversity and are under stress, while they form economically

and environmentally important ecosystems as they are essential for the

breeding of long-lived high-trophic-level fish whose nuisance can lead to a

significant loss in fish stocks (Alms & Wolff 2019). The main tributary to the

gulf, the Tempisque River, is called “a slowly dying giant”. It is not only the

main tributary to the gulf but also the main source of water for Costa Rica’s

most important intensively farmed province, Guanacaste. This province has

the largest sized farms in the country, 82% of which are applying fertilizers

With around half of its water resources allocated to sugar cane plantations,

90% of Tempisque’s water is allocated to agriculture. Additionally, there is

illegal pumping, sewage pollution, pesticides and deforestation affecting this

and other tributary rivers to the Gulf. At the same time subsistence farming is

attention. As a consequence of climate change, droughts are increasing, which

further exacerbates the problems that these farmers are facing: Due to the El

Niño phenomenon, Costa Rica experienced the most severe drought in 75

years between 2014 and 2016. Tourism serves as another source of income

in Costa Rica and has an ambiguous effect on the environment. On the one

hand, together with altering land-use patterns, it acts as a driver of excessive

water consumption and pollution. On the other hand, ecotourism tends to have

a positive effect on livelihoods and the protection of the environment. There

is a common understanding among international donors, development

agencies and the Costa Rican public that alternative employment strategies

and further sources of income are needed. Accordingly, new jobs and services

participatory processes that bring together different stakeholders to establish

efficient management structures for these complex social-ecological networks

(e.g., Pahl-Wostl, 2015; Heimann, 2018, Kluger et al. 2020). Various studies

have shown the importance of cultural factors on participatory processes in

environmental conflicts (e.g., Schilling-Vacaflor & Vollrath, 2012). To be able

to fully explore the specific social and cultural factors underlying social-

ecological conflicts, joint contributions from natural sciences, political sciences

and humanities are necessary. Research topics include, for example, how

municipalities work together; how the inter-sectoral and inter-municipal

cooperation of relevant actors (e.g. from the food, energy and water sectors)

structures and facilitating exchange in (new) stakeholder networks. Especially

with regard to the interdependencies of food, water, employment and their

vast implications for environmental quality, a nexus-perspective should be

applied (Pahl-Wostl et al. 2021). In particular, the governance dimension of

human-environment relationships, which again can be guided by the Narrative

Policy Framework (e.g., Ingram et al., 2019) that includes the impacts of

power-related, economical and socio-cultural narratives.

Importantly, our transdisciplinary approach actively involves stakeholders in

research, links research to local processes of (social and technological)

innovation by carrying out transformative research and empowers students

and lecturers on both the Costa Rican and German side to become “change

agents” or “transition intermediaries”. This is supported through the

partnership by helping participants to develop entrepreneurial skills, learn

about managing transitions and explore new business models based on state-

education. These include, for instance, exchanges between students, the

creation and implementation of joint learning modules with interdisciplinary

focusses, and summer schools in both countries. For instance, a 12-day-long

summer school on ‘livelihoods and biodiversity in Costa Rica’ was organized

by the project in Atenas. The participants were students of Bachelor and

Master programs at UOS and UTN. The students learned about the

interrelationship of cultural, economic and political aspects related to

conservation, sustainable land use, community development and livelihood

protection in class room sessions and field trips. The program consisted of

introductory talks and exercises complemented by student projects in small

students with insights into the potential and challenges for joint

implementation of biodiversity conservation and transformative change

towards more sustainable livelihoods in order to support experience-based

learning and allow for in-depth reflection on solution strategies.

The following reports some selected insights from the educational field trips

during the summer school. Tourism is one of the sectors that generates the

highest annual revenue for the country, but at the same time, it has suffered

a great tendency to industrialization, which implies the implementation of

structured interviews were carried out by the students to explore aspects that

facilitate and obstruct local small-scale businesses’ engagement in sustainable

tourism and obtain concrete business ideas.

One group focused on Costa de Pájaros, a coastal community bordering the

Gulf of Nicoya. The interviews revealed the importance of working together in

the community and setting up external business networks to attract customers

and exchange experiences. Moreover, the interviews with local entrepreneurs

showed the students an impressive engagement. Students gained first-hand

insights into the local sustainable agroforestry system to produce crops and