Costa Rica - Context and Land Governance

^{Banana farm in Costa Rica by Scot Nelson License CC BY-NC 2.0}

Its 51,100 km2 are home to 5.1 million inhabitants and 500,000 animal species, 900 of which are birds. Its biodiversity represents 6% of the planet's biodiversity. The 2.4% of the population is indigenous and belongs to eight peoples: Huetar, Maleku, Bribri, Cabécar, Brunka, Ngäbe, Bröran and Chorotega.

Costa Rica stands out as an international benchmark in environmental protection, initially focused mostly on terrestrial biodiversity but recently extended to the sea. In 2021, it increased its marine protected area from 2% to 30%, expanding the Cocos Island National Park to more than 54,800 km2 and the Bicentennial Marine Management Area to more than 106,000 km2 .  ¹

Land governance in the Central American country also has its challenges, including land titling, indigenous peoples' land rights and the lack of data on the situation of rural women.

Land legislation

The 1949 Constitution of Costa Rica establishes the need for the right to property to be compatible with principles of social function, thus modifying the absolute right to property enshrined in the 1871 Constitution ² .This modification does not imply assigning a social function to property, but rather that, for reasons of public necessity, the Legislative Assembly, by a vote of two thirds of its members, may impose limits on property in the social interest (Art. 45).

The Constitution lays the foundations for the subsequent institutionalisation of agrarian law and environmental management by recognising the State as responsible for stimulating production and a distribution of wealth that guarantees the well-being of all the country's inhabitants (art. 50). The same article recognises the right to a healthy and ecologically balanced environment, and the legitimacy of complaints and reparation if this right is violated. Both the rational use of land and the equitable distribution of its products are the motivations for the regulation of rural sharecropping contracts (art. 69).

The creation in 1961 of Law 2825 on Land and Colonisation was a key moment in land governance in Costa Rica, as it normativised previous laws such as Law 139 on Possession Information (1941), Law 88 on Precarious Occupants (1942) and the Law on Economic Promotion (1959), which stimulated productivity through agricultural credits, among others. ³ This law reflects an agrarian reform focused more on the productive use of land than on the transformation of land tenure. ⁴ For example, both large estates exceeding the established limits and "uneconomic" smallholdings can be expropriated (Art. 141). Expropriation will be carried out in the first place on land that does not fulfil its social function, including uncultivated land, land indirectly exploited by means of tenant farmers, land owners, settlers and occupants, land that has not been exploited in the previous five years, and agricultural land dedicated to livestock farming, among others (art. 144). Also excluded from expropriation are lands with exploitations of technical or economic importance, or whose improvements are considered exemplary and of convenience for the country (art. 154). For landless peasants and precarious possessors, it proposes remedies such as colonisation, parcelisation and the organisation of cooperatives (art. 43) coordinated by the Land and Colonisation Institute (created through Law 3042 in 1962).

From the 1980s onwards, land legislation and policies emphasised agrarian development after realising that it was not enough to own land, but that other resources and training were necessary to achieve the desired rural development. ⁵ Thus, the Land and Colonisation Institute became the Agrarian Development Institute, created by Law 6735 in 1982.

Among its objectives were to advise and provide infrastructure and marketing support to peasant settlements and to provide agrarian credits to small farmers. In the same year, the Agrarian Courts, specialised in the resolution of agrarian conflicts, were also created through Decree 6734 (1982). Law 9036 (2012) introduces an idea of the rural world characterised by multidimensionality - according to which both agrarian and non-agricultural aspects contribute to its development -, sustainability - which seeks harmony between economic, social and political activities and the environment - and integrality - which seeks coherence between rural development policies and initiatives. ⁶ At the institutional level, the Agrarian Development Institute was transformed into the current Rural Development Institute (INDER).

In 2018, the Agrarian Procedural Code was adopted with the aim of protecting situations and legal relations arising in connection with the development of agricultural production activities of animals, plants or other organisms. ⁷

Land tenure

The latest official data on land tenure in Costa Rica comes from the Agricultural Census conducted in 2014. The data show a concentration of land and greater inequality in its distribution. This is confirmed by the Gini coefficient of land distribution, which went from 0.79 in 1973 to 0.82 in 2014. ⁸ This means that 50% of the farms occupy 3% of the entire territory, while 80% of them cover 15% ⁹ .

The 2014 Census recognises two main types of land tenure owned and rented. ¹⁰ Within ownership, a distinction is made between owner and "by way of ownership". Owners have title to the land and therefore the right to transfer it. Owners do not have title to the land or a long-term lease, but have worked the land peacefully and continuously without payment. Tenancy can be in exchange for money (rent), in exchange for payment in product or in kind (esquilmo), free of charge, or other forms of lease in exchange for a service or by usufructuary mortgage. In addition, other forms of land tenure such as inheritance, trusteeship, precarious tenure and claims of possession are also covered.

Of the total of 2,059,881 hectares occupied by the 85,049 farms measured in the 2014 Census, more than 1,956,105 hectares are owned (both owner-occupied and by way of ownership), 86,604 hectares are leased and the rest have other tenure. Within the leased land, most of the area (56,087 hectares) is rented, 18,572 hectares are leased free of charge and 4,573 hectares are leased in exchange for produce.

The problem with land titling in Costa Rica is not so much that land is unregistered, but that there are many landholders who do not have land titles. From 1970 to 2007, twenty titling projects were carried out covering more than 2.6 million hectares, of which, according to 2008 data, 47% remained untitled. ¹¹ A particularly vulnerable area has been the maritime-terrestrial zone. In theory, this zone (200 metres inland from the ordinary high tide line) is national patrimony and therefore public (with the exception of the coastal cities of Puntarenas, Limón, Puerto Cortés, Jacó and Quepos). ¹² However, according to one study, the lack of rigorous enforcement and poor management by local authorities has allowed an illegitimate land market in this area, with land sales and concessions taking place without legitimate documentation or legal support. ¹³

Weaknesses in the land registration and titling system are compounded by conflicting interpretations of legislative norms regarding possession and title rights. According to the Ley de Informaciones Posesorias (1973), the possessor of real estate who lacks registered or inscribable title in the Public Registry can apply to be granted title upon proof of possession for more than ten years. ¹⁴ The problem is that, in many cases, holders of untitled land occupy demaniales - land subject to a public purpose - and land of ecological value, over which they claim title on the basis of possession. However, some authors underline that possession can only be exercised over appropriable objects, i.e. subject to private rights, which excludes demanial real estate. Hence, they do not consider acceptable titling on the basis of "possession" of protected wilderness or forest areas where full possession is held by the state, except in cases where possession occurred ten years before a given property was transferred to the public domain. ¹⁵

The occupation of demaniales land has been facilitated, according to some authors, by the fact that state real estate was not defined in the land registry and there were no state personnel to prevent its titling (ref. thesis). ¹⁶ For example, the fact that the Ley de Titulación de Vivienda Campesina (1977), which facilitated land titling, did not require the publication of edicts, prevented the state from having greater control over which land was being titled. This, together with the fact that many state properties were not registered in the National Registry, shows, on the one hand, the lack of protection of public lands with ecological conservation value and, on the other hand, the insecurity of the property rights of the occupants. ¹⁷

The creation of the Cadastre and Registry Regularisation Programme in 2001 sought to resolve inconsistencies between the legal and physical registration of properties, as well as to improve the security of property rights, in particular for lands known as lands in areas under special regimes (ABRE). ¹⁸ Although progress was slow, this programme was the first step towards the creation of a National Land Information System (SNIT) ¹⁹ in 2010 with the aim of having a single cadastre and land registry database (as indicated in Forestry Law 7575).

^{Farmer, Costa Rica, photo by Samuel Sweet, Pexels}

Collective land rights

Collective land rights in Costa Rica mainly affect indigenous peoples. Although Costa Rica adopted the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007 and ratified ILO Convention 169 in 1993, indigenous land rights are not recognised in the Constitution.

In 1977, the Indigenous Law 6172 declared a number of indigenous reserves as the property of indigenous communities. At present, there are 24 indigenous territories covering 3,344 km2 (almost 7% of the national territory). ²⁰ According to this law, indigenous reserves are inalienable and imprescriptible, non-transferable and exclusive to the indigenous communities that inhabit them. Non-indigenous persons may not rent, lease, purchase or otherwise acquire land or farms within these reserves, and any transfer or negotiation of land between indigenous and non-indigenous persons will be considered null and void (art. 3). ²¹

However, the organisations denounce that a large part of this territory is invaded by non-indigenous occupants. ²² In fact, according to data from the 2014 Agricultural Census, of the 4,813 farms in indigenous territories, 3,051 are run by indigenous producers, 1,326 by non-indigenous producers and 279 by producers with undeclared self-identification. ²³ The report of the UN Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, following his visit to Costa Rica in 2021, also expresses concern that much of the indigenous territory remains in non-indigenous hands. The Rapporteur indicates that the presence of non-indigenous people in indigenous territory has undermined the social fabric of indigenous peoples, creating divisions and conflicts among them, and causing the loss of indigenous peoples' identity, knowledge, languages and food sovereignty. ²⁴

In addition to its lack of implementation, the law is incomplete in that it does not include compensation for cattle ranchers to leave existing indigenous lands. This has led to conflicts between ranchers who refuse to leave the lands they have been using for generations and indigenous peoples, who, in the face of government inaction to help them recover their lands, try to reclaim them through occupation. ²⁵ Such conflicts have led to violence costing the lives of indigenous leaders such as Sergio Rojas Ortiz and Jehry River in 2019 and 2020. ²⁶

The UN Rapporteur's report also highlights the government's inaction, noting that the National Plan for the Recovery of Indigenous Territories launched in 2016 has not produced any restitution. ²⁷ Among the reasons cited are the ineffectiveness of the Plan in requiring compliance with requirements additional to those foreseen in an ordinary administrative eviction procedure, and delays and anomalies in the empowerment of Integral Development Associations to request evictions due to the fact that these Associations did not have representation from indigenous peoples. ²⁸ Another obstacle is the lack of specialised staff at the Institute for Rural Development, under which the Recovery Plan falls, capable of identifying bona fide and bad faith holders and indigenous and non-indigenous subjects. The lack of preparation of staff knowledgeable about the legal framework on indigenous land rights is also an obstacle in the Administrative Court, whose rulings in favour of non-indigenous persons have been questioned.

Particularly noteworthy is the action of indigenous women to reclaim land, despite the threats they receive for doing so, in response to government inaction. The women land recuperators of Térraba, Salitre, Cabagra and China Kichá have come together to elaborate, with the support of the United Nations Population Fund, the Agenda of Indigenous Women in Defence of the Territories of the South. In this document, the indigenous demand for land is linked to food security. ²⁹

In addition to the government's inaction to restitute land, there has also been government action to reclassify parts of indigenous reserves as "state lands". This happened, for example, in the Térraba territory when the Attorney General's Office determined in 2003 that public property within the territory (including roads, water sources, rivers, among others) should be declared state property, resulting in a reduction of their territory without any consultation or compensation. ³⁰

Although 1,728 km2 of protected areas are located in indigenous territories - for example, the Talamanca, Maleku and Boruca territories - there is no clear connection between indigenous peoples' policies and environmental policies. On the one hand, indigenous peoples have not been involved in the definition of protected areas and the design of their management, and on the other hand, the protection of these areas is an obstacle to accessing their sacred sites and medicinal plants. ³¹ Added to this is the disproportionality between the funds allocated to the Payment for Environmental Services Programme (see section below) and those allocated to conservation activities offered by indigenous peoples. ³² It is also difficult for indigenous peoples to access the PESP because the requirements have not been adapted to their situation.

The State of the Nation 2022 report recognises that indigenous communities face limitations to be considered in conservation and protection schemes; and proposes to take into account their conservation and production practices, increase investment in conservation in indigenous areas, and generate and disseminate information for informed decision-making. ³³

Land use trends

The land uses with an increasing trend in Costa Rica have been urban and forestry, while agricultural land use has declined.

World Bank data indicate that the urban area grew from 964 km2 in 1990 to 1,476 km2 in 2015. ³⁴ Urban planning is considered a state competence and is governed by a diverse regulatory framework that distributes competences, directly or indirectly, to different public institutions and at different levels. ³⁵

In 2020 the forest area covered 30,348 km2 , up from 28,572 km2 in 2000. ³⁶ Within the forest area are forest reserves (4%) and areas under timber cultivation. Data from the 2021 National Agricultural Survey indicate that the largest forest crops in terms of area planted and production obtained are teak (48,929 hectares) and melina (14,966 hectares).

According to some studies, the territory devoted to agriculture has been reduced by 21.6% and now covers 47% of the national territory. ³⁷ In 2020, the agricultural area was 17,615 km2 which shows a significant decrease compared to the 27,480 km2 registered in 1984. ³⁸ In the mid-1980s, the economic crisis promoted the adoption of structural adjustment programmes consisting of the reduction of the role of the state in the economy, and with it the reduction of support programmes for small and medium-sized producers, and the privatisation and liberalisation of the market. Export agriculture of new products was promoted to the detriment of traditional consumer products and the domestic market, which had a negative impact on small and medium-sized producers in particular. ³⁹

According to data from the 2014 Agricultural Census, the latest available, out of a total of 93,017 farms covering an area of 2,406,418 hectares, 60,626 farms (976,083 hectares) are dedicated to agricultural activity, 30,248 (1,271,767 hectares) to livestock activity and 2,143 (158,568 hectares) to other purposes such as tourism (296 farms) and forestry (1,519). ⁴⁰

Within agricultural activity, the largest number of farms (22,961) are dedicated to coffee cultivation and the vast majority are small - 13,995 of the farms dedicated to coffee are between 1 and 4 hectares in size. After coffee, fruit and basic grains are the crops with the highest number of farms, 9,126 and 7,970 respectively. Only 2,585 of the farms are dedicated to banana cultivation. ⁴¹ Of the crops investigated in the National Agricultural Survey 2021, basic grains accounted for 50.5% of agricultural crops, 91% of which were rice, followed by maize and beans. ⁴² The same survey indicates that coffee, sugar cane and oil palm account for 70% of the production of the permanent crops investigated and that oranges are the most cultivated fruit (82%). ⁴³

The decline in agriculture was accompanied by an increase in pastureland as a result of the expansion of livestock farming between the 1970s and 1980s. The vast majority of livestock farms are devoted to cattle (26,516), followed by poultry (1,963) and pigs (858). ⁴⁴

^{Hummingbird, Costa Rica, photo by Joseph Vogel, Pexels}

Environmental protection

Concern in the 1990s for environmental issues and the idea of sustainable rural development led to the design of environmental policies that have made Costa Rica a model for environmental recovery and conservation. This concern stemmed from the loss of between half and a third of the forest from the 1940s to 1987 due to logging activities, ⁴⁵ as well as the so-called "potrerización" of the national territory, which consisted of an increase in pastures due to the expansion of cattle ranching and its industry. ⁴⁶ Costa Rica's decisions to reverse this situation led to the successful recovery of a significant part of its forest cover from 24% in 1985 to 50% in 2011. ⁴⁷ The 2022 State of the Nation Report notes that the legally protected area grew by 524% with the expansion of the marine protected area. ⁴⁸

At the legislative and institutional level, two actions that boosted environmental recovery and protection were the approval of the Biodiversity Law and the creation of the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC), in charge of achieving sustainability in the management of natural resources, in 1998.

SINAC is a system of institutional management and coordination, deconcentrated and participatory, as it works with the participation of the state, civil society and the private sector, and has an instrumental legal personality. ⁴⁹ SINAC currently administers 169 protected areas - including national parks, biological reserves, wildlife refuges, protective zones, national monuments and forest reserves - distributed in eleven conservation areas, both terrestrial and marine-coastal, representing around 26% of the national territory. ⁵⁰

From the outset, the environmental policy in Costa Rica was designed taking into account that conservation should have a positive social impact on the citizens, and therefore channels were opened for their participation, as well as coordination and connectivity between the different institutions and actors involved. ⁵¹ For the success of the policy, it was considered essential that the people were convinced and sensitised to the cause. In addition to this, there was concern about the economic situation in the country, hence the idea was to think in terms of conservation that included actions to manage areas in order to produce without destroying. ⁵² With the Biodiversity Law 7788, approved in 1998, the idea of citizen responsibility for the conservation of biodiversity was also constructed, leading to a sharing of responsibilities in the care and protection of ecosystems.

The promotion of incentives to involve citizens in conservation was manifested in the Payment for Environmental Services (PES) to farmers, consisting of paying an amount of money in exchange for a commitment to conserve the environment. Costa Rica began using economic incentives in 1979 with the establishment of tax reductions in the first Forestry Law. ⁵³ But it was in the Forestry Law 7575 of 1996 that the current system was introduced. With this law, the government set out to restore forest cover to forested land and established different types of compensation for farmers depending on their commitment forest protection (duration of 5 years and USD 210 per hectare spread over 5 years), sustainable forest management (duration of 15 years and USD 327 per hectare spread over 5 years) and reforestation (duration of 15 to 20 years and USD 537 per hectare spread over 5 years). ⁵⁴ A second phase of implementation, initiated in 2001, was linked to the Eco-Market project with the objective of promoting the development of markets for environmental services including carbon sequestration, water sources and biodiversity protection. ⁵⁵ In addition to state resources, a World Bank loan, a Global Environment Facility (GEF) grant and the cooperation of international partners helped finance the PES.

Studies on the effectiveness of PES agree on their limited direct impact on reducing deforestation. A study conducted in the Osa Peninsula in 2006 concludes that payments have a limited immediate effect on forest conservation, but have an indirect impact in the long term related to non-forest land use decisions. ⁵⁶ In particular, payments accelerate the abandonment of agricultural land leading to forest regeneration. The study suggests that payments would be more effective if used for forest restoration, which payment recipients were not obliged to do at the time of the study. Other research on the impact of the first phase of payments (1997-2000) concludes that deforestation was not significantly lower in areas where payments were received, and suggests that earlier policies of creating national parks and biological reserves contributed to reduced deforestation. ⁵⁷

Another mechanism that has favoured environmental protection in Costa Rica has been the "debt-for-nature swap". This is a cooperation initiative that consists of swapping the debt of one country with another or with an international organisation in exchange for the creation of a fund in local currency to finance biodiversity conservation and climate change adaptation projects. Costa Rica signed the first debt swap with the United States in 2007, focused on ecosystem connectivity, and the second in 2010, for USD 27 million, with the objective of financing the consolidation of SINAC's Protected Wildlife Areas. ⁵⁸

These environmental protection efforts contrast with the fact that Costa Rica uses up to eight times more pesticides than other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in the Americas, according to a report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). ⁵⁹ The study also warns that 93% of the pesticides used in the country can be considered highly hazardous.

^{Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica, photo by Travel Local[b] , Flickr, CC BY 2.0}

Investments and land acquisitions

Natural beauty and stable social and economic conditions make Costa Rica an attractive investment location. Although Costa Rica generally has an open investment system, the state has exclusive rights in the hydrocarbon sector and does not allow domestic or foreign private investment in the open-pit mining and oilfield exploration and exploitation sectors. ⁶⁰

In the countryside, policies to liberalise the basic grains market and stimulate the export of non-traditional products have attracted investment from agro-industrial companies with national and international capital dedicated to the production of monocultures such as pineapple. ⁶¹ In recent years, pineapple plantations in Costa Rica have grown by 16% year-on-year, with 66,266 hectares of pineapple planted in 2017. ⁶²

These crops have generated social protests because of the damage they cause to the environment due to the use of pesticides, contamination of drinking water, deforestation and occupation of protected wildlife areas (1,482 hectares in 2017). ⁶³ In response to the protests, Costa Rican authorities announced a ban on the herbicide bromacil and ordered the suspension of crop projects in the Térraba Sierpe wetland and in the Osa. ⁶⁴

One of the sectors that attracts the most investment is tourism, a pillar of the Costa Rican economy with a contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) of 8%. The Tourism Development Incentives Law favours investment in tourism by granting tax benefits such as exemption from tariffs on goods related to tourism service and from property taxes on tourism businesses for those with a signed tourism agreement. ⁶⁵ Within the tourism sector, residential tourism has been prominent. In 2019, foreign investment in the real estate sector accounted for US$231 million. ⁶⁶

In some areas, tourism investments have caused socio-ecological problems as they have involved dispossession and water conflicts. This is the case in Guanacaste, where, according to a study, the authorities allowed a lax interpretation of environmental and spatial regulations, which facilitated irregularities and a disorderly growth of tourist-residential development, affecting the maritime-terrestrial zone. ⁶⁷

Women's land rights

At the normative level, the Costa Rican Constitution makes special mention of women when it establishes the functions of the Women's Commission, among which are to carry out political control over the actions of the Administration in all matters relating to the situation of women (Article 85) and that laws shall provide special protection for women in their work (Article 71). Law 9036 establishes mechanisms whose functions include promoting access to land for women, such as the Land Fund (art. 41) and promoting the right to property by incorporating peasant women (art. 5).

But the gender situation in rural areas in Costa Rica has long been invisible due to a lack of data. This deficiency was addressed in the 2014 Agricultural Census where questions were introduced to identify gender differences in land access and use. The Census results indicate a significant gap in land ownership between men and women. Of the total of 80,987 individual farms considered in the census, 68,389 hectares were in the hands of men and only 12,598 in the hands of women. ⁶⁸ More than half of the land owned by women (53%) is less than 3 hectares in size (El País).

Inequality is also seen in working conditions in the countryside. Based on census data, 80% of the men in the census work in the fields with permanent pay compared to 20% of the women. Slightly more than 70% of male producers work permanently without pay compared to more than 29% of women.

Despite the effort to remedy the lack of gender-based data in the census, some authors point out that women's participation in production processes ends up being made invisible because the census registers the person who has economic responsibility for the farm as the "producer". Thus, if the responsibility is shared but the farm is registered in the name of the man, women's participation is made invisible. ⁶⁹

According to the Law for the Promotion of Women's Social Equality (1990), real estate properties granted through social development programmes must be registered in the name of both spouses in case of marriage, in the name of the woman in case of de facto union and in the name of the beneficiary (man or woman) in any other case (Article 7). ⁷⁰

While access to agricultural credit, technical assistance and training has been poor in general, it has been more limited for women. One study indicates that in the south of the country only between 7% and 19% of farmers accessed credit in the last year, and, in the case of women, only 2% of them accessed credit. ⁷¹

To find out more

Author's suggestions for further reading

Costa Rica is internationally recognised as an example in environmental conservation. In 2018 the government published the first official State of the Environment Report in compliance with the provisions of the Organic Law of the Environment of 1995. The Informe: Estado del Ambiente addresses in a sectoral and integrated manner a diagnosis of the environmental situation in Costa Rica pointing out the pressures and challenges faced.

A scientific evaluation of Costa Rica's environmental efforts in different areas such as deforestation, animal protection and the involvement of local communities can be found in the article Effectiveness of Costa Rica's Conservation Portfolio to Lower Deforestation, Protect Primates and Increase Community Participation. 

The management of protected areas is analysed in the report Gestión Descentralizada de Áreas Protegidas en Costa Rica by the Red Latinoamericana de Cooperación Técnica en Parques Nacionales, Otras Áreas Protegidas, Flora y Fauna Silvestres (Latin American Network for Technical Cooperation in National Parks, Other Protected Areas, Wild Flora and Fauna).

The State of the Nation 2022 report includes two chapters related to the environment Harmony with Nature (chap. 4) and Implementation Pathways for a more efficient and strategic environmental conservation policy (chap. 8).

Advances in environmental policies are not matched by advances in guaranteeing the rights of indigenous peoples in Costa Rica. They face numerous challenges as the UN Rapporteur on indigenous peoples, José Francisco Calí Tzay, saw first-hand in his report following his visit to the country in 2022.

Timeline - milestones in land governance

1820-1850 - Land colonisation

Land policies until the mid-19th century focused on the colonisation of vacant or peripheral land in order to secure land ownership and increase production. The registration of land ownership was facilitated by the reduction of the usucaption period to five years.

1850 - Development of coffee cultivation

One of the effects of coffee development was the concentration of land in the centre of the country in the hands of the coffee oligarchy, expelling small farmers from the area. An attempt was made to resolve this situation by means of Decree 23 (1851), which granted landless peasants properties in outlying areas, such as the province of Limón or the north of the country, in order to avoid pressure on the Central Valley, the main coffee-growing area.

1870-1930 - Banana production

Banana exploitation in Costa Rica was favoured by the cession of uncultivated land to the railway builders. The government ceded 304,000 hectares of uncultivated land to Minor Cooper Keith, who was in charge of the railway works, on the condition that if it was not cultivated within 25 years it would revert to the state. A new contract for the construction of the Northern Railway involved the cession of 208,000 more wastelands used for banana exports. In 1900, the United Fruit Company became the holder of the concessions and contracts.

1931 - Creation of colonies and denouncement laws

In the interest of reproducing family property and avoiding large estates, the State promoted the creation of agricultural colonies, such as those created in Guápiles, Parismina and Guácimo. To receive a 10-hectare plot, one had to be poor, Costa Rican, head of family, under 60 years of age, healthy and of proven morality. During these years, several laws were also passed that gave the right to formulate denuncios (proceedings to claim uncultivated lands before a Treasury Court) of 20 hectares (Law 29, 1935) and up to 30 hectares (Law 13, 1939).

1960s - Institutionalisation of the agricultural sector Preceded by the 1949 Constitution, which promoted the idea of a Social State under the rule of law, Law 2825 on Land and Colonisation (1961) created several institutions to manage the agricultural sector, starting with the Land and Colonisation Institute in 1962 (Law 3042), with the aim of increasing the state's participation in the promotion of production. The Land and Colonisation Institute became the institution responsible for defining and executing national agrarian policy with the aim of contributing to a fairer distribution of land, avoiding land concentration, improving the land tenure system and modernising agriculture.

1980s - Structural adjustment programmes

During these years, neoliberal policies were imposed in response to the crisis of the social rule of law. Land was concentrated in the hands of large agro-industrial companies, aid to small and medium-sized producers was discontinued and the market was liberalised.

2012 - Institute for Rural Development

Land policies at this time adopted the concept of integral rural development, where rural is an articulation of agricultural and non-agricultural activities. Thus, the Institute for Agrarian Development was transformed into the current Institute for Rural Development (INDER), which will manage the rural sphere based on the ideas of multifunctionality, sustainability and integrity.

2021 - Earthshot

Award Costa Rica receives the Earthshot award, given by Prince William and The Royal Foundation, in the category Protect and Restore Nature.

Reference

[1] EFE Agency. (2021). "Costa Rica expanded its Marine Protected Area from 2% to 30%". El Espectador.

[2] Political Constitution of Costa Rica 1949.

[3] Law 2825 on Land and Colonisation (1962).

[4] Bolaños Céspedes, C. A. and Corrales Solís, M. F. (2022). "Evolution of public policies and agrarian legislation in Costa Rica: impact on land tenure and rural development". Revista de Ciencias Jurídicas 157.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Legislative Assembly (2012). Law 9036 Transformation of the Agrarian Development Institute (IDA) into the Rural Development Institute (INDER).

[7] Legislative Assembly (2018). Agrarian Procedural Code.

[8] Morales, N. and Segura, R. (2017). Land distribution and its relationship with social inequality. Censuses, a vision of the agricultural sector based on CENAGRO 2014. National Institute of Statistics and Census.

[9] Alvarado Alcázar, A. (2020). "Conflictos sociales en el campo costarricense: una mirada desde la protesta social (2014-2018)". Revista de Ciencias Sociales 167.

[10] Regional Data Archive (2014). VI Agricultural Census.

[11] Obando Corrales, W. (2008). Land titling in Wildlife Protected Areas: legal status of the occupants of these areas and state responsibility. Degree thesis. University of Costa Rica.

[12] National Council of Rectors (2022). State of the Nation 2022.

[13] Miranda, M. (no year). Tenure and occupation of land in the maritime-terrestrial zone of Costa Rica. Thirteenth State of the Nation Report on Sustainable Human Development. National Council of Rectors. La Defensoría de los Habitantes.

[14] Law on Possessory Information (1973)

[15] Obando Corrales, W. (2008). Land titling in Wildlife Protected Areas: legal status of the occupants of these areas and state responsibility. Degree thesis. University of Costa Rica.

[16] Ibid.

[17] Ibid.

[18] Ibid.

[19] National Territorial Information System (SNIT)

[20] IWGIA (2021). The Indigenous World 2021: Costa Rica.

[21] Legislative Assembly (1977). Indian Law 6179.

[22] IWGIA (2022). The Indigenous World 2022: Costa Rica.

[23] Regional Data Archive (2014). VI Agricultural Census.

[24] General Assembly. (2022). Visit to Costa Rica. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, José Francisco Calí Tzay.

[25] Kimberley Brown (2023). "Pablo Silbar and the struggle of indigenous peoples in Costa Rica to stop being invisible. Interview". Mongabay.

[26] Román, R., Andrews, R. and Parisse, N. (2021). "The story behind the murder of Sergio Rojas". El País.

[27] General Assembly. (2022). Visit to Costa Rica. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, José Francisco Calí Tzay.

[28] The Asociaciones de Desarrollo Integral Indígenas is a figure that was imposed to manage indigenous reserves despite the fact that the Indigenous Law allowed them to be governed through traditional community structures. Chacón Castro, R. (2005). "El Sistema jurídico indígena en Costa Rica: una aproximación inicial". Revista IIDH. 41.

[29] IWGIA (2022). The Indigenous World 2022: Costa Rica.

[30] MacKay, F. and Morales Garro, A. (2014). Violations of Indigenous Peoples' Territorial Rights: The example of Costa Rica. Forest Peoples Programme.

[31] General Assembly. (2022). Visit to Costa Rica. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, José Francisco Calí Tzay.

[32] Ibid.

[33] National Council of Rectors (2022). State of the Nation 2022.

[34] World Bank. Urban Costa Rica.

[35] Urban and Cities Platform. Urban planning system of Costa Rica.

[36] CEIC. Costa Rica: Forest Area.

[37] Alvarado Alcázar, A. (2020). "Conflictos sociales en el campo costarricense: una mirada desde la protesta social (2014-2018)". Revista de Ciencias Sociales 167.

[38] CEIC.

[39] Bolaños Céspedes, C. A. and Corrales Solís, M. F. (2022). "Evolution of public policies and agrarian legislation in Costa Rica: impact on land tenure and rural development". Revista de Ciencias Jurídicas 157.

[40] National Institute of Statistics and Census (2015). VI National Agricultural Census 2014. Livestock activities, agricultural practices and services. San José, Costa Rica.

[41] Ibid.

[42] National Institute of Statistics and Census (2021). Summary of results of the National Agricultural Survey 2021.

[43] Ibid.

[44] National Institute of Statistics and Census (2015). VI National Agricultural Census 2014. Livestock activities, agricultural practices and services. San José, Costa Rica.

[45] Konyn, C. (2021). "How Costa Rica reversed deforestation and became an environmental model. Earth.org.

[46] Picado, W. and Botella Rodríguez, E. (2017). "Land tenure and territorial change in Costa Rica (1950-2015)". Paper presented at the XII International Congress of the Spanish Association of Economic History.

[47] Tafoya, K. A. et al. (2020). "Effectiveness of Costa Rica's Conservation Portfolio to Lower Deforestation, Protect Primates and Increase Community Participation". Frontiers in Environmental Science.

[48] National Council of Rectors (2022). State of the Nation 2022.

[49] Brenes, C. and Soto, V. (2017). Systematisation of the SINAC Creation and Development Process. A practice of social innovation... loaded with lessons. MINAE. SINAC. JICA.

[50] II US-CR Nature Swap.

[51] Brenes, C. and Soto, V. (2017). Systematisation of the SINAC Creation and Development Process. A practice of social innovation... loaded with lessons. MINAE. SINAC. JICA.

[52] Ibid.

[53] Sierra, R. and Russman, E. (2006). "On the efficiency of environmental service payments: A forest conservation assessment in the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica". Ecological Economics.

[54] Ibid.

[55] Sánchez-Azofeifa, G. A. et al. (2007). "Costa Rica's Payment for Environmental Services Program: Intention, Implementation and Impact. Conservation Biology; World Bank. Costa Rica - Ecomarkets Project: environmental management plan.

[56] Sierra, R. and Russman, E. (2006). "On the efficiency of environmental service paymets: A forest conservation assessment in the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica". Ecological Economics.

[57] Sánchez-Azofeifa, G. A. et al. (2007). "Costa Rica's Payment for Environmental Services Program: Intention, Implementation and Impact. Conservation Biology.

[58] II US-CR Nature Swap.

[59] Pomareda García, F. (2022). "UNDP: Costa Rica uses up to 8 times more pesticides than other OECD countries in the Americas". Semanario Universidad.

[60] Economic and Commercial Office of Spain in Panama (2021). Economic and Trade Report Costa Rica.

[61] Alvarado Alcázar, A. (2020). "Conflictos sociales en el campo costarricense: una mirada desde la protesta social (2014-2018)". Revista de Ciencias Sociales 167.

[62] Portal Frutícola.com (2019). Pineapple plantations in Costa Rica grow by 16% year-on-year.

[63] Ibidem; Environmental Justice Atlas (2020). Pineapple plantations in the Térraba Sierpe wetland, Costa Rica.

[64] Ibid.

[65] Alvarado Alcázar, A. (2020). "Conflictos sociales en el campo costarricense: una mirada desde la protesta social (2014-2018)". Revista de Ciencias Sociales 167.

[66] Ibid.

[67] Cañada, E. (2019). "Conflictos por el agua en Guanacaste, Costa Rica: Respuestas al desarrollo turístico". Anuario de Estudios Centroamericanos. University of Costa Rica.

[68] Regional Data Archive (2014). VI Agricultural Census.

[69] García Fonseca, T. et al. (2018). "Our lands: who has them?". El País.

[70] Law 7142 on the Promotion of Women's Social Equality (1990).

[71] García Fonseca, T. et al. (2018). "Our lands: who has them?". El País.