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With over 25 percent of its land set aside in national parks and other protected areas, Costa Rica is renowned worldwide as "the green republic." In this very readable history of conservation in Costa Rica, Sterling Evans explores the establishment of the country's national park system as a response to the rapid destruction of its tropical ecosystems due to the expansion of export-related agriculture. Drawing on interviews with key players in the conservation movement, as well as archival research, Evans traces the emergence of a conservation ethic among Costa Ricans and the tangible forms it has taken. In Part I, he describes the development of the national park system and "the grand contradiction" that conservation occurred simultaneously with massive deforestation in unprotected areas. In Part II, he examines other aspects of Costa Rica's conservation experience, including the important roles played by environmental education and nongovernmental organizations, campesino and indigenous movements, ecotourism, and the work of the National Biodiversity Institute.
Annotation A collection of papers regarding the conservation of Costa Rica's tropical dry forest, which is disappearing more rapidly than its rain forest, due to ease of conversion to agriculture.
Despite its tiny size and seeming marginality to world affairs, the Central American republic of Costa Rica has long been considered an important site for experimentation in cutting-edge environmental policy. From protected area management to ecotourism to payment for environmental services (PES) and beyond, for the past half-century the country has successfully positioned itself at the forefront of novel trends in environmental governance and sustainable development. Yet the increasingly urgent dilemma of how to achieve equitable economic development in a world of ecosystem decline and climate change presents new challenges, testing Costa Rica’s ability to remain a leader in innovative environmental governance. This book explores these challenges, how Costa Rica is responding to them, and the lessons this holds for current and future trends regarding environmental governance and sustainable development. It provides the first comprehensive assessment of successes and challenges as they play out in a variety of sectors, including agricultural development, biodiversity conservation, water management, resource extraction, and climate change policy. By framing Costa Rica as an “ecolaboratory,” the contributors in this volume examine the lessons learned and offer a path for the future of sustainable development research and policy in Central America and beyond.
In 1502, Christopher Columbus named Costa Rica, and while gold and silver never materialized to justify the moniker of rich coast in purely economic terms, scientists and ecotravelers alike have long appreciated its incredible wealth. Wealth in Costa Rica is best measured by its biodiversityhome to a dizzying number of plants and animals, many endemic, it s a country that has long encouraged and welcomed researchers from the world over, and is exemplary in the creation and commitment to indigenous conservation and management programs. Costa Rica is considered to have the best preserved natural resources in Latin America. Approximately nine percent (about 1,000,000 acres) of Costa Rica has been protected in 15 national parks, and a comparable amount of land is protected as wildlife refuges, forest reserves or Indian reservations. This long-awaited synthesis of Costa Rican ecosystems is an authoritative presentation of the paleoecology, biogeography, structure, conservation, and sustainable use of Costa Rica s ecosystems. It systematically covers the entire range of Costa Rica s natural and managed, terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems, including its island systems (Cocos Islands), the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and shores (coasts, coral reefs, mangrove forests), its lowlands (dry, season and wet forests), its highlands (the northern volcanoes and southern Talamanca s), and its estuaries, rivers, lakes, swamps and bogs. The volume s integrated, comprehensive format will be welcomed by tropical and temperate biologists alike, by biogeographers, plant and animal ecologists, marine biologists, conservation biologists, foresters, policy-makers and all scientists, natural history specialists and all with an interest in Costa Rica s ecosystems."
In this comparative-historical analysis of Spanish America, Mahoney offers a new theory of colonialism and postcolonial development. He explores why certain kinds of societies are subject to certain kinds of colonialism and why these forms of colonialism give rise to countries with differing levels of economic prosperity and social well-being. Mahoney contends that differences in the extent of colonialism are best explained by the potentially evolving fit between the institutions of the colonizing nation and those of the colonized society. Moreover, he shows how institutions forged under colonialism bring countries to relative levels of development that may prove remarkably enduring in the postcolonial period. The argument is sure to stir discussion and debate, both among experts on Spanish America who believe that development is not tightly bound by the colonial past, and among scholars of colonialism who suggest that the institutional identity of the colonizing nation is of little consequence.
"This book features photographs of, and information about, Costa Rica's network of national parks, which are designed to protect pieces of every type of ecosystem in the country"--
Tropical habitats may contain more than a third of the world's plant and animal species; Costa Rica alone is home to one of the highest levels of biodiversity per unit area in the world, and stands at center stage in worldwide conservation efforts. Within such regions, the use of state-of-the-art digital mapping technologies—sophisticated techniques that are relatively inexpensive and accessible—represents the future of conservation planning and policy. These methods, which employ satellites to obtain visual data on landscapes, allow environmental scientists to monitor encroachment on indigenous territories, trace park boundaries through unmarked wilderness, and identify wildlife habitats in regions where humans have limited access. Focusing on the rich biodiversity of Costa Rica, the contributors demonstrate the use of geographic information systems (GIS) to enhance conservation efforts. They give an overview of the spatial nature of conservation and management and the current status of digital mapping in Costa Rica; a review of the basic principles behind digital mapping technologies; a series of case studies using these technologies at a variety of scales and for a range of conservation and management activities; and the results of the Costa Rican gap analysis project. GIS Methodologies for Developing Conservation Strategies provides powerful tools for those involved in decision-making about the natural environment, particularly in developing nations like Costa Rica where such technologies have not yet been widely adopted. For specialists in such areas as geography, conservation biology, and wildlife and natural resource management, the combination of conceptual background and case examples make the book a crucial addition to the literature.
Since the 1970s and 1980s, Monte Verde, Costa Rica has emerged as one of the most renowned sites of nature conservation and ecotourism in Costa Rica, and some would argue, Latin America. It has received substantial attention in literature and media on tropical conservation, sustainable development, and tourism. Yet most of that analysis has uncritically evaluated the Monte Verde phenomenon, using celebratory language and barely scratching the surface of the many-faceted socio-cultural transformations provoked by and accompanying environmentalism. Because of its stature, Monte Verde represents an ideal case study to examine the socio-cultural and political complexities and dilemmas of practicing environmentalism in rural Costa Rica. Based on many years of close observation, this book offers rich and original material on the ongoing struggles between environmental activists and of collective and oppositional politics to Monte Verde’s new “culture of nature.”
The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve has captured the worldwide attention of biologists, conservationists, and ecologists and has been the setting for extensive investigation over the past 30 years. Roughly 40,000 ecotourists visit the Cloud Forest each year, and it is often considered the archetypal high-altitude rain forest.This volume brings together some of the most prominent researchers of the region to provide a broad introduction to the biology of the Monteverde, and cloud forests in general. Collecting and synthesizing vital information about the ecosystem and its biota, the book also examines the positive and negative effects of human activity on both the forest and the surrounding communities. Ecologists, tropical biologists, and natural historians will find this volume an indispensable resource, as will all those who are fascinated by the magnificent wonders of the tropical forests.