10°. IGN's Georeferenced Digital Geodatabase (GDG) on the maritime-terrestrial zone is technically grounded in the application of the regulations established by:
- a)Executive Decree N° 7841-P, Reglamento a la Ley N°. 6043 sobre la Zona Marítimo Terrestre;
- b)Executive Decree N° 33797-MJ-MOPT, declaring as the official horizontal datum for Costa Rica the CR05, and its associated cartographic projection, CRTM05;
- c)Executive Decree N° 36642-MP-MOPT-MINAET, Reglamento de Especificaciones para la Delimitación de la zona pública de la Zona Marítimo Terrestre;
- d)Executive Decree N° 36786-MINAET, Manual para la clasificación de tierras dedicadas a la conservación de los recursos naturales dentro de la Zona Marítimo Terrestre en Costa Rica;
- e)Executive Decree No. 40962-MJP, Actualización del Sistema Geodésico de Referencia Horizontal Oficial para Costa Rica;
- f)Executive Decree N° 42760-MINAE, Criterios técnicos para la ubicación, identificación, clasificación y delimitación de ecosistemas de humedal; and
- g)Directriz DIG-01-2025, Actualización de Información de la zona pública de la Zona Marítimo Terrestre con respecto al Sistema de Referencia Horizontal CR-SIRGAS para la época de medición 2014.59.
11°. Article 13 of Ley N°7575 Ley Forestal, dated February 13, 1996, and its amendments, provides that: "The State's natural heritage (Patrimonio Natural del Estado) shall consist of forests and forest lands within national reserves, areas declared inalienable, properties registered in its name, and those belonging to municipalities, autonomous institutions, and other public administration bodies, except for real property securing credit transactions with the National Banking System that have become part of those institutions' assets.
The Ministry of the Environment and Energy shall administer the heritage. Where applicable, through the Procuraduría General de la República, it shall register the lands in the Registro Público de la Propiedad as individually identified State-owned properties." Moreover, Article 16 of Ley N°7575 imposes upon the Ministry of the Environment and Energy (MINAE) the obligation to demarcate in the field the boundaries of the areas comprising the Patrimonio Natural del Estado.
12°. Article 1 of Law No. 6043, Ley sobre la Zona Marítimo Terrestre, dated March 2, 1977, and its amendments, establishes that the maritime-terrestrial zone is a public domain asset (bien demanial) by providing that: "The maritime-terrestrial zone constitutes part of the national heritage, belongs to the State, and is inalienable and imprescriptible. Its protection, as well as that of its natural resources, is an obligation of the State, its institutions, and all inhabitants of the country. Its use and exploitation are subject to the provisions of this law."; while Article 10 of this same law provides, in relevant part, that: "The maritime-terrestrial zone is composed of two sections: the PUBLIC ZONE (ZONA PÚBLICA), which is the fifty-meter-wide strip measured from the ordinary high tide line (pleamar ordinaria), and the areas exposed during low tide; and the RESTRICTED ZONE (ZONA RESTRINGIDA), consisting of the remaining one hundred and fifty meters, or the rest of the land in the case of islands."; while Article 11 establishes that the "Public zone shall also include, regardless of its extent, all mangroves (manglares) on continental and island coastlines and tidal channels (esteros) within the national territory." 13°.
Article 2, subparagraph f), of Executive Decree N° 7841-P, Reglamento a la Ley sobre la Zona Marítimo Terrestre, dated December 16, 1977, and its amendments, includes the tidal estuary as part of the maritime-terrestrial zone, defining it as: "f) Ría: The portion of a river near its mouth into the sea and up to where tides are felt." 14°. In accordance with the second paragraph of Article 69 of the Ley de Aguas, Law No. 276, dated August 27, 1942, and its amendments, the maritime zone extends along the banks of rivers up to where they are navigable or where tides are perceptible, as follows: "This maritime zone also extends along the banks of rivers up to the point where they are navigable or where tides are perceptible, with a width of two hundred meters from each bank, measured from the line marking the high tide." 15°. Executive Decree N° 36786-MINAET, Manual para la clasificación de tierras dedicadas a la conservación de los recursos naturales dentro de la Zona Marítimo Terrestre en Costa Rica, dated August 12, 2011, and its amendments, sets forth among its objectives the "Identification, within the maritime-terrestrial zone (ZMT), of those lands classified as forests, of forestry suitability (Class VII and VIII soils), wetlands (humedales) (mangroves, tidal channels, tidal estuaries, salt marshes (marismas), coastal lagoons (lagunas costeras), swamps (pantanos), flooded forests (bosques anegados), salt flats (salitrales)), for the purpose of certifying them and incorporating them as part of the Patrimonio Natural del Estado (PNE)." In the same vein, Point III — Competencies for Delimitation and Certification establishes that "The classification of lands within the ZMT shall be the responsibility of the Conservation Areas (Áreas de Conservación, AC) of SINAC and duly accredited private professionals registered with the relevant Professional Associations, for the purpose of classifying forests, lands of forestry suitability (Class VII and VIII soils), (mangroves, tidal channels, tidal estuaries, salt marshes, coastal lagoons, swamps, flooded forests, salt flats), and wetlands.
The validity of classification documents issued by private professionals shall be subject to the approval of the AC with territorial jurisdiction. The ACs of SINAC with jurisdiction over the ZMT shall also be responsible for the verification, inspection, boundary demarcation (deslinde), and certification of the lands of the Patrimonio Natural del Estado and the protection zones (zonas de protección).
The location and delimitation of Patrimonio Natural del Estado areas within the maritime-terrestrial zone must be carried out as part of the approval process for the Coastal Regulatory Plan (Plan Regulador Costero, PRC), as defined by Ley 6043, since the Coastal Regulatory Plan is the land-use planning instrument that defines and locates all areas subject to concession within the ZMT and governs the classification of the latter at the level of cadastral maps. Therefore, the Coastal Regulatory Plan must clearly and expressly indicate the PNE areas so that they are not counted in the total area available for concession." 16°. Executive Decree N° 42760-MINAE, Criterios técnicos para la ubicación, identificación, clasificación y delimitación de ecosistemas de humedal, dated March 7, 2022, establishes in Article 14 that: "Complementary technical considerations for mangroves. The respective Conservation Area, together with the Instituto Geográfico Nacional, shall verify in the field the existence of mangrove and proceed to its delimitation, in accordance with the competence of each institution as directed by the legal framework.
For the identification of a mangrove, the presence of trees belonging to any of the species listed in Annex I of this decree shall be taken as a parameter; likewise, the tidal channels and existing channels within these ecosystems are included. The boundary is established up to where the vegetation associated with this ecosystem extends, in accordance with Annex II of this decree. In addition to the foregoing, what is indicated in Annex III of this decree, entitled 'List of flora by wetland type according to landscape classification of Estuarine Wetlands and Salt-Flooded Forests (mangroves),' must also be taken into account." The mangrove delimitation process must necessarily encompass areas that are deteriorated or in the process of recovery. Furthermore, within its sphere of competence, the respective Conservation Area shall carry out the necessary measures to promote said recovery.
17°. IGN employed the Georeferenced Digital Delimitation methodology to delimit the public zone of the maritime-terrestrial zone corresponding to the tidal estuary of the Río Nosara, District 02° Nosara, Canton 06° Nicoya, Province 05° Guanacaste.
18°. By means of official communication SINAC-ACT-DIR-124-2025, dated January 30, 2025, from the Área de Conservación Tempisque (ACT), signed by Mr. Nelson Marín Mora, Regional Director of the ACT, a request was submitted for the publication of the tidal estuary of the Río Nosara pursuant to resolution ACT-OR-DR-006-2025 of January 14, 2025, at 10:05 hours, and the new certification SINAC-ACT-C-0002-2025 of January 23, 2025.
19°. Resolution ACT-OR-DR-006-2025 of January 14, 2025, at 10:05 hours, signed by Mr. Nelson Marín Mora, Regional Director of the Área de Conservación Tempisque (ACT) of SINAC, based on the criteria issued by the Executive Secretariat of SINAC, proceeded to annul certification ACT-OR-DR-15988-14 of November 15, 2014, in which the tidal estuary of the Río Nosara was certified, and which was made official through Notice N° 2014-05, published in the Official Gazette La Gaceta N° 08 of January 13, 2015.
20°. Certification SINAC-ACT-C-0002-2025 of January 23, 2025 identifies the point corresponding to the tidal estuary of the Río Nosara based on final report SINAC-ACTOR-DR-1114-2024 of August 7, 2024, signed by biologists Mauricio Méndez Venegas and Ademar Rosales Ruiz, Technical Director and Coordinator of the Wetlands Program, respectively, of the Área de Conservación Tempisque. Said report was submitted to IGN, which granted its approval following analysis of all the information referenced herein.
21°. The technical report submitted by ACT, official communication SINAC-ACT-OR-DR-1114-2024 of August 7, 2024, indicates that the procedure entitled "Identification and Delimitation of Estuarine System-Type Wetlands" was applied, made official through communication SINAC-DE-1259-2021 of August 18, 2021, based on criterion SINAC-SE-IRT-120 of June 27, 2018, from the Executive Secretariat of SINAC and grounded in communication CIMAR-399-15 of October 6, 2015, from the Centro en Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología (CIMAR), for the determination of the extent of the tidal estuary of the Río Nosara.
22°. According to criterion SINAC-SE-IRT-120 of June 27, 2018, from the Executive Secretariat of SINAC, it is proposed to substantially modify the manner in which tidal estuaries were delimited in the report issued by the Programa de Regularización del Catastro y Registro in 2010, Delimitation on orthophotos at a scale of 1:5000/1:1000, and the Field Verification of Rivers, Tidal Channels, and Mangroves of the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica / Delimitation of Tidal Estuaries and Tidal Channels of the Pacific Coast.
23°. Official communication CARTA-SINAC-ACT-OR-DR-DT-0921-2025, dated June 24, 2025, signed by Biologist Mauricio Méndez Venegas, Technical Director of ACT, responds to communication DIG-GDF-141-2025 of April 30, 2025, and states that the measurement of tidal influence, pursuant to the definition of tidal estuary in Decreto Ejecutivo 36786-MINAET, "is technically incorrect." It further states that "the only way in which it can be established with certainty that the tide is perceptible at a given location is based on its condition as an ecosystem, which in this case corresponds to the mangrove ecosystem. The methodology employed for defining the extent of the tidal estuary being the application of the PROCEDURE FOR THE IDENTIFICATION AND DELIMITATION OF ESTUARINE SYSTEM-TYPE WETLANDS (SINAC), made official through communication SINAC-DE-1259-2021 of August 18, 2021." 24°. By means of communication DIG-GDF-252-2025 of August 1, 2025, issued by IGN and addressed to ACT, a technical objection is noted, given that the institutional procedure indicated both in the report and in the communications submitted by ACT is unclear and inconsistent with the regulations referenced above, this being grounded in the fact that the legal definition of the concept of tidal estuary has not changed under current legislation.
Nevertheless, it is noted that, in adherence to and observance of the sovereign powers (potestades de imperio) that the legal framework has delegated to MINAE and its dependencies for the delimitation of public domain assets; the publication of the new tidal estuary of the Río Nosara will proceed, pursuant to the competences conferred on IGN by the applicable regulations (with regard to publication in accordance with the provisions of Article 63 of Executive Decree N° 7841-P).
25°. By means of communication DIG-GDF-025-2025-PU-INF of August 29, 2025, generated by the Topography Sub-process of the Department of Geodesy and Geophysics of the Instituto Geográfico Nacional, the technical review report for the publication of the georeferenced digital delimitation of the public zone was issued in relation to the work carried out by SINAC-ACT concerning the delimitation of the tidal estuary of the Río Nosara, in accordance with the sovereign powers delegated by the legal framework to MINAE and its dependencies for the delimitation of public domain assets, authorizing its publication in accordance with the provisions of Article 63 of Executive Decree N° 7841-P.
26°. Article 140 of Law No. 6227, Ley General de la Administración Pública, dated May 2, 1978, and its amendments, states that "an administrative act shall take effect after it has been communicated to the administered party, except where it exclusively confers rights, in which case it shall take effect from the moment it is adopted," a provision that must necessarily be read in conjunction with Article 240, subparagraph 1) of the same body of law, which defines the appropriate instrument for communicating acts of a general nature by stating that: "General acts shall be communicated by publication, and specific acts by notification." HEREBY ANNOUNCES: