The indicated Policy, as well as its breakdown, will be available on the electronic page of the Ministry of the Presidency, at the following address: http://www.presidencia.go.cr/cr/docs/politica.pdf and in printed form as an annex to the original of this decree, which will be kept in the institutional archive of the Ministry of the Presidency.
(Note from Sinalevi: This regulation was extracted from the website of the Presidency of the Republic, and is transcribed below:)
National Marine Policy Costa Rica 2013-2028 Approved in the Council of Ministers of CONAMAR (*) held on September 18, 2013.
(*) (Its name thus amended by article 3 of executive decree No. 40473 of May 23, 2017. Previously it stated: "National Marine Commission".)
Authors: CONAMAR.
Technical Review and Editing: María Virginia Cajiao Jiménez, Executive Secretary, CONAMAR.
Design and Layout: Mauricio Ramírez Ramírez This publication may be cited without prior authorization provided that the source is mentioned.
Cite as: CONAMAR (*), 2013. National Marine Policy: Costa Rica 2013-2028. San José, Costa Rica. SOpp.
(*) (Its name thus amended by article 3 of executive decree No. 40473 of May 23, 2017. Previously it stated: "National Marine Commission".)
Available in electronic format: www.presidencia.go.crjpnm With the support of: Pronature PR ·nHWRE October 9, 2013, San José, Costa Rica.
Content Introduction 5 Current Situation 7 Central Problem 11 Central Objective 11 Vision 11 Purpose 11 Scope 12 Guiding Principles 12 Preventive Principle 13 Precautionary Principle 13 Principle of Subsidiarity 13 Holistic Principle 14 Principle of Interculturality 14 Principle of Participation 14 Responsible 14 Principle of Access to Information 15 Principle of Adaptive Management 15 Strategic Values (guide what to do) 15 Competitiveness 15 Sustainability 16 Communication 16 Tactical Values (guide how to do) 16 Management Fronts 18 Governability and Governance 19 Human Well-being and Sustainable Use 22 Scientific, Technological, and Cultural Knowledge 25 Security, Protection and Surveillance 27 Conservation of Marine and Coastal Resources and Ecosystem-based Risk Reduction 29 Management Model 31 Annexes 34 Glossary 34 List of Participants 44 Bibliographical References 51 Introduction Costa Rica is a country rich in biodiversity and globally recognized for its conservation policies. Along its coasts and in its marine spaces and jurisdictional waters, it also presents a great diversity of environments and marine ecosystems. Within its marine territory it houses two eco-regions in the Pacific Ocean (Cocos Island and Nicoya) and one in the Caribbean Sea (Southwestern Caribbean)', In the sea, inhabitants develop different activities that take advantage of the services that the sea offers, which are a source of wealth for the national economy and occur in a space that is essential to organize in order to achieve its conservation and the sustainable use of its wealth (Cajiao, MV, 2013). The sea represents the origin of life, a huge climate regulator, an important food reserve, a means that allows the transport of more than 85% of international trade, in addition to other material and spiritual benefits associated with it.
1 In the Tropical Eastern Pacific Province: #168 Nicoya and #169 Cocos Island and in the Tropical Northwestern Atlantic Province LA # 67 Southwestern Caribbean). From the perspective of Large Marine Ecosystems (Large Marine Ecosystems or LME's) Costa Rica is located in the Pacific within the Large Marine Ecosystem of the Central American Coastal Pacific, and in the Caribbean as part of the Large Marine Ecosystem of the Caribbean Sea.
There is also a series of situations that affect its management, among them, disjointed marine governance and the growing degradation of marine and coastal ecosystems. This is attributed to diverse factors related to institutional, legal, security, social, cultural, economic and environmental aspects, such as insufficient and incoherent or ineffective legislation and unratified or unfulfilled international agreements, limited institutional capacity, the socioeconomic situation of poverty and unemployment in coastal zones, the degradation and fragmentation of terrestrial ecosystems resulting from inadequate management of watersheds, in addition to global climate change, overfishing, illegal fishing, migration and drug trafficking, among others (Cajiao, MV, 2013).
The Report of the Presidential Commission for Marine Governance establishes among its conclusions that CONAMAR, as the High-Level Authority of a permanent nature, must undertake the task of integrating and reconciling existing planning instruments and preparing a National Marine Policy with a clear vision, which articulates the national interest in the security, use and management of the marine and coastal spaces and resources of Costa Rica (Presidential Commission for Marine Governance, 2012).
In April of the current year, consequently, a process of formulation of the National Marine Policy begins, based on the strategic orientations defined by the Ministers of CONAMAR, enriched by its Technical Secretariat, resulting in a First Policy Draft that was reviewed again by the CONAMAR Forum of Ministers in that of August. With that document, dialogue with civil society was opened, in seven regional workshops held in San José, Guanacaste, Puntarenas, Quepos, Golfito, Northern Caribbean and Southern Caribbean. The contributions received were considered by the Technical Secretariat of CONAMAR and a second draft is presented in a National Workshop so that it is observed again by the delegations defined in each of the seven regional workshops and other guests. The recommendations received in the National Workshop are again reviewed by the Technical Secretariat and the CONAMAR Forum of Ministers and the pertinent ones are incorporated, thus concluding the participatory formulation of this National Marine Policy.
It is expected that this process contributes to the consolidation of a national vision for the integrated management of marine and coastal spaces that serves as support for the application of the Policy in all its areas. As a second stage of this formulation effort, work will be done on the establishment of an Action Plan that operationalizes and articulates institutional actions within the annual operational plans, for the fulfillment of objectives and goals, with the respective contributions of civil society, from which a system of impact and performance indicators will be defined for its correct management.
Current Situation Costa Rica, with only 51,100 km2 of continental territorial extension (0.03% of the world's surface) has a marine area that exceeds its terrestrial surface by more than ten times (Presidential Commission for Marine Governance, 2012). In it, it houses around 90,000 species, that is, approximately 4.5% of global biodiversity (Obando. V., 2008). It has 1,016 km of coastline on the Pacific coast and 212 km on the Caribbean coast 2, a continental shelf of 589,163 km2 and an exclusive economic zone of 613,683 km2 (589,683 km2 in the Pacific and 24,000 km2 in the Caribbean):3 .
2 Costa Rica statistical file data, BCIE 3 FAO data at: http://www.fao.org/fi/oldsite/FCP/es/CRI/PROFILE.HTM The sea and the coastal zone comprise a portion of the territory with social, cultural, political and economic dynamics that have forged a particular development. It is certainly a melting pot of territories where diverse visions and aspirations about development and well-being intermingle, but it is, above all, the place where diverse productive activities such as tourism, agriculture, livestock, small industry and fisheries are carried out, all contributing to the regional and national economy (ICT, 2013).
Costa Rica possesses a great diversity of marine and coastal ecosystems: coral reefs, mangroves, muddy bottoms, rocky zones, beaches, cliffs, seagrass meadows, a tropical fjord, upwelling areas, a seasonal coastal upwelling zone, a thermal dome, an oceanic trench more than 4,000 m deep, an oceanic ridge (the Cocos), coastal islands, an oceanic island and hydrothermal vents, among others (5INAC/MINAET, 2008)4 .
4 It should be noted that Costa Rica has a total of 907 km2 of coral reefs and 400 km2 of mangroves (IN Bio at: http:j /www.inbio.ac.cr/es/biod/estrategia/Paginas/ecosistema02.html) These ecosystems host a diversity of migratory and resident populations of invertebrates, fish, turtles, birds and marine mammals that move along the coasts and seas. Such extension and richness of habitats contributes to the country having approximately 6,700 marine species (3.5 % marine species reported globally), of which 90 are endemic. The Pacific coast contains the greatest quantity of species (4,700), while the Caribbean possesses approximately 2,300 species. (Interdisciplinary Commission of the Exclusive Economic Zone, 2008; 5INAC/MINAET, 2008; Wehrtmann, 15; Cortés, J. (eds.), 2008; Morales, A., 2013; Wehrtmann, 1; Cortes, J;, 2009).
The country's marine ecosystems generate multiple services, whose present and future value must be incorporated into the national development Policies and management instruments of Costa Rica, in order to benefit the country and its inhabitants. Furthermore, the national marine and coastal spaces have enormous importance in the regional context and in the management of activities such as commercial maritime transport and the commercial fishing of highly migratory species, and their conservation and sustainable use is fundamental for improving the social, economic, environmental and food security of the country and the region (Presidential Commission for Marine Governance, 2012).
The current level of knowledge available on the physical, biological, and particularly the social and economic, dimensions of marine and coastal spaces and resources is limited and conditions our capacity to manage them. The increase in demand for the goods and services derived from these spaces and resources, as well as the number of interests that claim them, increases the need to design and implement new management policies that guarantee the sustainability of said resources, as well as the security of these spaces (Presidential Commission for Marine Governance, 2012).
Costa Rica has assumed international commitments for the conservation of its marine ecosystems and resources; therefore it is urgent that the country increase its conservation efforts and improve interinstitutional coordination, in order to mitigate the identified anthropogenic threats, both at sea and on the continent, that affect the conservation of the country's marine resources (SINACj MINAET,2008).
Marine ecosystems are of great importance for maintaining the productivity of fisheries and the provision of other provisioning and regulating services, which represent an important source of employment for all those related to the fishing industry and artisanal fishing and gathering, but they are also a source of security and well-being for many inhabitants of the country and a source of a variety of productive activities of great relevance for national development.
The tourism growth achieved so far in Costa Rica has represented a growing income in the amount of foreign currency, has boosted private investment, the creation of companies, the generation of employment and the development of diverse forms of productive chains at the local level. In just a period of 20 years, tourism activity has grown by more than 600% at an average annual rate of 10%, that is, more than double the average growth rate of world tourism (ICT, 2011).
However, the overexploitation of resources, the physical alteration of habitats, pollution, biological invasions and climate change, among other aspects, are recognized as the main causes of marine biodiversity and productivity loss. These threats originate from five sources of pressure: population increase, increased resource consumption, insufficient knowledge, undervaluation of resources and services, and deficient institutional framework. However, each threat is complex, since it constitutes an aggregation of multiple factors (SINAC/MINAET, 2008).
There are other factors that contribute to the degradation of marine and coastal ecosystems and reduce the possibilities of sustainably taking advantage of the productive opportunities that these systems offer to the country. Among them, the institutional lack of coordination can be mentioned corresponding to an insufficient, disjointed or obsolete legal framework. The majority of institutions function in isolation from each other, with different visions and insufficient willingness to assume the sea as a collective responsibility and without the necessary budgetary resources to direct and facilitate development, knowledge management or control and surveillance activities. All of this is also a consequence of limited institutional capacity.
At the same time, mechanisms for civil society participation in the effective and responsible management of marine and coastal spaces are insufficient and sectorized. Institutional lack of coordination in the management of the sea is reflected in the deficiencies of participation spaces, which are also underutilized. Consequently, stakeholders do not properly influence decision-making or change processes, and the interests of communities are not always taken into account in development Policies and the utilization of opportunities.
On the other hand, a short-term vision predominates with a national maritime culture that is little developed, which does not favor the generation or utilization of sustainable productive opportunities, beyond fishing and tourism, nor the fair and equitable distribution of its benefits, exacerbating problematic socioeconomic situations, such as social exclusion, zone. This vision does not foresee the impacts of climate change on marine and coastal spaces, associated ecosystems, and coastal communities, as well as on economic activities at sea.
Despite the research efforts made to date, information is still insufficient or inaccessible, and knowledge generation develops in a fragmented manner, is poorly disseminated and utilized, and is not converted into the necessary input for decision-making, nor does it systematize and incorporate local knowledge or good practices.
On the other hand, illicit activities that occur in jurisdictional waters, including ports and maritime transport, threaten national sovereignty, the security of people and the conservation of biological diversity, and consume a large amount of financial effort by the Costa Rican State, which could be being implemented in other areas of development.
Negative anthropogenic and natural impacts, many of which originate in the continental territory, as well as threats associated with climate variability, climate change and global change, accumulate in marine and coastal spaces and contribute to the degradation of their ecosystems, with signs of resource depletion and an increase in risk to the security of people being present.
To address this complexity and promote the integrated management of marine and coastal spaces, the Costa Rican State promotes the participatory formulation of this Policy, with the desire to contribute to the consolidation of a vision that integrates marine and coastal spaces within the efforts of national development, for the well-being of its inhabitants, the sustainable use of the productive opportunities it offers and the conservation of its biological diversity.
Central Problem An uncoordinated management of marine and coastal spaces, with a partial and fragmented vision, reinforces a predominant culture that does not value the great importance of the sea for the development of the country and its coastal communities.
Central Objective The Costa Rican State 5 manages in an integral, sustainable, equitable and participatory manner, the marine and coastal spaces 6 , their goods and services, with the necessary economic and human resources, for the well-being of its ecosystems and its inhabitants.
5 For the purposes of this document, when referring to the Costa Rican State, this is understood as the composition of its three elements: territory, population and Government.
6 Understood as the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea Vision The Costa Rican State has an integrative and complete vision of its territory, with a Policy and a National Development Plan that includes marine and coastal spaces and has a precise and coherent legal framework that facilitates their ordering and the sustainable and equitable use of their resources.
Purpose The Costa Rican State promotes interinstitutional and multidisciplinary, coordinated and planned action, that serves the integrated management of natural, technical and financial resources, and incentivizes productive activities of sustainable use, conservation and security in marine and coastal spaces. A part of the benefits obtained are used to reverse environmental degradation, conserve biological diversity, ensure life in the sea, take advantage of sustainable productive opportunities and reduce the exposure to risk of the populations and infrastructure that exist in these regions, in order to improve the common well-being of the Nation, especially, of the most vulnerable coastal communities.
Scope The National Marine Policy will have a term of fifteen years (15) with reviews at the midpoint of each government period, the first being in the year 2016, to adapt it according to the results and impacts achieved, changes in the context and the evolution of the state of knowledge. Its progress will be evaluated based on a monitoring system developed from result and impact indicators, designed for each management front. It will be evaluated by the instance responsible for coordinating the implementation of the Policy with periodic consultations with civil society.
Guiding Principles Principles of the Ecosystem Approach The ecosystem approach recognizes, among other aspects, that human beings, with their cultural diversity, are an integral component of ecosystems. It recognizes that life on the planet is based on a system of relationships that cannot be treated in a fragmented manner, therefore it helps to address environmental issues in a local social and economic context, which allows finding comprehensive responses for sustainable development.
Thus, the ecosystem, its inhabitants and their interactions, can be addressed gradually and systematically with a holistic, flexible and complex approach, with the purpose of responsibly using natural resources for the well-being of human beings, with particular emphasis on the development of organizational and institutional capacities, that is, of human talent. The key is in territorial, multisectoral, interinstitutional dialogue, at multiple scales or levels, which intertwines ideas and facilitates innovative agreements and arrangements.
Therefore, the twelve principles of the ecosystem approach are an integral part of this Policy. These are:
1. The choice of the objectives of the management of land, water and living resources must remain in the hands of society.
2. Natural resource management must be decentralized to the most appropriate level.
3. Ecosystem managers take into account the effects (real or possible) of their activities on adjacent ecosystems and on other ecosystems.
4. Given the possible benefits derived from its management, it is necessary to understand and manage the ecosystem in a given economic context.
5. Maintaining ecosystem services, the conservation of its structure and functioning is a priority objective of the ecosystem approach.
6. Ecosystems are managed within the limits of their functioning.
7. The ecosystem approach is applied at appropriate spatial and temporal scales.
8. Given the various temporal scales and the delayed effects that characterize processes associated with ecosystems, the ecosystem approach establishes long-term objectives in the management of them.
9. Management recognizes that change is inevitable.
10. The ecosystem approach seeks the appropriate balance between the conservation and the sustainable use of biological diversity, and its integration.
11. The ecosystem approach takes into account all forms of relevant information, including the knowledge, innovations, and practices of scientific, indigenous, and local communities.
12. The ecosystem approach involves all sectors of society and the relevant scientific disciplines.
Preventive Principle Recognizes the importance of preventing and stopping the causes and threats related to the loss of marine and coastal resources, through the adoption of effective protectionist measures, despite scientific uncertainty, in the face of the threat of probable or imminent damage to nature.
Precautionary Principle Also known as *in dubio pro natura*, it promotes a preventive criterion when conditions exist that threaten or cause the loss of marine and coastal resources. Its basic function is to avoid and foresee damage before it occurs. Therefore, in the face of scientific uncertainty regarding the damage that may be caused to the environment, the tendency is to avoid any activity.
Principle of Subsidiarity The principle of subsidiarity, in its broadest definition, implies that a matter should be resolved by the authority (normative, political, or economic) closest to the object of the problem. Subsidiarity recognizes, first and foremost, the autonomy of each conglomerate to establish its objectives and decide the processes to achieve them, which presupposes dialogue and participation by all members (individuals and groups) of the diverse social collectives in defining objectives, designing strategies to achieve them, their execution, and their evaluation. This recognition presupposes the instruments of self-regulation and co-regulation established by the constitutional legal framework.
Holistic Principle The holistic principle recognizes that all matters linked to marine and coastal spaces are interrelated and must be addressed as a whole. For this, the adoption and application of the ecosystem approach is fundamental. The Policy promotes a comprehensive approach that considers the effects of each action on the other elements involved, in accordance with the precautionary principle, because no element of the socio-environmental systems involved can be understood without the others, and without the other determining systems, such as the social, economic, and political systems.
Principle of Interculturality This principle favors respectful and horizontal dialogue, as well as coexistence between culturally distinct groups. It is founded on respect for diversity and mutual enrichment. It facilitates the peaceful and fruitful resolution of conflicts through the generation of conditions of horizontality for communication between diverse social actors, equitable and timely access to pertinent and culturally appropriate information (including with respect to language barriers) that guarantees respect for human rights.
The principle of interculturality visualizes the relationships that exist between different cultures as an unavoidable condition for their strengthening and their own development. Cultures are thus understood as dynamic and porous entities, in permanent dialogue; and cultural identities are seen as heterogeneous, transient, and changing affiliations. Thus, this intercultural perspective inspires models of managing diversity that promote interaction, exchange, dialogue, and feedback between different cultures, based on practices of mutual recognition and respect.
Principle of Responsible Participation The comprehensive management of the sea is a non-delegable competence of the State and its institutions, but its success requires the active and effective involvement of society as a whole, which shall be systematic, informed, consulted, and responsible, both in the execution and adaptation of the Policy, as well as in its accountability and evaluation.
This principle offers the opportunity for stakeholders and citizens to provide their views and participate in the design and implementation of the guidelines and actions of this Policy.
Principle of Access to Information The right to information is enshrined as one of the indispensable rights of the human being, as established by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Its importance rests on a concept of equality and justice, where all people need to have accurate information for decision-making and for their full development.
Principle of Adaptive Management Considering that systems, both human and natural, present a high degree of uncertainty in their responses to stimuli and changes, this Policy promotes an adaptive approach that allows it to adjust and incorporate learning, to improve methods and procedures in a cumulative process of continuous improvement. For this, an inclusive management model and a monitoring and evaluation system are available that allows identifying results and impacts, as well as validating them with the participation of all involved sectors, on a periodic basis.
Strategic Values (guide what to do) Knowledge Knowledge of the nature of marine and coastal spaces and of the associated human development processes, through planned and systematic research and timely, results-focused communication, is vital for changing the predominant vision of our sea and the ocean, for decision-making, for promoting technological innovation, and for favoring the evolution of public-private alliances, between actors and agents, that make possible the implementation of the arrangements facilitated by this Policy.
Competitiveness The Sea Policy facilitates the governability and governance of the marine territory, for the development of conditions and capacities that allow for the sustainable and intelligent harnessing of the opportunities offered by the immense wealth of marine and coastal spaces; with the appropriate secure investments, for an innovative management of the national heritage that results in an offering of products and services that are competitive in terms of price and quality on a global scale. Beyond serving as a means of maritime transport, the sea could become the most promising future for the Republic's international trade and its food security.
Sustainability The Sea Policy promotes the balance between utilization and its sustainability, between the conservation of marine-coastal resources and the development and production of wealth, as well as the supportive balance between the long-term well-being of human beings and other living beings.
Communication The Sea Policy must be made known through all available means (decrees, letters, publications, dissemination in mass and interactive media), with timely, clear, and quality information, and through educational and participatory activities.
Tactical Values (guide how to do it) Equity The Sea Policy sets guidelines, promotes commitments, and guides regulations for a just and supportive distribution of benefits. This helps overcome inequalities, without gender discrimination or discrimination of any other kind. Equity consists of granting equality of opportunities for all sectors and human groups, according to their particular conditions, especially for women. It presupposes the elimination of barriers that obstruct access to economic and political opportunities so that everyone may enjoy and benefit from knowledge and development.
If human development means expanding people's possibilities, they must enjoy equitable access to opportunities. Where equity is lacking, opportunities for many people are restricted. Therefore, change in gender relations is a necessary condition for achieving ecological, economic, and social sustainability. But intra- and intergenerational equity is also sought, for which the State and private parties watch over, especially regarding the obtaining of benefits from the conservation and sustainable use of marine and coastal resources, in order to achieve the fair satisfaction of the needs of all sectors of society and of future generations.
Integrity The Sea Policy implies the legal framework, strategies, agreements, institutional plans, and diverse scientific disciplines, which facilitate the coordination and alliances that give coherence to our action in marine and coastal spaces.
Commitment The Sea Policy results from an inter-institutional commitment under the leadership of the Presidency of the Republic and recognizes that, beyond the achievement and legitimacy reached by its guiding statements, the final consequences will depend on the commitment of the superior authorities of the State and its institutions and on these assuming the leadership that corresponds to them in relation to civil society.
Transparency The Sea Policy accounts for the values it promotes in a joint, planned, and committed manner. For this reason, it submits to strategic audits and internal controls, according to participatory and democratic principles and procedures; based on pertinent indicators and truthful information.
Management Fronts Conservation of marine and coastal resources and ecosystem-based risk reduction l. Governability and Governance Encompasses the legal framework, national and international, as well as the conditions, capacities, and instruments that facilitate governmental action, across the entire length and breadth of the marine spaces and the coastal zone of the country. It also implies articulation and coordination for the promotion of common actions that improve the comprehensive management of said spaces. Likewise, it considers the development and strengthening of mechanisms, capacities, and procedures to broaden the participation of civil society in the comprehensive management of marine and coastal spaces and their resources, their monitoring, and evaluation. The consideration of this aspect allows us to speak, specifically, of governance of marine and coastal spaces.
This management front also includes the ordering, planning, and zoning of these spaces for their comprehensive management, the strengthening of national, regional, and local regulatory plans (planes reguladores), and any other instrument of territorial, coastal, and marine spatial planning (ordenamiento territorial), as well as the institutional capacities for promotion and oversight that guarantee the adequate use of marine and coastal spaces. Furthermore, it is based on the recognition that all matters linked to the sea are interrelated and must be addressed as a whole.
This is all the more necessary because there is a growing diversity of uses given to the sea and its resources, which requires the elaboration of a set of instruments that allow for harmonizing, establishing priorities, and administering the seas in a process of comprehensive and multi-sectoral marine governance. These efforts include coastal regions, which have a fundamental role in the implementation of management schemes and which assume the greatest risks in the absence of a coherent policy that becomes more necessary in the face of global phenomena such as climate change and climate variability.
Associated Problems Institutional lack of coordination corresponds to an insufficient, disjointed, or obsolete legal framework. Most institutions function isolated from one another, with different visions and insufficient willingness to assume the sea as a collective responsibility and without the necessary budgetary resources to direct and facilitate development, knowledge management, or control and surveillance activities. All of this is also a consequence of limited institutional capacity.
The mechanisms for civil society participation in the effective and responsible management of marine and coastal spaces are insufficient and sectorized. Institutional lack of coordination in sea management is reflected in the deficiencies of participation spaces, which are also underutilized.
Actors do not have due influence on decision-making or on change processes, and the interests of communities are not always taken into account in development and opportunity-harnessing policies; moreover, communities do not receive accountability for real results and impacts. In short, a weak citizen culture undermines the representativeness and legitimacy of participation spaces.
Objectives The Costa Rican State strengthens the bodies and their articulation, as well as the technical and financial instruments and mechanisms, in order to modernize, adapt, and articulate the legal framework, to improve the management of its marine-coastal territory, its natural and anthropogenic risks, as well as the exercise of its sovereignty.
The Costa Rican State considers the effective participation of civil society in the comprehensive management of marine-coastal spaces and in the safeguarding of the country's natural and cultural heritage, striving for well-being, peace, and security.
Strategic Guidelines To this end, the Costa Rican State establishes the following guidelines:
1.1. Consolidates a national, institutional, and collegial authority, which coordinates the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of this Policy.
1.2. Progressively readapts the Costa Rican legal framework to improve the management of marine and coastal spaces in accordance with International Law and international commitments and their management.
1.3. Orders, administers, and manages marine, maritime, and coastal spaces in accordance with the Costa Rican legal framework, for the development and harnessing of sustainable productive opportunities and the conservation of biological diversity.
1.4. Completes the process of delimiting its maritime borders with those countries with which this task is still pending.
1.5. Establishes the most effective and transparent mechanisms to strengthen a culture of responsible participation for the governance and comprehensive management of marine and coastal spaces.
1.6. Promotes the harmonization and dissemination of institutional and territorial spatial planning plans, so that they respond to the provisions of this Policy.
1.7. The national authority coordinates strategies so that the national population integrates the sea as part of its vision of the country and changes the current paradigm towards one based on the sustainable use and responsible management of marine and coastal spaces and their resources.
1.8. Disseminates the progress of the Policy and renders accounts in a systematic, strategic, and transparent manner on the results and impacts of the Policy's execution, to all inhabitants.
1.9. Safeguards its sovereignty by exercising the defense of its marine and maritime interests, through proactive participation in national, regional, and international forums and organisms and the development of management, control, and surveillance activities.
1.10. Promotes local, regional, and international institutional coordination, with an ecosystem approach, for the spatial planning and sustainable management of marine and coastal resources and their relationship with hydrographic basins.
1.11. Accompanies, develops, and strengthens the capacities of local governments for the management of marine and coastal spaces.
Human Well-being and Sustainable Use It is devoted to the promotion and strengthening of all uses and productive utilizations of resources and ecosystem services permitted within the framework of the law in marine and coastal spaces, which generate material, cultural, and spiritual benefit to the inhabitants of the Republic. These must be sustainable and their benefits must be distributed equitably for the well-being of the Nation.
Therefore, it refers to all initiatives that, in accordance with national legislation, promote sustainable human development, aimed at eradicating poverty, reducing vulnerability, and increasing the well-being of the Costa Rican population, especially coastal and indigenous communities. It includes the facilitation of the sustainable development of those communities and industries associated with the sea and its resources, including: tourism, maritime and land transportation, navigation, port and navigation infrastructure, fishing and aquaculture; additionally, entrepreneurship and innovation, commerce, education, culture, health, and other public services, for the well-being of the population.
Associated Problems A short-term vision predominates with a poorly developed national sea culture that does not favor the generation or harnessing of sustainable productive opportunities, beyond fishing and tourism, nor the fair and equitable distribution of their benefits, exacerbating problematic socioeconomic situations, such as social exclusion, exposure to risks, and overexploitation, especially in the coastal zone. This vision does not foresee the impacts of climate change on marine and coastal spaces, associated ecosystems, and on coastal communities, as well as on economic activities at sea.
Objectives The Costa Rican State creates the conditions for the country to sustainably harness, and considering the new conditions imposed by climate change, the potential of marine and coastal spaces in matters of public safety, food security, public infrastructure, research, technology, communications, culture, human talent, and well-being, among others, respecting local traditions and knowledge, with equity and socio-cultural inclusion for the benefit of all its inhabitants.
The Costa Rican State promotes the strengthening of the livelihoods of coastal communities and supports sustainable productive alternatives in marine and coastal spaces, related, at least, to fishing, aquaculture, tourism, energy, transportation, and culture.
Strategic Guidelines To this end, the Costa Rican State establishes the following guidelines:
2.1. Promotes planned public investment in infrastructure, transportation, education, culture, health, capacity building, and other basic services for the development of marine and coastal spaces resilient to climate change, promoting fair and equitable access to their resources.
2.2. Promotes and regulates private investment in priority areas for the development of sustainable marine and coastal activities.
2.3. Implements a socio-cultural strategy of an inter-institutional and interdisciplinary nature to improve the well-being of coastal communities as an urgent and priority action.
2.4. Promotes the development of sustainable and climate-change-resilient productive opportunities in coastal zones to increase human well-being and the health of ecosystems.
2.5. Promotes and develops alternatives for the generation of resources and the improvement of the registration and efficient collection of fees (cánones), tariffs, licenses, and other financial mechanisms that contribute to the comprehensive management of the sea and its ecosystem services.
2.6. Promotes the opening of funding sources for the promotion of sustainable productive activities in marine and coastal spaces, adapted to the specific conditions of the sea culture and its challenges, considering the new conditions imposed by climate change.
2.7. Defines and regulates priority areas for sustainable productive activities, such as nautical tourism and other forms of tourism, fishing use and management, energy, and other marine and coastal natural resources based on territorial planning processes based on technical and scientific criteria.
2.8. Promotes the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and bioprospecting, taking into account all rights over said resources and technologies.
2.9. Comprehensively addresses the development needs and the generation of human capacities, entrepreneurship, associativity, and social innovation in coastal zones, especially the most vulnerable ones.
2.10. Promotes the organization and inclusion of producers in strategic productive management chains, to eliminate distortions in commercialization chains and increase bargaining power among different actors.
2.11. Strengthens innovative alternatives for the sustainable use of resources and the generation of employment and income in cities and other coastal populations.
2.12. Promotes the effective recovery of the productivity levels of fisheries and other marine and coastal resources, through the restoration of biomass levels, habitats, and ecosystems that sustain their productivity and contribute to food security.
2.13. Favors processes that increase added value in maritime, marine, and coastal productive activities.
2.14. Improves the distribution of the wealth produced by marine, maritime, and coastal activities.
2.15. Modernizes the maritime-port and navigation sector, through efficient and safe management of maritime transport and ports, marinas, and docks, with advanced technology, which seeks the protection of marine and coastal spaces, their resources, people, and the sea culture.
2.16. Promotes technical and financial resources so that the population changes its vision, improves its relationship with the sea, and assumes its responsibility for the comprehensive management of the sea through the implementation of good practices.
2.17. Facilitates actions regarding the preparation of coastal communities to face current risks related to tsunamis, storm surges, tropical cyclones, rip currents, and other oceanographic and meteorological phenomena.
2.18. Promotes the required guidelines regarding insurance, credit, and other financing mechanisms, to establish safeguards for risk management in the face of the effects of climate change on productive activities.
2.19. Promotes, in a participatory manner, a climate change adaptation strategy in vulnerable marine and coastal spaces.
2.20. Integrates a network of early warning systems and risk assessments as prevention and preparedness mechanisms in the face of climate change and other threats.
Scientific, Technological, and Cultural Knowledge Corresponds to all activities that generate knowledge for decision-making on marine and coastal spaces and resources, choosing the most adequate technological applications to harness their benefits and conserve biological diversity. These are essential activities for comprehensive and sustainable management, and include those that communicate these results openly and widely and serve the education of the inhabitants, considered as an indispensable condition for promoting a safe, responsible, and sustainable marine culture. It also presupposes actions to rescue local knowledge and traditions and their combination with scientific data to contribute to the development of general knowledge, the transformation of capacities and attitudes, and the incorporation of best practices, conserving marine-coastal biological diversity in consideration of local knowledge or wisdom that serves for the construction of community, local, and collective knowledge.
Associated Problems Insufficient or inaccessible information, with fragmented generation of knowledge, poorly disseminated, and underutilized, which does not become the necessary input for decision-making, nor systematizes and incorporates local knowledge or good practices.
Objectives The Costa Rican State coordinates, facilitates, incentivizes, strengthens, and disseminates scientific and technological research related to marine and coastal issues, for adequate decision-making, promoting financial resources and incorporating local knowledge.
Strategic Guidelines To this end, the Costa Rican State establishes the following guidelines:
3.1. Promotes a national culture of valuing the sea, founded on sustainable development, through the dissemination of knowledge and the change of attitudes and behaviors.
3.2. Promotes the systematization of all available technical, scientific, and applied information on marine and coastal heritage, through coordination between governmental entities, academia, NGOs, cooperatives, local associations, private entrepreneurs, and international organisms, and makes it accessible to decision-makers, the general citizenry, and coastal communities in particular.
3.3. Promotes a National Research Program for marine and coastal spaces, which establishes research priorities, procuring the necessary human and financial resources for the fulfillment of its purposes, integrating existing initiatives such as the National Research Strategy and the Ecological Monitoring Program, among others.
3.4. Encourages the country to value the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of coastal communities by investing in the rescue and exchange of their experiences, the strengthening and promotion of local knowledge, respecting and consolidating the cultural rights of coastal communities.
3.5. Incentivizes international cooperation for marine research in coordination with the national authority and the competent institutions.
3.6. Promotes education, culture, and awareness about the potential, uses, conservation, utilization, and management of the sea and its resources.
3.7. Develops and strengthens a monitoring and evaluation program to improve impact assessment criteria in marine and coastal spaces.
3.8. Promotes scientific research on coastal natural threats, such as tsunamis, storm surges, tropical cyclones, rip currents, and other oceanographic and meteorological phenomena, for the design and application of mitigation, adaptation, and risk reduction measures.
3.9. Promotes the analysis of the vulnerability of coastal communities and marine spaces to climate change for the design and implementation of climate change adaptation strategies.
3.10. Promotes research on the potential use of the seafloor and subseafloor and their possible impacts on the conservation of biological diversity and the well-being of the inhabitants of the Republic, and opens a participatory national dialogue as an input to improve decision-making on the use of minerals and hydrocarbons and other resources present in marine spaces (e.g., lithium, magnesium, manganese, methane hydrates, oil, gas, among others) and on the equitable distribution of the wealth they may generate, adhering to the protection measures established in international treaties and agreements.
Security, Protection, and Surveillance Refers to governmental action that guarantees, in full exercise of national sovereignty, the predominance of law and peace in maritime and coastal spaces; particularly, with respect to the protection of all activities carried out by persons in jurisdictional waters, the conservation of all forms of life, and the safety of human beings, which includes the sustainable use of resources and care for the responsible consumption of seafood products.
Associated Problems Illicit activities that occur in jurisdictional waters, including ports and maritime transport, threaten national sovereignty, the safety of persons, and the conservation of biological diversity.
Objectives The Costa Rican State fully exercises its sovereignty in jurisdictional waters, ports, and terrestrial maritime transport controls, through its permanent presence and surveillance that ensure life, conservation, and the sustainable use of marine and coastal resources.
Strategic Guidelines To this end, the Costa Rican State establishes the following guidelines:
4.1. Promotes inter-institutional coordination of policies, plans, and actions for the exercise of its sovereignty and compliance with its global responsibility.
4.2. Ensures the control and surveillance of the maritime and coastal space through broad inter-institutional coordination led by the National Coast Guard Service (Servicio Nacional de Guardacostas).
4.3. Develops the technical, legal, and financial capacities to improve navigation control and the safety of maritime and tourist transport in marine and coastal spaces.
4.4. Invests the financial, human, technical, technological, and fleet equipment resources of the National Coast Guard Service for the full exercise of its sovereignty.
4.5. Promotes a national and regional prevention strategy, with civil society participation, in order to ensure activities carried out at sea and minimize illicit acts.
4.6. Procures the necessary means to guarantee compliance with measures that ensure human life at sea, as well as the protection of port facilities.
4.7. Develops a surveillance and monitoring system with cutting-edge technology in cooperation with national, regional, and international partners.
4.8. Strengthens its commitment to controlling illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and controlling pollution by providing the responsible institutions with the suitable resources for this purpose.
Conservation of Marine and Coastal Resources and Ecosystem-based Risk Reduction Includes actions aimed at guaranteeing the conservation of biodiversity and the functionality of ecosystems, their resources, and associated services, as well as the management of real and potential threats from climate variability, climate change, and global change. It encompasses the promotion, improvement, and formulation of national and local strategies aimed at safeguarding the conservation of diversity and food security for the well-being of the inhabitants. This management front intersects and articulates with the previous ones to guarantee the monitoring of the principles of the ecosystem approach, marine spatial planning, integrated coastal management, and the precautionary principle in all initiatives contemplated by this Policy.
Associated Problems Negative anthropogenic and natural impacts, many of which originate in the continental territory, as well as threats associated with global change, accumulate in marine and coastal spaces and degrade their ecosystems, presenting signs of resource depletion and an increased risk to the safety of people.
Objectives The Costa Rican State protects ecosystems, their functionality, and productivity by preventing and promoting the mitigation of negative anthropogenic and natural impacts on marine and coastal spaces, risk management, and adaptation to climate change.
Strategic Guidelines With this objective, the Costa Rican State establishes the following guidelines:
5.1. Develops and strengthens management models that promote the conservation and restoration of biological diversity and marine spatial planning, such as marine areas of responsible fishing, marine protected areas, and marine biological corridors.
5.2. Develops actions aimed at improving the management of the country's watersheds, especially regarding the control of erosion, sedimentation, and pollution.
5.3. Establishes a participatory system for monitoring and evaluating global change and its impact on ecosystems and the livelihoods of threatened communities, based on information and knowledge management systems; it implies the design of measures and processes for adaptation, ecosystem restoration, and disaster risk reduction, in coordination with the competent institutions, together with academia and civil society actors.
5.4. Promotes technical, scientific, and economic studies to assess the expansion of conservation and protection sites for marine and coastal ecosystems and to improve the management and utilization of resources.
5.5. Conserves those areas that constitute important spaces for the provision of ecosystem services and biological diversity that contribute to livelihoods, well-being, food security, and risk reduction.
5.6. Maintains the ecological integrity of freshwater courses and their connectivity with marine spaces.
5.7. Facilitates the restoration of marine and coastal ecosystems as a mechanism for adaptation to climate change.
5.8. Promotes the formulation and implementation of projects that increase the resilience of ecosystems to climate change.
Management Model Integrated sea management is a non-delegable competence of the State and its institutions, but its success requires the active and effective involvement of Costa Rican society. Therefore, the management model is centered on the National Marine Authority, which is responsible for the coordinated implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the National Marine Policy.
This function is proper to the current CONAMAR (*), whose obligations were established through Executive Decree No. 37212-MINAET-MAG-SP-MOPT and amended by executive decree No. 37384-MINAET-MAG-SP-MOPT, which states in its Article 3 that "The National Marine Commission is responsible for: a). Articulating, integrating, and reconciling the Policies and planning instruments issued in marine matters; promoting their implementation through the governing institutions; b). Preparing and proposing the National Marine Policy and; c). Recommending directives that ensure compliance with the National Marine Policy and an integrated and effective management of marine spaces. d) Approving the work plans of the Technical Secretariat of CONAMAR (*).
(*) (Thus modified its denomination by article 3 of executive decree No. 40473 of May 23, 2017. Previously it was indicated: "National Marine Commission".)
In this new proposal, CONAMAR will continue to be constituted in the same manner, but will incorporate spaces for dialogue with civil society (see figure 1).
The Forum of Ministers brings together the heads of each portfolio and is coordinated by the Vice Presidency of the Republic. The political direction of CONAMAR will correspond to the Forum of Ministers, based on the technical recommendations emanating from its Technical Secretariat.
The current Forum of Ministers must be expanded, according to recent experience, with the participation of the Ministers of Housing and Human Settlements, of Tourism, and of Foreign Relations, who in turn must appoint a representative to the Technical Secretariat of CONAMAR, as established in the aforementioned decree.
These new members must also be qualified technicians in marine matters, in addition to the competencies proper to their respective institutions. Along with their appointment, an alternate will also be designated who must possess professional characteristics similar to the principals. This incorporates people who know their respective work areas and better leverages the respective learning curve.
The Technical Secretariat of CONAMAR (ST-CONAMAR) is composed of the officials delegated by the heads of the Ministries that make up CONAMAR and the Executive Secretary who acts as general coordinator. They have the responsibility to provide technical follow-up to the implementation process of this Policy and to communicate the decisions and operational guidelines to their respective institutions at the central, regional, and subregional levels, with the facilitation of the Executive Secretariat, which must be strengthened with more permanent staff as suggested below. It also corresponds to these officials to promote the appropriation, operationalization, and fulfillment, in the actions of their respective institutions, of the guidelines of this Policy.
Furthermore, the formation of a National Forum and the pertinent regional forums is proposed, to be installed as part of the periodic evaluation process of the implementation of this Policy, at the midpoint of each government period.
The Regional Forums are formed with the representative regional bodies of citizen participation, such as, for example, the AMUMs Commissions and the Local Governments, and other commissions established with local representation, all of them convened by the Executive Secretary of CONAMAR.
Similarly, a web page is proposed that contributes to the dissemination of the institutional and civil society work in fulfilling the Policy guidelines and their adaptation and continuous improvement.
Consequently, it is suggested to add the following functions to CONAMAR:
Coordinate the implementation and provide follow-up and evaluation to the National Marine Policy.
Periodically review and adapt, through dialogue with civil society, the Policy guidelines, once the achievements in the planning and sustainable use of marine and coastal spaces and their impact on the well-being of people and their communities have been assessed.
For this, the Executive Secretariat of CONAMAR will have the necessary technical personnel to follow up on compliance with the Policy; through the efficient and transparent management of a web page that contributes to the dissemination of the institutional and civil society work in relation to the Policy guidelines, their adaptation, and continuous improvement. Likewise, it will serve to empower a National Forum and those Regional Forums that are deemed pertinent, in accordance with already existing and recognized regional and subregional structures.
These technicians will function as a "liaison" and support for the follow-up of the decisions of CONAMAR and the implementation of the Policy by the institutions in their field. These officials will accompany institutional management, especially regarding the dissemination and motivation of the officials of the institutions in coastal regions and of civil society sectors interested in integrated sea management. Likewise, they will play a key role in accountability and in the evaluation of the provisions of the Policy, as well as in facilitating intersectoral dialogue and dialogue between civil society and State institutions. They may also become involved in finding solutions to the specific problems of the territories within their area of responsibility and will collaborate with the achievement of the Policy objectives.
This implies openness to citizen participation, which has been one of the main demands of civil society during the Policy formulation process, and upon which its success depends to a high degree. In addition, this complies with the principle of responsible participation adopted by this Policy.
Glossary
| Aquaculture | Commercial production of aquatic animals and plants in captivity under controlled conditions. Commercial aquaculture implies individual or collective ownership of the cultivated organisms, as well as the processes of transport, industrialization, and marketing of those organisms. |
|---|---|
| Adaptation | Adjustment of natural or human systems to a new or changing environment. Adaptation to climate change refers to adjustments in human or natural systems in response to projected or actual climatic stimuli, or their effects, which can moderate harm or exploit beneficial aspects. Several types of adaptation can be distinguished, including anticipatory or reactive adaptation, public or private adaptation, and autonomous or planned adaptation. |
| Continental waters | Waters that form lakes, lagoons, reservoirs, or rivers within continental or insular territory. |
| Jurisdictional waters | All waters where the Costa Rican State exercises sovereignty, control, administration, and surveillance, which also exercises jurisdiction at sea up to 200 nautical miles. |
| Physical alteration of habitats | Change in the local environmental conditions in which a specific organism lives. Habitat modification can occur naturally as a consequence of droughts, epidemics, fires, hurricanes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, slight increases or decreases in seasonal temperatures or precipitation, etc. However, habitat modification is generally induced by human activities such as land-use change (cambio en el uso de la tierra), the physical modification of rivers, or the extraction of water from them. |
| Environment | Environment is understood as everything that surrounds a living being. Surroundings that affect and especially condition the life circumstances of people or society as a whole. It comprises the set of natural, social, and cultural values existing in a specific place and time, which influence the life of the human being and future generations. |
| Anthropogenic | The term "anthropogenic" refers to effects, processes, or materials that are the result of human activities, unlike those that have natural causes without human influence. |
| Biodiversity or Biological diversity | The variability of living organisms from any source, including, among other things, terrestrial and marine ecosystems and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within each species, between species, and of ecosystems. The quantity and relative abundance of different families (genetic diversity), species, and ecosystems (communities) in a given area. |
| Biomass | Total mass of living organisms in a given area or volume; recently dead plant matter (dead biomass) is often included. |
| Bioprospecting | It is the study of nature aimed at finding organisms and substances with possible uses for human benefit that may have significant commercial value in sectors such as industrial, food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical, among others. It is thus understood as the systematic search, classification, and investigation of new sources of chemical compounds, genes, proteins, microorganisms, and other products with current or potential economic value that form part of biodiversity. |
| Climate Change | It has been defined by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as "a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods." |
| Global change | This is the set of changes in the fundamental processes that define the functioning of the planet derived from human activity. This is evident in the transformation of the Earth's surface by human activities and their impacts on the cycles of water, elements, and the climate system, including the introduction of thousands of synthetic chemical compounds into the biosphere. It is necessary to speak of global change, and not just climate change, which is perhaps the most visible phenomenon, together with other global phenomena such as biodiversity loss, desertification, and land use, which present interrelated dynamics and continually feedback on each other. |
| Adaptive capacity | The capacity of people, places, ecosystems, and species to withstand unforeseen events and disturbances without ceasing to fulfill their function. |
| Conservation | Environmental conservation, species conservation, nature conservation, or nature protection are some of the names given to the various ways of protecting and preserving the future of nature, the environment, or specifically some of its parts: flora and fauna, different species, different ecosystems, scenic values, etc. The efforts to protect and preserve, for the future, nature, the environment, or, specifically, some of its parts. |
| Pollution | Environmental pollution is defined as the presence in the environment of any agent (physical, chemical, or biological) or a combination of several agents in places, forms, and concentrations such that they are or may be harmful to health, safety, or the welfare of the population, or that may be harmful to plant or animal life, or impede the normal use of properties and places of recreation and enjoyment thereof. Environmental pollution is also the incorporation into receiving bodies of solid, liquid, or gaseous substances, or mixtures thereof, provided they unfavorably alter the natural conditions thereof, or may affect the health, hygiene, or public welfare. |
| Hydrographic basin | It is the area of surface or underground waters that drain into a natural hydrographic network with one or several natural channels, of continuous or intermittent flow, which converge into a larger course that, in turn, may flow into a main river, a natural water deposit, a swamp, or directly into the sea. |
| Adaptive capacity | Persistent decrease in the capacity of ecosystems to provide services. For provisioning services, it is a decrease in the production of the service due to changes in the area where the service is provided or a decrease in production per unit area. For regulation and supporting services, it is a decrease in the benefits obtained from the service, due to a change in the service or human pressures on the service that exceed its limits. For cultural services, it is a change in the characteristics of ecosystems that diminishes the benefits they provide. |
| Capacity building | Process of strengthening and developing human resources, institutions, and organizations. |
| Sustainable development | Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The sustainable use of an ecosystem refers to the use that humans make of an ecosystem in such a way that it produces a continuous benefit for current generations as long as its potential to meet the needs and aspirations of future generations is maintained. |
| Sustainable development | Sustainable development requires managing natural, human, social, economic, and technological resources, in order to achieve a better quality of life for the population and, at the same time, ensure that current consumption patterns do not affect the well-being of future generations. The concept of sustainability is founded on the recognition of the limits and potentials of nature, as well as environmental complexity, inspiring a new understanding of the world to face the challenges of humanity in the third millennium. It promotes a new nature-culture alliance founded on a new economy, reorienting the potentials of science and technology, and building a new political culture based on an ethics of sustainability—in values, beliefs, feelings, and knowledge—that renew existential meanings, life worlds, and ways of inhabiting planet Earth. |
| Cultural diversity | The diversity of cultures or cultural diversity refers to the degree of cultural variation, both worldwide and in certain areas, where there is interaction of different coexisting cultures (in short, different and diverse cultures). Cultural diversity is manifested by the diversity of language, religious beliefs, land management practices, in art, in music, in social structure, in crop selection, in diet, and in every conceivable number of other attributes of human society. |
| Genetic diversity | Variety in the different types of genes in a species or population. Genetic diversity is actually a form of biodiversity. |
| Ecoregion | Territory of greater or lesser extension, with well-defined physical and biological limits that determine a characteristic landscape. That is, there is unity in the manifestation of the main physical features of the environment: geology, geomorphology, climate, and soil, which is also expressed in an adaptive convergence of dominant life forms regarding the specific characteristics of that environment. |
| Marine Ecoregion | Marine ecoregions have been defined by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to assist in the conservation activities of marine ecosystems. |
| Ecosystems | A complex system formed by communities of plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms, as well as the inert environment that surrounds them and their interactions as an ecological unit. Ecosystems do not have fixed limits, so their parameters are set according to the scientific, political, or management question being examined. Depending on the objective of the analysis, a single lake, a basin, or an entire region can be considered an ecosystem. |
| Productive linkages | The capacity of a group of entrepreneurs to work towards the same objective, through the development of work schemes, thus achieving benefits such as cost reduction, synchronization of production and marketing, thereby achieving an increase in productivity and competitiveness. Viewed as a whole, the production chain is defined as a systemic process in which the actors of an economic activity interact from the primary sector to the final consumer, based on the development of spaces for consensus-building between the public and private sectors, aimed at promoting and driving the achievement of higher levels of competitiveness for said activity. |
| Renewable energy | Energy produced from indefinitely renewable sources, for example, hydro, solar, geothermal, and wind energy sources, as well as biomass that is produced sustainably. |
| Equity | Justice in terms of rights, distribution, and access. Depending on the context, it can refer to resources, services, or power. |
| Erosion | The process of removal and transport of soil and rock by the action of meteorological phenomena, mass wasting, and the action of watercourses, glaciers, waves, winds, and groundwater. |
| Marine Spaces | This broad denomination equally includes all maritime surface and depth zones, whose use is regulated by the International Law of the Sea. |
| Fragmentation | The fragmentation of ecosystems or habitats is an environmental change process important for evolution and conservation biology. As its name implies, it describes the appearance of discontinuities (fragmentation) in an organism's environment (habitat). |
| Governability | Governability can be understood as the situation in which a set of favorable conditions for the action of government concur, which are situated in its environment or are intrinsic to it, that is, that are proper to the State and its institutions. |
| Governance | It refers to practices in the action of governing that emphasize aspects that supplement political power, where the key idea is the notion that it incorporates civil society into the action of government. It is the exercise of political, economic, and administrative authority to manage the affairs of the nation through a complex of mechanisms, processes, relationships, and institutions through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their rights and obligations, and mediate their differences. |
| Habitat | The particular environment or site in which an organism or species lives; a part of the total environment, but more locally circumscribed. |
| Uncertainty | An expression of the degree to which a value (such as the future state of the climate system) is unknown. Uncertainty can result from a lack of information or from disagreements about what is known or can be known. |
| Food insecurity | A situation that exists when people lack secure access to sufficient amounts of nutritious food for normal growth and development and for a healthy and active life. |
| Biological invasion | Biological invasion is understood as an uncontrolled increase in the number of individuals of a species that negatively affects native ecosystems. |
| Legal framework | The legal framework provides the bases upon which institutions build and determine the scope and nature of activities regulated in marine spaces. Constituted by international treaties duly ratified by Costa Rica and by internal regulations, it is found in a good number of regulatory provisions and interrelated laws. Its foundation is the Constitution of the Republic as supreme legislation, which is complemented by legislation promulgated by the Legislative Assembly, including laws, penal codes, and Regulations, which include Codes of Conduct/Ethics, publicized by different regulatory bodies that have close ties to the matter in question. The legal framework empowers the corresponding authority to carry out administrative tasks in accordance with the structure detailed within its same provisions. |
| Marine | Marine refers to the facts, processes, and dynamics proper to the nature of the seas and oceans and their associated life forms. The branches of oceanography (oceanology) deal with this: i) biological oceanography (marine biology); chemical oceanography; geological oceanography, and physical oceanography; but there is an interaction between the sea as a physical-biological space and the human being, the study of the marine is related to other social sciences and fields of human knowledge. In summary, marine corresponds to humanity's use of the oceans in terms of a natural space. |
| Maritime | Maritime corresponds to human action on the oceans and seas for their management and administration of those spaces. In that sense, it corresponds to the dimension of the seas as territorial space, susceptible to being divided among political-administrative units. Maritime refers to the social dimensions of coastal and marine issues. This means it covers topics of administration, governance, the legal framework of spaces under the jurisdiction of some entity, coastal administration, and the spatial planning of the marine. |
| Mitigation | Mitigation is also understood as the set of measures that can be taken to counteract or minimize the negative environmental impacts that some anthropogenic interventions may have. These measures must be consolidated in a Mitigation Plan, which must be part of the environmental impact assessment (estudio de impacto ambiental). |
| Artisanal fishing | Fishing activity carried out in an artisanal manner by natural persons, with the use of a vessel, in continental waters or in the coastal zone and with an autonomy to operate up to a maximum of five nautical miles from the coastline, carried out for commercial purposes. |
| Responsible fishing | A set of principles and standards applicable to the conservation, management, and development of all fisheries. It also encompasses the capture, processing, and trade of fish and fishery products, fishing operations, aquaculture, fisheries research, and the integration of fisheries into coastal zone management. "Fishing constitutes a vital source of food, employment, recreation, trade, and economic well-being for populations around the world, both for present and future generations, and should therefore be carried out responsibly." |
| Public policy | A course or line of action defined to guide or achieve an end, expressed in directives, guidelines, or strategic objectives on a topic and the attention to or transformation of a problem of public interest to guarantee the well-being of the population. They make explicit the political will translated into decisions and support in human, technical, and financial resources, as well as in national and international mandates. |
| Regional | Refers to the countries that make up the Mesoamerican region, the Eastern Tropical Pacific, and the Caribbean Sea. |
| Climate regulator | Ocean currents, or marine currents, are climate-regulating factors that act as a moderator, softening temperatures. |
| Resilience | The amount of disturbance or pressure that an ecosystem, or a social, economic, or cultural system, can withstand and still be capable of returning to its original state. The amount of disturbance an ecosystem can withstand without crossing the threshold to a situation with different outcomes or structure. The capacity for resilience depends on ecological dynamics as well as the organizational and institutional capacity to understand, manage, and respond to these dynamics. In the case of community resilience, it is defined as the capacity of a community to: Absorb stress or destructive forces through resistance or adaptation. Manage or maintain basic functions and structures during the impact or disaster. Recover after an impact or disaster. |
| Risk | The probability that something may cause harm or damage. |
| Ecosystem services | Benefits that people obtain from ecosystems. This includes provisioning services such as food and water, but also includes regulation services such as flood and disease control, also cultural services such as spiritual, recreational, or cultural benefits, and finally essential services such as nutrient cycling that ensures the conditions that allow life on Earth. |
| Synergy | The action of two or more causes whose effect is greater than the sum of the individual effects. |
| Climate variability | Refers to variations in the average state and on all temporal and spatial scales that extend beyond individual climatic events. E.g., rainfall regime, frequency of extreme events. Variability can be due to natural internal processes within the climate system (internal variability) or to variations in anthropogenic external forcings (external variability). |
| Vulnerability | Exposure to contingencies and pressures and the difficulty in coping with them. Vulnerability contemplates three main dimensions: exposure to pressures, disturbances, and unforeseen events; the sensitivity of people, places, ecosystems, and species to pressures or disturbances, and their capacity to anticipate and manage pressures. |
| Coastal zone | The Coastal Zone or littoral comprises coastal, marine, and estuarine waters and waters near the shores of large lakes and inland seas, as well as a portion of land near the coast, where human activities and natural processes affect and are affected by what happens in the waters. The extension varies, as its limits are determined not only by environmental and geological characteristics but also by a political and administrative concept. Thus, it can include the entire terrestrial area of the hydrographic basins and the entire aquatic area up to the continental shelf, although in practice the coastal zone is a relatively narrow band of water and land along the shoreline. |
List of Participants Participants in the process of formulating the Político Nocional del Mar (April-September 2013) Ministers of the CONAMAR (*).
(*) (As amended its denomination by Article 3 of Decreto Ejecutivo 40473 of May 23, 2017. Previously it read: "Comisión Nacional del Mar".)
| Alfio Piva | First Vice President of the Republic |
|---|---|
| José Enrique Castillo Barrantes | Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship |
| Gloria Abraham Peralta | Minister of Agriculture and Livestock |
| Guido Alberto Monge Fernández | Minister of Housing and Human Settlements |
| Ce Iso Gamboa | Vice Minister of Public Security |
| Marcela Chacón | Vice Minister of the Interior |
| Castro Xinia Chaves | Vice Minister of Agriculture - MAG |
| José Lino Chaves | Vice Minister of Water and Seas - MINAE |
| Ana Lorena Guevara | Vice Minister of Environment - MINAE |
| Ana Cristina Jenkins | Vice Minister of Air and Maritime Transport - MOPT |
| Executive Secretariat of the CONAMAR (*) (*) (As amended its denomination by Article 3 of Decreto Ejecutivo 40473 of May 23, 2017. Previously it read: "Comisión Nacional del Mar".) | |
| Maria Virginia Cajiao | Executive Secretary CONAMAR, Presidential Advisor |
| Adriana Bejarano | Chief of Staff, Vice Ministry of Water and Seas, Ministry of Environment and Energy |
| Jacklyn Rivera Wong | Technical Advisor, Vice Ministry of Water and Seas, Ministry of Environment and Energy |
| Eugenia Arguedas | Coastal Marine Program - SINAC, Ministry of Environment and Energy |
| Yenny Asch | Coastal Marine Program - SINAC, Ministry of Environment and Energy |
| Luis Dobles Ramírez Antonio Porras | Executive President INCOPESCA |
| Luis Fernando Coronado | Technical Director General, INCOPESCA |
| Jorge Hernández | Director General, Maritime Port Division, Ministry of Public Works and Transport |
| Martín Arias Araya | Director of Navigation and Safety, Ministry of Public Works and Transport |
| Carmen Castro Morales | Director General of the Coast Guard, Ministry of Public Security |
| Rodolfo Lizano | Coast Guard - Environmental Chief, Ministry of Public Security |
| Luis Fernando Artavia Víquez | Director General of Planning and Development, Costa Rican Tourism Institute |
| Magda Rojas Castillo | Integrated Territorial Management, Ministry of Housing and Human Settlements |
| Linnette Flores Arias | Officer, Department of Environment and Sustainable Development, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship |
| Linyi Baidal | Legal Advisor for International Treaties and Limits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship |
| Roberto Morales | Sector Analysis, Policy Monitoring, Ministry of Planning |
| Eduardo Rodríguez Herrera | Facilitator |
| Hernán Alvarado Ugarte | Facilitator |
Participants in the Workshops of Non-Governmental Organizations
| Rolando Castro | CEDARENA |
|---|---|
| Alvaro Morales | ClMAR-UCR |
| Cindy Fernández | ClMAR-UCR |
| Patricia Madrigal | Coopesolidar |
| Andrea Montero | Costa Rica por Siempre |
| Luis Sierra | Director of Biological Sciences - UNA |
| José Antonio Chávez | FECOP |
| Alejandra Villalobos | Amigos de la Isla del Coco Foundation FAICO |
| José David Palacios | Keto Foundation |
| Luis Monge | Keto Foundation |
| Viviana Gutiérrez | MarViva Foundation |
| Andrés López | Misión Tiburon |
| Randall Arauz | Pretoma |
| Javier Rodríguez | PROMAR |
| Fabián Sánchez | Pronature |
| Didiher Chacón | WideCast |
| Rebeca Arguedas | WideCast |
| Marcela Vargas | WSPA |
| Sandra Andraka | WWF |
Participants in the Formulation Workshops, Regional and National
| Jorge Molina | Tourism Chamber of Puerto Viejo | Cahuita, South Caribbean |
|---|---|---|
| Diego Lynch | ANAl | Cahuita, South Caribbean |
| Gladys Rojas McCarthy | ASOMIPAG | Cahuita, South Caribbean |
| Julio Barquero Elizondo | MAREA Program - Cahuita/ Bocas del Toro | Cahuita, South Caribbean |
| Tirza Morales | ATEC | Cahuita, South Caribbean |
| Sue Johnson | Playa Zancudo Development Association | Cahuita, |
|---|---|---|
| South Caribbean | ||
| Carlos L. Castro Jiménez | Playa Zancudo Development Association | Cahuita, |
| South Caribbean | ||
| María Guadalupe Ríos M. | Playa Zancudo Development Association | Cahuita, |
| South Caribbean | ||
| Juan Jiménez Jiménez | Bahía Pavones Fishermen's Association | Cahuita, |
| South Caribbean | ||
| José Luis Vargas Coyado | Puerto Jiménez Fishermen's Association | Golflto |
| Eugenio Alcaza | Puntarenitas Fishermen's Association | Golflto |
| Marvín García | Puntarenitas Fishermen's Association | Golflto |
| José Trejos Rodríguez | Puerto Jiménez Fishermen's Association | Golflto |
| Elberth Barrantes Arrieta | CATUGOLFO | Golflto |
| Raquel Carmona | CATUGOLFO - Exp/oring Golflto Tours | Golflto |
| Virginia Cerdas Espinoza | Coopedelimar Playa Zancudo | Golflto |
| Gerardo E. Palacios Martínez | ACOSA - SINAC | Golflto |
| Gerardo Zamora | INCOPESCA Golflto | Golflto |
| Freiner Lara Blanco | MOPT - Port Captaincy of Golflto | Golflto |
| Bruce Blevins Malone | B + B Marina Consulting S.A. | Golflto |
| Alvaro Vicente Salazar | Marina Gaviotas | Golflto |
| Donald McGuiness | APTC | Golflto |
| Roberto McGuiness | Sport Fishing | Golflto |
| Claude Galvez Plané | Centro Turístico | Golflto |
| Emileth Barrantes | Hacienda El Dorado S.A. | Golflto |
| Alvaro Conejo González | CATURGUA | Guanacaste |
| Douglas Aráuz Alvarado | Municipality of Nandayure | Guanacaste |
| Eliecer Morales | ASOPPAPU | Puntarenas |
| Rocío Rodríguez | CNIP | Puntarenas |
| Mauricio González | CNIP | Puntarenas |
| Gabriel Cruz | Isla Chira | Puntarenas |
| Josue Zúñiga R | SICPDC | Puntarenas |
Participants in the Formulation Workshops, Regional and National
| Marvin Moreno | SIPACAAS | Puntarenas | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freddy Rodríguez C | SIPACOOP | Puntarenas | |
| William Carrion Carvajal | ITRAIPA | Puntarenas | |
| Ronald Montero Rodríguez | CATUP | Puntarenas | |
| Roy Carranza | CAMAPUN | Puntarenas | |
| Armando Rodríguez | Legislative Assembly (Asamblea Legislativa) | Puntarenas | |
| Alejandro Sotela Sanabria | Coast Guard (Guardacostas) | Puntarenas | |
| Ernesto Ruiz Rios | ICT Puntarenas | Puntarenas | |
| Raúl Venegas Porras | MAGSENASA | Puntarenas | |
| Luis Matamoros C | SENASA | Puntarenas | |
| Ricardo Ramírez | SENASA | Puntarenas | |
| Evangelina Arguedas M. | Municipality of Puntarenas (Municipalidad de Puntarenas) | Puntarenas | |
| Esteban Carazo | EPYPSA | Puntarenas | |
| Ana Carmona Chávez | FIA | Puntarenas | |
| Alfonso Saenz | Bay Island Cruiser | Puntarenas | |
| Juan R Bastos | SUPAP | Puntarenas | |
| Rigoberto Quiros | Chamber of Fishermen of (Cámara de pescadores de) | Quepos | |
| Quepos | |||
| lliana López Alvarez | Cooperative of Fishermen (Cooperativa de Pescadores) | Quepos | |
| of Multiple Services of the (de Serivicos Multiples del) | |||
| Central Pacific R.L. (Pacífico Central R.L.) | |||
| José Martínez Obando | Coast Guard (Guardacostas) | Quepos | |
| Freddy Campos Rodríguez | Coast Guard (Guardacostas) | Quepos | |
| Marcia Enríquez Acosta | ICT Quepos | Quepos | |
| Gineth Jiménez Jiménez | Marina Pez Vela | Quepos | |
| Carter L. Takacs | Marina Pez Vela | Quepos | |
| Juan Pablo Agüero A | Environmental Regent (Regente Ambiental) Marina | Quepos | |
| Pez Vela | |||
| Jeannette Pérez | Association of Operators of (Asoc. de Operadores de) | Quepos | |
| Aquatic Transport of (Transporte Acuático de) | |||
| Quepos | |||
| Rolando Chávez Rodríguez | Association of Operators of (Asoc. de Operadores de) | Quepos | |
| Aquatic Transport of (Transporte Acuático de) | |||
| Quepos | |||
| Adrian Martínez Salas | Iguana Tours | Quepas | |
| Ana María Conejo | CANEPP | San José | |
| Eduardo Biollay | Office of the Ombudsman (Defensoría de los Habitantes) | San José | |
| Elda Brizuela | Aguamedia | San José | |
| Alba Margarita Salazar | Biodiversity Partnership | San José | |
| Viscarra | Mesoamérica (BPM] | ||
| Alejandra Villa lobos | FAICO | San José | |
| Henry Marín | FECOP | San José | |
| Mariano Castro | PRETOMA | San José | |
| Fabián Sánchez | Pronature | San José | |
| Yerick Chaverri | Viajes Colón | San José | |
| Carlos Murillo | UNA-UCR | San José | |
| Lilia Briones Bermúdez | Administrative Board of the (Junta Administrativa del) | Tortuguero, | |
| Liceo of Barra del Colorado (Liceo de Barra del Colorado) | Northern | ||
| Caribbean | |||
| Jesús Chávez Vidaurre | President of the Association for (Presidente Asoc. de) | Tortuguero, | |
| Integral Development of Barra (Desarrollo Integral de Barra) | Northern | ||
| del Colorado and (del Colorado y) | Caribbean | ||
| President of the Association of (Presidente de la Asoc. de) | |||
| Fishermen of Barra del (Pescadores de Barra del) | |||
| Colorado | |||
| Neivea Leonarda Martínez | Secretary of the Association for the Integral Development of Barra del Colorado (Secretaria Asoc. de Desarrollo Integral de Barra del Colorado) | Tortuguero, | |
| Galvez | Northern | ||
| Caribbean | |||
| Gladys Martínez | AlOA | National | |
| Alejandra Villa lobos | FAICO | National | |
| Alvaro Conejo | CATURGA | National | |
| Rolando Castro | CEDARENA | National | |
| Alvaro Morales | UCR-CIMAR | National | |
| Gustavo Barrantes | UNA-Geografía | National | |
| Lennín Corrales | Specialist in Climate Change (Especialista en Cambio Climático) | National | |
| Ricardo Menéses Orellana | SINAC | National | |
| Rafael Luna | Consultant (Consultor) | National | |
| Luis Martínez Zúñiga | Environmental Prosecutor's Office (Fiscalía Ambiental) | National | |
| Giancarlo Protti | Ministry of Culture and Youth (Ministerio de Cultura y Juventud) | National | |
| Cindy Fernández | CIMAR | National | |
| José Antonio Chávez | FECOP | National | |
| Henry Marín | FECOP | National | |
| Diego Lynch | ANAI | National | |
| Ana Carmona Chávez | FIA | National | |
| Fabián Sánchez | Pronature | National | |
| Juan José Alvarado B | CIMAR | National | |
| Andy Bystrom | Pretoma | National | |
| Mariano Castro | Pretoma | National | |
| Adriana Sanabria N | Costa Rica por Siempre Association (Asociación Costa Rica por Siempre) | National | |
| Marco Quesada | Conservation International (Conservación Internacional) | National | |
| Ana María Lobo | MarViva Foundation (Fundación MarViva) | National | |
| Diego Acosta | U.S. Embassy / Environmental Analyst (Embajada de USA/Analista ambiental) | National | |
| Alain Norman | U.S. Embassy (Embajada de USA) | National | |
| Eugenio Androvetto | Ministry of Health / Director of Human Environment Protection (Ministerio de Salud/Director Protección Ambiente Humano) | National | |
Participants in the Formulation Process via Electronic Means (Participantes en el proceso de Formulación por la Vía Electrónica) | Yesenia Calderón Solano | Executive President, Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers (Presidenta Ejecutiva, Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados) | | --- | --- | | Eng. Saul Gerardo Trejas Bastos | Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers (Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados) | | Dr. Alejandro Gutiérrez | International Oceanographic Institute UNA and Marine-Coastal CAT (Instituto Oceanográfico Internacional UNA y CAT Marino Costero) | | Dr. Álvaro Morales | Center for Research in Marine Sciences and Limnology (Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología {CIMAR}) | | Gustavo Barrantes | Marine-Coastal CAT of the National Emergency Commission (CAT Marino Costero de la Comisión Nacional de Emergencias) | | Carmen González | Marine-Coastal CAT of the National Emergency Commission (CAT Marino Costero de la Comisión Nacional de Emergencias) | | Roxana Badilla | Marine-Coastal CAT of the National Emergency Commission (CAT Marino Costero de la Comisión Nacional de Emergencias) | | Lidier Esquivel | Marine-Coastal CAT of the National Emergency Commission (CAT Marino Costero de la Comisión Nacional de Emergencias) | | William Alpizar | Climate Change Directorate, Ministry of Environment and Energy (Dirección de Cambio Climático, Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía) | | Moises Mug | Consultant, National Fisheries and Aquaculture Plan (Consultor, Plan Nacional de Pesca y Acuicultura) | Bibliographic References (Referencias Bibliográficas) Cajiao, MV. (2013). Current Situation and Marine Governance in Costa Rica (Situación actual y Gobernanza Marina en Costa Rica).
San José, Costa Rica: Report prepared for the Framework Document of the National Marine Policy (Informe elaborado para el Documento Marco de la Política Nacional del Mar).
Interdisciplinary Commission of the Exclusive Economic Zone (Comisión Interdisciplinaria de la Zona Económica Exclusiva). (2008). National Strategy for the Integrated Management of Marine and Coastal Resources of Costa Rica (Estrategia Nacional para la Gestión Integral de los Recursos Marinos y Costeros de Costa Rica). San José, Costa Rica, 2007., 67p.: CZEE.
Presidential Commission for Marine Governance (Comisión Presidencial para la Gobernanza Marina). (2012). Report (Informe). San José, Costa Rica.
Herreño Hernández, Á. (2008). All or Nothing? Principle of Integrality and Human Rights (¿Todo o nada? Principio de integralidad y derechos humanos). Bogotá, Colombia: ILSA.
ICT. (2011). National Sustainable Tourism Plan of Costa Rica 2010-2016 (Plan Nacional de Turismo Sostenible de Costa Rica 2010-2016). San José, Costa Rica: Directorate of Planning and Development ICT (Dirección de Planeamiento y Desarrollo ICT).
ICT. (2013). Report on the State of Tourism in Costa Rica, Inputs for the Preparation of the Policy Framework Document (Informe de la situación del turismo en Costa Rica, insumos para la elaboración del Documento Marco de la Política). San José, Costa Rica.
Morales, A. (2013). Situation of Some Costa Rican Coastal Ecosystems (Situación de algunos ecosistemas costeros costarricenses).
Need for Integrated Management (Necesidad de una gestión integrada). San José, Costa Rica: Ambientico 230 . 231. Article 3 (Artículo 3). pp. 16-26.
Obando. V. (2008). Biodiversity of Costa Rica in Figures (Biodiversidad de Costa Rica en cifras). Santo Domingo de Heredia, Costa Rica: INBio.
SINAC/MINAET. (2008). GRUAS 11: Proposal for Territorial Planning for Biodiversity Conservation (Propuesta de Ordenamiento Territorial para la conservación de la biodiversidad).
Wehrtmann, 1; Cortes, J;. (2009). Diversity of Marine Habitats of the Caribbean and Pacific of Costa Rica,. Springer Netherlands - Dordrecht. 572 p: Chapter 1 (Chapter 1). En Cortes, J. y Wehrtmann, I (eds). 2009. Marine Biodiversity of Costa Rica, Central America.
Wehrtmann, IS; Cortés, J. (eds.). (2008). The marine biodiversity of Costa Rica, Central America .. Berlin, DE: Monographie Biologicae vol. 86. Springer Verlag.