Let the National Wetlands Policy be officialized, for purposes of mandatory application, which shall be executed in the period between the years 2017-2030. The Policy and its annexes shall be available on the electronic page of the Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía www.minae.go.cr/administrative manuals, and the printed version shall be kept in the institutional archive of the Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía.
(Note from Sinalevi: This standard was provided by the Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía and is transcribed below:)
Content Content 3 Index of Figures 4 Index of Tables 5 1. Presentation 6 2. Participatory Methodology 9 3. Background 11 4. Normative Framework 14 5. Baseline Analysis 22 A. Construction of the social index 22 B. Construction of the economic index 23 C. Construction of the environmental index 24 D. Social, economic, and environmental characteristics of the hydrographic basins where the wetlands are located and their prioritization of actions 25 6. Typology of wetland ecosystems 30 7. Factors affecting wetland ecosystems in Costa Rica 31 8. Ecosystem services of wetland ecosystems 32 9. Relationship of Indigenous Peoples with wetland ecosystems 34 10. Approaches of the policy 35 11. Principles governing the policy 37 12. General Objective of the National Wetlands Policy 41 A. Axis 1: Conservation of wetland ecosystems, their goods and services 42 B. Axis 2: Development, provision of ecosystem services, and climate adaptation 46 C. Axis 3: Ecological rehabilitation of wetland ecosystems 52 D. Axis 4: Institutional strengthening for the integrated management of wetland ecosystems 55 E. Axis 5: Inclusive participation and democratic governance 61 13. Institutional management model 65 14. Knowledge management model for decision-making 68 15. Relationship of the Policy guidelines with the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Sustainable Development Goals 73 16. Monitoring and evaluation 81 Glossaries 84 Abbreviations 89 Acknowledgements 94 Index of Figures Figure 1: Dimensions and variables of the cantonal MPI. Source: INEC (2015a) and Leonardo Sánchez Hernández (2017) 23 Figure 2: Dimensions and variables of the economic index. Prepared by Leonardo Sánchez Hernández (2017) 24 Figure 3: Dimensions and variables of the environmental index. Prepared by Leonardo Sánchez Hernández (2017) 25 Figure 4: Global Index by hydrographic basin. Prepared by Leonardo Sánchez Hernández (2017) Figure 5: Distribution of wetlands by hydrographic basins and level of prioritization. Prepared by Leonardo Sánchez Hernández (2017) 27 Figure 6: Causes and effects of the deterioration of wetland ecosystems and the consequent detriment to ecosystem services. 31 Figure 7: Axes of the National Wetlands Policy on which the actions for its fulfillment are framed. 41 Figure 8: Institutional management model for the management of Wetland ecosystems in Costa Rica. 67 Figure 9: Knowledge Management Model for correct decision-making related to wetland ecosystems and their linked population. 72 Figure 10: Periodicity of the application of the tools related to the National Wetlands Policy and its relationship with other tools for decision-making. 82 Index of Tables Table 1: Environmental, economic, and social index by hydrographic basin. Prepared by Leonardo Sánchez Hernández (2017) 28 Table 2: Global, environmental, economic, and social index by Ramsar wetland. Prepared by Leonardo Sánchez Hernández (2017) 29 Table 3: Classification System for wetland ecosystems. Based on Decreto No. 35803-MINAET "Technical Criteria for the Identification, Classification, and Conservation of Wetlands." Available in La Gaceta No. 73 of April 16, 2010. 30 Table 4: Ecosystem value of wetlands, according to the category of goods and services offered.
Table 5: Monitoring and evaluation scales for the execution of the National Wetlands Policy 1. Presentation Costa Rica and 192 countries of the world have made explicit the commitment to guide and implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), whose motto is "Leave no one behind" and whose vision must be achieved by 2030 at the latest. Among these Goals, it is agreed to reduce poverty and inequality, assuming a clear awareness of ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns, adopting urgent measures to combat climate change and its effects, as well as conserving and rationally using the oceans and the benefits they provide, as well as those related to water resources in general. This unavoidable task guides us to continue with the priority measures to conserve, rehabilitate, and promote the sustainable use of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, manage ecosystem goods and services sustainably, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, and put a stop to the loss of biological diversity.
In this sense, the National Wetlands Policy proposes orientations for the convergence of the SDGs with international mandates (including the RAMSAR Convention) and national mandates by guiding the interventions and affirmative actions of the State in accordance with the Plan Nacional de Desarrollo "Alberto Cañas Escalante" 2014-2018; which establishes as one of the main directions of environmental public management, the need to articulate public policies in an integral manner, so that an ecosystem vision is present in the conservation of natural resources.
For these purposes, the main objective was established as "the strengthening of the conservation and sustainable use of the genetic, natural, and cultural heritage, based on a territorial and marine planning grounded in concerted participation, which ensures respect for, exercise of, and enjoyment of human rights." In this line, and specifically in the field related to the protection and conservation of wetlands, all diagnoses point to a series of challenges that imply a re-articulation of environmental policies aimed at guaranteeing the ecological structure and functioning of the same and, at the same time, responsibly promoting the benefits derived from their sustainable use.
The paradigm that has guided the public policies of the Solís Rivera Administration in environmental matters has been that of "conserving hand in hand with the people," through the implementation of participatory policies that balance the scales between environmental needs and socioeconomic needs.
The present National Wetlands Policy is yet another example of this path, and therefore aims to offer a framework for action with long-term planning for the restoration of national wetland systems and their responsible use, thus contributing to the improvement of the quality of life of the communities.
Our Plan Nacional de Desarrollo establishes as a framework for action the consolidation of Wetlands of International Importance in order to increase conservation that guarantees human development and well-being within a participatory governance model.
For these purposes, one of the main expected results is a considerable increase in participatory local management of wetlands of international importance with a view to their conservation, sustainable use, and fair and equitable distribution of their benefits.
Taking into consideration that one of the main problems of environmental management is the urgency of developing tools that allow for harmonizing social needs for use with ensuring the conservation of resources; it has been established as one of the core axes of this policy the actions aimed at guaranteeing that balance.
The current socio-environmental conflicts that derive from the absence of adequate and balanced governance have their reason for being precisely in the fact that the communities that daily share territory with this type of ecosystem lack norms and instruments that allow them to carry out appropriate stewardship of state natural heritage.
This National Wetlands Policy therefore puts into perspective the current situation of wetlands in the national territory with the purpose of providing tools and action plans that mitigate the problems they face and maximize their potential benefits. The policy developed below posits as a fundamental element the current deterioration of our wetlands that, affected by the impact of different anthropic activities, by the lack of planning in their management, by inadequate use techniques, by disjointed sectoral development policies, and by the effects of climate change itself, place us in the primary need to establish energetic actions for their recovery.
It also proposes, in an immediate phase, the need to visualize wetlands as a vital element of the mosaic of ecosystems in Costa Rica. To this end, the fundamental role they play in maintaining environmental quality and the hydrological regulation of hydrographic basins is highlighted; and therefore their management is projected based on an integrated and sustainable development approach in a global context that refers to an entire Blue Agenda for conservation.
In the third instance, and with the same importance, the fundamental role that wetlands play in the national economy and in society is clarified. From this vision, there is clarity that the protection of these systems does not exclude rational use based on their definition as a source of environmental goods and services, and that through adequate planning, the successful compatibility of both elements is possible.
For the execution of all these postulates, the application of an adaptive and participatory management approach is considered, which fundamentally results from dynamic planning that allows both ecological and social systems to effectively adapt to constant stimuli and external changes; through awareness-raising processes, sustained learning, tools for resilience, and instruments for adaptation.
A fundamental aspect in the approach of this policy is the persistence of a core focus on gender equity, intergenerationality, and interculturality. All of this is consummated in the objective of a fully inclusive development that considers diverse needs, adapts to different particularities, and equitably distributes the benefits derived from each result.
Thus, the National Wetlands Policy aims to settle a historical debt with a vital element of our ecosystems, which also represents 7% of our national territory and which is a priority action for the adequate fulfillment of the constitutional right to enjoy a healthy and ecologically balanced environment.
We also assume a responsibility before the international community, not only through the fulfillment of a series of international pacts but also before the mandate of the chorus of nations in the current global climate change situation for the implementation of forceful actions that guarantee the conservation of the Planet.
This National Wetlands Policy requires the energetic commitment of all responsible parties: Government, Civil Society, scientific and academic sector, communities, and business sector. It becomes a mandate whose ultimate purpose is to guarantee that our wetlands are conserved in an appropriate ecological state and thus effectively fulfill their ecosystem role and can provide benefits aimed at improving the quality of life of current and future generations of inhabitants.
The substantive themes or strategic axes of this Policy are part of a proposal of guidelines and propositive actions that will be executed by State institutions, with the input of the actors involved in the process, so it will be under shared responsibility and will be visualized within the results-based management approach that brings us closer to guiding and executing the subscribed actions for the desired and environmentally friendly transformation for Costa Rican men and women. In this sense, the planning and its execution are supported by a broad process of citizen and inter-institutional participation and dialogue that will contribute to better management of wetlands at the national level.
2. Participatory methodology As part of the participatory process in formulating the National Wetlands Policy, two stages of Working Groups were carried out in which inputs were gathered about the problems gradually experienced by wetland ecosystems and the inhabitants of the linked local communities, a process that allows for recognizing the state of the situation for intervention. The main orientations of this Policy will enable their sustainable use, ecological rehabilitation, and conservation through the definition of approaches and principles, which are the basis for its formulation. Likewise, the objectives, guidelines, and actions will provide solutions to the problems posed through the definition and implementation of programs and projects related to this theme, which will be successful with the fulfillment of shared responsibility between the State and its institutions, non-governmental entities, academia, and citizen participation.
In these first participatory phases of the Policy's formulation, 18 meetings were held in the different regions of the country, including meetings with the scientific-academic sector and the executive secretariat of SINAC. Specifically, among the participants in the regional working groups, there was the presence of the Áreas de Conservación, SENARA, INCOPESCA, Guardacostas, Parque Marino del Pacífico, Instituto Geográfico Nacional, IFAM, Ministerio de Cultura y Juventud, MEP, VIMAH, FONAFIFO, CEDARENA, SETENA, INVU, ICT, Ministerio de Salud, ICE, AyA, Municipalities, academic sector, productive sector (including agricultural, fishing, mollusk farming, livestock, and tourism), Non-Governmental Organizations, Civil Society, International cooperation, Defensoría de los Habitantes, among others.
Based on the results of the two stages of working groups and considering the contributions of the managements of SINAC and the scientific-academic sector, working groups were held internally within the Viceministerio de Agua, Mares, Costas y Humedales where new draft actions were approved and proposed, as well as the management, knowledge, and monitoring framework of the Policy. In parallel to the working groups held with the Viceministerio, these actions were socialized and negotiated with the involved institutions, with which, in addition, initiatives related to wetland ecosystems that are currently underway and that give life to the Policy have been detected.
In order to achieve institutional synchrony with respect to Directriz No. 042-MP issued last March 9, 2016, and which establishes the "Construction of the consultation mechanism for Indigenous Peoples," and in order to standardize processes, actors, and other key points for responsible and inclusive population participation, the methodology contemplated the participatory process in indigenous territories1, for which parallel work was maintained with the Viceministerio de la Presidencia en Asuntos Políticos y Diálogo Ciudadano. In this same sense, communication has also been maintained with the Defensoría de los Habitantes and other parallel policy formulation processes led by the various institutions attached to MINAE.
During this phase, a total of six community workshops, three regional ones, and one national one were held, in which there were representatives from the indigenous territories of Térraba, Boruca, Ujarrás, Salitre, Cabagra, China 1 The concept of participatory process refers to a mechanism that allows society to identify and externalize opinions, requests, or needs on the topic in question, in this case, "Wetland ecosystems." From the indigenous vision, these opinions incorporate the cosmovision specific to each people; it is founded on Articles 6 of the Organic Law of the Environment, Article 9 subsection 3, and Article 10 subsections 1 and 6 of the Biodiversity Law. Due to the foregoing, it should not be confused with the consultation process for indigenous territories under Article 169 of the International Labour Organization.
Kichá, Rey Curré, Osa / Alto Laguna, Conte Burica, Talamanca Bribri, Këköldi, Alto Chirripó, Nairi Awari, and Maleku.
Both this phase of the process and the first one allowed for understanding the relationship and cosmovision of local communities and indigenous territories with wetland ecosystems, the current, traditional, and ancestral uses, as well as the dependence of many communities on the tangible and intangible services of these ecosystems, incorporating the intercultural vision and perceptions into the following document.
Subsequently, the actions were worked on together with the institutions, allowing for seeing the degree of compatibility with the policies and tasks of the involved institutional actors, as well as the opportunity for joint work at the moment of operationalizing the policy, a process that must continue to occur for its correct execution.
It is important to highlight that during these processes, the guidelines mentioned in the Guide for the elaboration of Public Policies2 have been followed, and we have had the advice and support of the Unidad de Análisis Sectorial de Planificación del Desarrollo of MIDEPLAN, where we have received feedback in each of the phases and for the different sections that must be included in the policy, ensuring that it complies with the guidelines required by this institution and is linked to the Plan Nacional de Desarrollo and the Sustainable Development Goals.
2 Costa Rica. Ministerio de Planificación Nacional y Política Económica. Área de Análisis del Desarrollo. Guía para la elaboración de políticas públicas / Ministerio de Planificación Nacional y Política Económica -- San Jose, CR: MIDEPLAN, 2016. 59 p.: 28 cm x 21 cm. Available at www.mideplan.go.cr 3. Background Costa Rica has significant background in the conservation of wetlands for several decades. In 1942, the Water Law established protection areas in the coastal zone, rivers, lagoons, lakes, among others. Subsequently, in 1977, Law No. 6043 on the Zona Marítimo Terrestre established a strip of 200 meters from the ordinary high tide that constitutes part of the Patrimonio Natural del Estado (PNE), whose jurisdiction corresponds to coastal municipalities and divides it into two zones: a. Public (50 meters from the ordinary high tide, as well as islets, rock formations, and all mangroves and littoral estuaries, regardless of their extension) and b. Restricted (150 meters behind the public zone, or in the case of mangroves, from the line of their vegetation to their posterior limit).
Continuing with this process, in 1992, Law No. 7317 on Wildlife Conservation introduced the term "Wetland" at the legal level and assigned within the functions of the Dirección General de Vida Silvestre (now Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación, unified in Law No. 7788 on Biodiversity in Article 22) the responsibility to administer, supervise, and protect wetlands. As part of this transformation, in 1991, the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar) was ratified, its provisions acquiring the character of Law of the Republic, and between 1993 and 1994, 13 protected wild areas were declared under the category of Wetland.
According to the definition of the Ramsar Convention, "Wetlands are areas of marsh, fen, peatland, or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six meters."3 Following the guidelines for the concept of a wetland established at the international level, in 1995, the Organic Law of the Environment No. 7554, in its Article 40, defines wetlands as:
3 Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat 1971. Current text of the Convention.
Available at: http://www.ramsar.org/es/acerca-de-la-convenci%C3%B3n-de-ramsar, last visited January 6, 2017.
". ecosystems dependent on aquatic regimes, natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, lentic or lotic, fresh, brackish, or saline, including the marine expanses up to the posterior limit of marine phanerogams or coral reefs or, in their absence, up to six meters in depth at low tide" Under this concept, there are several sources that indicate the number of wetland ecosystems in the country; however, at this time, there is no correspondence between the different results. If we broadly count the area covered by wetlands located within Áreas de Conservación, the result gives us close to 7% of the national territory, so if we add to this percentage the area occupied by any ecosystem that meets the characteristics of Article 40 mentioned above, it is denoted that the territory covered by wetland ecosystems comprises a very important percentage of the Costa Rican territory.
In this sense, the last official data corresponds to that produced by the National Wetlands Inventory of Costa Rica of 1998, which was sponsored by SINAC - MINAE, the Royal Embassy of the Netherlands, and the World Conservation Union. In this inventory, a figure of 359 recognized wetlands was established for Costa Rica, with an approximate extension of 350,000 ha, located solely within the eleven Áreas de Conservación that form the eco-regional system of protection and conservation of biodiversity.
Of these 359 mentioned wetlands, approximately 30% are formally protected, and of these, 12 have been declared of international importance by the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Sites). The foregoing is due to their importance for the conservation of biodiversity (such as waterfowl and fish species) and their representativeness, rarity, or uniqueness with respect to the types of wetlands located within the territory, which is why they are considered Wetlands of International Importance (HII).
Continuing with this inventory perspective, in addition to the 1998 results, there are important cartographic bases such as the map sponsored by the program Uso y Conservación de Humedales of the Escuela de Ciencias Ambientales of the Universidad Nacional, prepared in 1993 with the support of the IUCN.
In this map, called "Humedales de Costa Rica," 227 wetlands were identified, categorized into estuaries, lakes, swamps, and river courses.
The last effort carried out to date dates from 2005, when the "Inventario de Cuerpos de Agua Continentales de Costa Rica con énfasis en la Pesca y la Acuicultura" (Inventory of Inland Water Bodies of Costa Rica with emphasis on Fishing and Aquaculture) was conducted, through the Plan Regional de Pesca y Acuicultura Continental (PREPAC), developed by the Organización del Sector Pesquero y Acuícola del Istmo Centroamericano (OSPESCA), thanks to the financial support of the Government of Taiwan and the administrative support of the Organismo Regional de Sanidad Agropecuaria (OIRSA). As a result of this Inventory and without considering those that appear in the basic cartography without any name, 499 water bodies were identified, specifically continental, which covered a minimum registered area of 678.33 square kilometers. Of these 499 continental water bodies, it could be verified that thirteen no longer existed, despite being reported in the 1998 Inventory and still appearing on the maps. At that time, 169 communities of influence of the water bodies were counted, and a total population of direct and indirect beneficiaries of the ecosystem services of 246,489 inhabitants.
Due to this data inconsistency and the different approaches and methodologies used, the Wetlands Project "Conservation, sustainable use of biodiversity and maintenance of the ecosystem services of protected wetland ecosystems of international importance", administered by UNDP and under the auspices of SINAC-MINAE, is preparing the latest update of the inventory, through a more complete methodology and encompassing all the Conservation Areas. We now know that the number of wetland ecosystems is much higher; just to mention one example, as part of this process, more than one thousand wetland ecosystems have been identified within the Área de Conservación Amistad Pacífico.
Once these data are clear, we will be able to investigate more deeply the importance of the goods and ecosystem services provided by wetlands, as well as the environmental, social, and economic value they represent for the country. Just to mention one example, the Humedal Nacional Térraba-Sierpe generates approximately USD $1,130/day in shellfish extraction4.
This same site is also a tourist destination for both national and international populations. Despite the foregoing, and as occurs in many other wetland ecosystems, the area is strongly linked to agricultural production and its population is characterized by 4 Reyes, V. et al. 2004. Valoración socio-económica del Humedal Térraba-Sierpe HNTS. Proyecto de la Unión Mundial para la Naturaleza. Costa Rica: Internacional de Política Económica para el Desarrollo Sostenible de la Universidad Nacional, Heredia, Costa Rica.
a high level of poverty and unemployment. Local communities, including in many cases indigenous peoples, depend mainly on the use of natural resources for their livelihood and economic dynamism, so any negative alteration impacts both the integrity and functioning of the ecosystem, as well as the quality of social life and its economic development.
Despite this great and important work, we still do not have indicators of the integrity of these ecosystems, which constitutes a challenge for the Policy, the systematization of information, and short, medium, and long-term decision making. Furthermore, despite the problems these ecosystems face (a situation that is aggravated in wetlands located outside protected wild areas) including: unsustainable agricultural practices, illegal fishing and hunting, land-use changes (cambios en el uso de la tierra) for infrastructure construction and other developments, deforestation of mangrove forests, unsustainable tourism, introduction of invasive species, and of course climate change; the maps are little known and used by government institutions, which makes it clear that there is still a long way to go.
It is precisely for this reason that Costa Rica currently needs to establish a renewed approach to the management of these ecosystems, one that contemplates both their conservation and their sustainable use. Due to the urgency and importance of addressing these ecosystems in a comprehensive manner, this Policy therefore aims to provide actions that encompass the main problems within a 2016-2030 time horizon, linking the environmental issue to the issue of development. In this way, it seeks to address, through different mechanisms, not only the ecosystems themselves but also the human populations linked to them, assigning those responsible for each pending task, with results created jointly.
4. Regulatory Framework (Marco Normativo) Costa Rica, with the ratification of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention) approved by Law No. 7224 of April 7, 1991, effective as of May 8 of that year5 , acquired the commitment to the conservation and wise use of wetlands through local and national actions, with international cooperation, as a contribution to achieving sustainable development6 5 Law No. 7224: Convención sobre Humedales Internacionales como Hábitat Aves Acuáticas. Published in La Gaceta No. 86 of May 08, 1991.
Available at: http://www.pgrweb.go.cr/scij/Busqueda/Normativa/Normas/nrm_texto_completo.aspx?param1=NRTC&nValor1=1&nValor2=6155&nValor3=6542&strTipM=TC, last visited: January 06, 2017 6 Convención sobre Humedales Internacionales como Hábitat Aves Acuáticas The Ramsar Convention and its mission. Available at: http://www.Ramsar.org/es/acerca-de/la-convenci%C3%B3n-de-Ramsar-y-su-misi%C3%B3n, last visited: January 06, 2017 The Convention applies a broad definition of wetlands, encompassing all lakes and rivers, underground aquifers, swamps and marshes, wet grasslands, peatlands, oases, estuaries, deltas and tidal flats, mangroves and other coastal areas, coral reefs, and artificial sites such as fish ponds, rice paddies, reservoirs, and salt pans.
Within the framework of the "three pillars" of the Convention, the Contracting Parties commit to:
· Work towards the wise use of all wetlands in their territory; · Designate suitable wetlands for the List of Wetlands of International Importance (the "Ramsar List") and ensure their effective management; · Cooperate internationally on matters of transboundary wetlands, shared wetland systems, and shared species7 7 Idem.
In Article 3.1 of the Ramsar Convention, there is a legal commitment by the Contracting Parties to implement, where possible according to ecological characteristics, the wise use of wetlands, understanding this wise use of wetlands as the maintenance of their ecological characteristics, achieved through the implementation of ecosystem approaches, within the context of sustainable development. Wise use can therefore be considered as the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands and all the services they provide, for the benefit of people and nature.
The Contracting Parties commit to working towards the wise use of all wetlands and water resources in their territory through national plans, policies, and legislation, management measures, and public education."8 8 Convención sobre Humedales Internacionales como Hábitat Aves Acuáticas Wise use of wetlands. Available at http://www.Ramsar.org/es/acerca-de/uso-racional-de-los-humedales, last visited: January 06, 2017 The Convention also establishes that the parties define within their territory the wetlands they consider to be of international importance, protected by what the Convention itself establishes, which gives rise to a list of wetlands. As established in Article 2 of the Ramsar Convention, the international importance of a wetland is defined based on ecological, botanical, zoological, limnological, or hydrological criteria, with special attention to the importance these have for waterfowl throughout the year. Currently, Costa Rica has designated 12 sites as Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar sites), with a total area of 569,742 hectares.9 9 Convención sobre Humedales Internacionales como Hábitat Aves Acuáticas Costa Rica. Available at: http://www.Ramsar.org/es/humedal/costa-rica, last visited: January 06, 2017.
In the country, the legal definition of wetlands was introduced in Article 2 of the Wildlife Conservation Law (Ley de Conservación de la Vida Silvestre, hereinafter LCVS) No. 7317 of October 30, 199210, copying it from the Ramsar Convention11, defining it as:
10 Costa Rican legislation related to wetlands dates back to 1942 when the Water Law was approved, and more specifically, to 1977 when the Maritime Terrestrial Zone Law referred to mangroves as a Forest Reserve. However, it is with the new Wildlife Conservation Law (LCVS) that the legal term wetland was used for the first time.
11 On February 2, 1971, the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention) was signed in Ramsar, Iran, approved by Law No. 7224 of April 7, 1991.
"Wetlands: Extensions of marshes, swamps, peatlands, or waters of natural or artificial regime, permanent or temporary, stagnant or flowing fresh, brackish, or salt water, including extensions of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six meters." This legal definition was updated with the Organic Environmental Law (Ley Orgánica del Ambiente, hereinafter LOA), detailing Article 40 as: "ecosystems dependent on aquatic regimes, natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, lentic or lotic, fresh, brackish, or salt, including marine extensions up to the posterior limit of marine phanerogams or coral reefs or, in their absence, up to six meters deep at low tide".
This latter definition is reaffirmed in other more recent legal bodies such as "Executive Decree (Decreto Ejecutivo) No. 36786-MINAET 'Manual for the Classification of Lands Dedicated to the Conservation of Natural Resources Within the Maritime Terrestrial Zone in Costa Rica12' of 2011 in its Article V, subsection j).
12 Executive Decree No. 36786-MINAET: Manual para la Clasificación de Tierras Dedicas a la Conservación de los Recursos Naturales Dentro de la Zona Marítimo Terrestre en Costa Rica. Published in La Gaceta No. 78 of April 23, 2010. Available at: http://www.pgrweb.go.cr/scij/Busqueda/Normativa/Normas/nrm_texto_completo.aspx?param1=NRTC&nValor1=1&nValor2=67762&nValor3=86753&strTipM=TC, last visited: January 06, 2017 "Between one definition and another, there is a difference that deserves to be pointed out. The LCVS defines wetlands according to their physical characteristics (marshes, swamps, peatlands, etc.), and the LOA according to their biotic characteristics, as it indicates they are ecosystems that depend on aquatic regimes. In any case, these are not contradictory but complementary definitions."13 13 See the first report of the Procuraduría General de la República in the report for the Constitutional Action processed under file number 12-11423-0007-CO in the Sala Constitucional at: http://www.pgrweb.go.cr/scij/Busqueda/Normativa/asunto_cons/asu_informe_pgr.aspx?ContInforme=0¶m1=AIP&nValor1=1¶m5=12-011423-0007-CO¶mInf=1&strTipM=IP1.
In this way, apart from the definition in national legislation, there is no developed legal framework specific to wetlands. The legal regime of wetlands can be very varied to the extent that they can form part of almost any protected wild area, according to the management categories established by the Organic Environmental Law in its Article 3214. But, in addition, other provisions are applicable to wetlands, such as, for example, Law No. 276 "Ley de Aguas" of August 27, 194215, the Mining Code Law No. 6797 of October 4, 198216, Law No. 7744 "Concesión y operación de Marinas Turísticas", of December 19, 199717.
14 Article 32 of Law No. 7554, "Ley Orgánica del Ambiente": "Article 32.- Classification of protected wild areas. The Executive Branch, through the Ministry of Environment and Energy, may establish protected wild areas, in any of the management categories that are established and in those indicated below:
- a)Forest reserves.
- b)Protective zones.
- c)National parks.
- d)Biological reserves.
- e)National wildlife refuges.
- f)Wetlands.
- g)Natural monuments.
These management categories and those created in the future will be administered by the Ministry of Environment and Energy, except those established in Article 33 of this law. Municipalities must collaborate in the preservation of these areas." 15 Law No. 276: Ley de Aguas. Published 1942. Available at: http://www.pgrweb.go.cr/scij/Busqueda/Normativa/Normas/nrm_texto_completo.aspx?param1=NRTC&nValor1=1&nValor2=11950&nValor3=91553&strTipM=TC, last visited: January 06, 2017 16 Law No. 6797: Código de Minería. 1982. Available at: http://www.pgrweb.go.cr/scij/Busqueda/Normativa/Normas/nrm_texto_completo.aspx?param1=NRTC&nValor1=1&nValor2=48839&nValor3=0&strTipM=TC, last visited: January 06, 2017 17 Law No. 7744: Ley de Concesión y Operación de marinas y atracaderos turísticos. Published in La Gaceta No. 26 of February 06, 1998. Available at: http://www.pgrweb.go.cr/scij/Busqueda/Normativa/Normas/nrm_texto_completo.aspx?param1=NRTC&nValor1=1&nValor2=43078&nValor3=0&strTipM=TC, last visited: January 06, 2017 Law No. 8723 "Ley marco de concesión para el aprovechamiento de las fuerzas hidráulicas para la generación hidroeléctrica" of April 22, 2009, which allows granting permits and concessions for the use of water as it is in the public domain, exploitation of mining resources, establishment of tourist marinas and docks (see exceptions indicated in the Law)18, as well as the use of hydraulic forces that may be obtained from public domain waters of the national territory, all of the foregoing in some of the types of wetlands existing in the country. Likewise, the Fishing and Aquaculture Law No. 8436 of March 1, 200519 regulated the exercise of fishing activity for commercial purposes and sport fishing in protected wild areas, providing in Articles 9 and 13 the authority for MINAE and INCOPESCA so that, by mutual agreement, they establish and approve joint management plans for marine resources of wetlands for the rational use (aprovechamiento racional) of aquatic resources, except in those included in national parks and biological reserves. Thus, through Executive Decree No. 39411-MINAE-MAG20, the "Reglamento Para el Aprovechamiento Racional de los Recursos Acuáticos Aprobados en los Planes Generales de Manejo de los Humedales" was issued with the objective of establishing the possibility of rational use of aquatic resources of the mangrove, through the guidelines issued by the respective general management plans in these protected wild areas. This possibility of rational use shall be carried out only by persons who are members of legally constituted associations and cooperatives of the local communities that have traditionally carried out this activity, and whose purposes are associated with the use of this resource21.
18 The Costa Rican State decided not to allow the concession for the construction, administration, and operation of tourist marinas and docks in three types of wetlands: mangroves, coral ecosystems, and wetlands that form part of the State's Natural Heritage, in accordance with Articles 13 and 14 of the Forestry Law. Article 1 of Law No. 7744 and its reforms.
19 Law No. 8436: Ley de Pesca y Acuicultura. Published in La Gaceta No. 78 of April 24, 2005. Available at: http://www.pgrweb.go.cr/scij/Busqueda/Normativa/Normas/nrm_texto_completo.aspx?param1=NRTC&nValor1=1&nValor2=54688&nValor3=95742&strTipM=TC, last visited: January 06, 2017 20 Executive Decree No. 39411: Reglamento para el Aprovechamiento Racional de los Recursos Acuáticos Aprobados en los Planes Generales de Manejo de los Humedales. Published in La Gaceta No. 37 of February 23, 2016. Available at: http://www.pgrweb.go.cr/scij/Busqueda/Normativa/Normas/nrm_texto_completo.aspx?param1=NRTC&nValor1=1&nValor2=81125&nValor3=106321&strTipM=TC, last visited: January 06, 2017 21 Executive Decree No. 39411-MINAE-MAG in Article 2 defines rational use (aprovechamiento racional) of aquatic resources as the action of cultivation, repopulation, and rational extraction of mollusks, crustaceans, and polychaetes, that generates or may generate some profit, benefit, advantage, utility, or gain for the person who performs it or for whom they represent.
Returning to the legal term used by the Organic Environmental Law, it is noted that it does so in a double dimension: first, as a management category of a Protected Wild Area, as defined by Article 32, subsection f), in relation to numeral 35, and as a space or ecosystem22.
22 On this matter, the Sala Constitucional explains this double dimension in resolution number 14288-09 at 3:19 p.m. on September 9, 2009: "As all intervenors in the present process highlight, the term wetland is contemplated in the Organic Environmental Law in two dimensions: that of space or ecosystem and as a management category of protected wild areas. In the first case, the term "wetland" is the name by which a certain ecosystem is known, whose main particularity is the presence of a soil with special characteristics that allow water deposited in a territory to be stored permanently or intermittently (but with a determined period of flooding or water mirror) and whose condition allows the adaptation of varied species of flora and fauna that make it special, a definition that coincides with that of the Ramsar Convention. The main aspect for the recognition of a wetland ecosystem lies in its ecological characteristics: a) type of soil (hydric or hydromorphic soils), b) hydrophytic vegetation (plants adapted to flooded soils, anaerobic in most cases), c) fauna dependent on this regime and ecosystem, and d) hydraulic condition (related to climate), but according to the presence and distribution of the present species, it is classified according to its distinctive pattern. In its second dimension, the term "wetland" is not associated with the aforementioned technical concept, but with the figure of a Protected Wild Area as a management category under Article 32 of the Organic Environmental Law." Thus, depending on the type of wetland we find, we can determine the type of specific legal regime to which the wetlands are subjected. In this sense, it is of special importance to analyze the legal regime of protection granted to a specific wetland in the event that it forms part of: a Protected Wild Area (ASP), or the wetland itself constitutes an ASP, forms part of the State's Natural Heritage (Patrimonio Natural del Estado), or we find ourselves before a wetland on private property.
In this way, the legal regime of protection as a Protected Wild Area would apply to wetland ecosystems that, by interest of the Executive Branch, are established pursuant to Article 32, subsection f) of the Organic Environmental Law, and that these in turn, pursuant to the provisions of Article 13 of the Forestry Law (Ley Forestal) No. 7575 of February 13, 1996, constitute the State's Natural Heritage and are affected by the provisions it regulates regarding activities permitted within this Heritage, such as only research, training, and ecotourism activities (Article 18 of the Forestry Law). In Article 13 of the same legal body, it attributes to MINAE (through the National System of Conservation Areas pursuant to Article 22 of the Biodiversity Law) the administration of the State's Natural Heritage, which is not comprised solely of protected wild areas but also includes forest lands or lands of forest aptitude from national reserves, areas declared inalienable, and farms belonging to the Public Administration23.
23 The Sala Constitucional, in ruling No. 16975-2008 at 2:53 p.m. on November 12, 2008. Repeated by: 17650-2008 and 17659-2008: "...the State's Natural Heritage is a public domain asset whose conservation and administration are entrusted, by law, to the Ministry of Environment and Energy, through the National System of Conservation Areas (Forestry Law, Articles 6, subsection a) and 13, paragraph 2, and 14; Organic Environmental Law, Article 32, paragraph 2). It is comprised of two important components: a) Protected Wild Areas, whatever their management category, declared by Law or Executive Decree: forest reserves, protective zones, national parks, biological reserves, national wildlife refuges, wetlands, and natural monuments (Forestry Law 7575, Articles 1, paragraph 2, 3, subsection i); Organic Environmental Law 7554, Article 32; Biodiversity Law No. 7788, Articles 22 et seq. and 58; National Parks Service Law No. 6084, Article 3, subsections d and f, in relation to the Organic Law of MINAE No. 7152 and its Regulations; Wildlife Conservation Law No. 7317, Article 82, subsection a). b) Other forests and forest lands or lands of forest aptitude of the State and public institutions (Article 13 of the Forestry Law), which have an immediate legal affectation." (Sala Constitucional, ruling No. 16975-2008 at 2:53 p.m. on November 12, 2008. Repeated by: 17650-2008 and 17659-2008).
For this reason, there may also be wetland ecosystems that are not within declarations of protected wild areas, but that form part of the State's Natural Heritage, as they are forest lands or lands of forest aptitude in inalienable areas, such as: the fifty-meter zone adjacent to the navigable sector declared by the Executive Branch for certain rivers24; the Maritime Terrestrial Zone and littorals, where lands adjacent to rivers up to the point where they are under the influence of the tides (rías) and estuaries (esteros) are included25; and the islands26.
24 Numerals 7, subsection b) and 9 of the Ley de Tierras y Colonización, No. 2825 of October 14, 1961, and Article 53 of the Ley de Aguas.
25 Articles 9, 10, 11, and 75 of the Ley sobre la Zona Marítimo Terrestre, No. 6043 of March 2, 1977, in relation to numeral 2, subsection f) of its Regulations, Decree No. 7841 of December 16, 1977.
26 Articles 3, subsection VI and 75 of the Ley de Aguas, and Article 9 of the Ley sobre la Zona Marítimo Terrestre.
In the same sense, it includes mangroves, swamps, flooded forests, salt flats, and yolillales (yolillales) that are classified as wetlands according to the Manual for the Classification of Lands Dedicated to the Conservation of Natural Resources within the Maritime Terrestrial Zone in Costa Rica, Decree No. 36786-MINAET of August 12, 2011 (Article V.3), and which is in force27. It is clear, then, that the only wetlands considered part of the State's Natural Heritage28 are those found on public domain lands, regardless of whether they have been recognized as protected wild areas. In other words, despite not being declared protected wild areas, wetlands that are within public domain lands are part of the State's Natural Heritage29.
27 Published in La Gaceta No. 217 of November eleven, 2011.
28 The Sala Constitucional established through ruling number 2011-016938 at 2:37 p.m. on December 7, 2011, that wetlands located on State properties are part of the State's Natural Heritage, even if they have not been declared Protected Wild Areas:
"...the first thing that must be said is that the claimant is not right when stating that there are mangroves or wetlands that do not form part of the State's Natural Heritage. More specifically, it is clear, according to the normative elements of judgment cited by the parties, including the claimant, that all wetlands located on State properties (belonging to any state entity, body, or organism), form part of that heritage (.) - firstly - it is not true that the wetland ecosystems forming part of that public heritage are only those that have a protected wild area declaration (.) VI.- CONCLUSION. The State's Natural Heritage is a legal asset, defined and individualized in our legal system, whose constituent lands, according to environmental legislation, do not need a declaration of protected wild area to be subject to protection by the Administration." (Highlighting does not correspond to the original). A position ratified by ruling number 2014-001170 at 2:30 p.m. on January 29, 2014, of the Sala Constitucional.
29 For greater detail on the specific inclusion of wetlands within the State's Natural Heritage, see the opinions and pronouncements of the Procuraduría General de la República numbers C-210-2002, C-351-2006, C-093-2007, OJ-024-2013, C-161-2013, OJ-082-2014, C-365-2014, and C-162-2015, among others.
And finally, there is a large number of wetlands located on private lands over which there was a legal discussion about whether these wetlands constituted State's Natural Heritage with the use restrictions indicated in the Forestry Law (Article 18), as well as to whom the administration corresponds, given that the administration of wetlands considered State's Natural Heritage corresponds to the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC)30. Recently, the Sala Constitucional, upon resolving the Constitutional Action processed under file No. 12-011423-0007-CO against Articles 1 and 5 of Law No. 7744, clarified in Resolution 2016-003855 of March 15, 2016, that not all wetlands form part of the State's Natural Heritage (PNE), but only those that are on public domain lands, since wetlands can exist on private property, but they are also subject to special legal protection because the activities that can be carried out in them are subject to certain limitations, as it does not exclude norms and protocols of preventive protection to which all private property where there is a wetland or the concessionaire of a wetland must submit. The Costa Rican legislator, due to their multiple use, opted to declare all wetlands in the country of public interest, whether or not protected by the laws governing this matter, as well as their conservation, and established the prohibition of carrying out activities aimed at interrupting natural cycles, such as the construction of dikes that prevent the flow of marine or continental waters, drainage, desiccation, filling, or any other alteration that causes the deterioration and elimination of such ecosystems, also requiring that any activity carried out must first undergo the environmental impact assessment (Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental) process before the National Environmental Technical Secretariat (Articles 17, 41, 44, and 45 Organic Environmental Law). Furthermore, the Sala Constitucional in Resolution No. 2016-003855 states "that by way of example and without excluding another type of protection established in other norms, the provisions defining prohibited conducts established by the Wildlife Conservation Law must be observed, such as:
30 Wildlife Conservation Law, No. 7317 of October 30, 1992, in Article 7, subsection h) establishes as a competence of SINAC "To protect, supervise, and administer, with an ecosystem approach, wetlands, as well as to determine their classification of national or international importance." - Draining, drying, filling, or eliminating lakes, non-artificial lagoons, and other wetlands, declared or not as such, without prior authorization from SINAC (Article 98), - Discharging wastewater, black water, sludge, waste, or any contaminating substance into springs (nacientes), rivers, streams, permanent or non-permanent creeks, lakes, lagoons, marshes, and natural or artificial reservoirs, estuaries (esteros), peatlands, swamps, wetlands, fresh, brackish, or salt waters, in their channels or in their respective protection areas (Article 128), - Fishing in continental waters - rivers, streamlets, and creeks up to their mouth, lakes, lagoons, reservoirs, estuaries (esteros), and other wetlands - of national property, using explosives, spear guns, cast nets, beach seines, multiple lines, trammel nets, or any other method that endangers the continuity of the species; fishing in continental waters, using poisons, lime, or pesticides; - Damaging populations of target fishing species, incidentally captured species, and the ecosystems on which they depend to carry out their biological functions, such as marine, coastal marine, coral, rocky, mangrove ecosystems, rivers, estuaries (esteros), estuaries, and seagrass beds; - Extracting or destroying, without authorization, plants or their products in official protection areas or in duly authorized private areas (Article 90) - The invasion of wetlands and their protection areas, even sanctioning criminally (Article 58 of the Forestry Law)." These restrictions on private property with wetland ecosystems have their legal basis in what is established by Article 8 of the Biodiversity Law No. 7788 of May 27, 1998, published in La Gaceta No. 101 of May 27, 1998,31 which establishes the environmental function of real estate property by emphasizing that; as part of the economic and social function, real estate properties must fulfill an environmental function. Property that bears these limitations is obliged to manage them according to the current national and international legislation, regarding which Judgment No. 2011-00429 of the Agrarian Court states:
31 Law No. 7788: Published in La Gaceta No. 101 of May 27, 1991. Available at: http://www.pgrweb.go.cr/scij/Busqueda/Normativa/Normas/nrm_texto_completo.aspx?param1=NRTC&nValor1=1&nValor2=39796&nValor3=0&strTipM=TC, last visited: January 06, 2017 (...) among the most important limits imposed on property to guarantee its economic, social, and environmental function, the following can be highlighted: A.- The exercise of any agri-environmental activity that may alter or destroy elements of the environment necessarily requires an environmental impact assessment (evaluación de impacto ambiental), whose approval must be prior to the project. The assessment is also required when works or infrastructure may affect marine, coastal, and wetland resources. B.- Land-use planning (ordenamiento territorial), to balance sustainable development, implies the territorial relocation of productive activities, which could mean important limits to the right of property, since consideration must be taken of, among other aspects, natural resources, predominant economic activities, the land-use capacity (capacidad de uso de los suelos), and zoning by agricultural products and activities, based on ecological and productive considerations. C.- The Executive Branch is empowered to include within protected wilderness areas (áreas silvestres protegidas) the private properties necessary for the fulfillment of the environmental function, or to create legal easements (servidumbres legales) for ecological protection. In cases where the Law requires compensation, private individuals may voluntarily submit to the forestry regime, in which case the property is encumbered in the Public Registry (Ley Orgánica del Ambiente, Article 37). D.- Activities aimed at interrupting the natural cycles of wetland ecosystems, which may cause their deterioration and elimination, are prohibited (Ley Orgánica del Ambiente, Article 45). E.- Productive activities must avoid water pollution, treat wastewater, and prevent or minimize the deterioration or contamination of watersheds (cuencas hidrográficas), as well as soil. F.- Organic agriculture, as a form of exercising sustainable agricultural activities, implies a form of fulfilling the economic, social, and environmental function, since an environmental certification is required for organic products that have been obtained without applying chemical synthesis inputs or products (Articles 73-75). G.- Environmental credit: is intended to finance the costs of reducing pollution in productive processes. When they involve land use, a management and land-use plan in accordance with the land-use capacity is required (Ley Orgánica del Ambiente, Article 113) (...)".
In this way, it is concluded that all wetlands, whether or not declared by the State, whether or not they form part of protected wilderness areas, or of the Natural Heritage of the State, or even those that are on private property, must be protected because they are declared of public interest. Part of this protection consists of issuing a public policy that marks within its route actions to manage the conservation and rational use of wetland ecosystems in accordance with the national and international commitments that the country has acquired with these ecosystems.
5. Baseline Analysis The baseline must respond to the configuration of social, economic, and environmental indicators that allow characterizing the wetland ecosystems in Costa Rica and their gaps or inequalities. The construction of the baseline was defined based on 3 indices (economic, social, and environmental), which are integrated into a general index that seeks to measure the degree of inequality among the geographical units analyzed.
Each index is composed of dimensions and these, in turn, by indicators. The indicators are disaggregated into variables. The selection of indicators was carried out based on the availability of information, relevance, and validity of each one to measure the topics considered in the consultancy.
The number of indicators varies among the indices and dimensions depending on the availability of disaggregated data at the subnational level. In total, 13 dimensions, 53 indicators, and 85 variables were considered. It was from this structure that the most relevant indicators for defining the baseline were selected.
A. Construction of the Social Index For the construction of the social index, an exhaustive review of the main existing social indicators in the country was carried out. After this process, it was determined that one of the most complete indicators for socially characterizing the population is the Multidimensional Poverty Index (Índice de Pobreza Multidimensional, IPM).
The multidimensional approach of this index seeks to overcome the limitations of the Unsatisfied Basic Needs (Necesidades Básicas Insatisfechas, NBI) method widely used in the country. The most popular of these proposals is the one formalized by Alkire and Foster in 2007 within the University of Oxford research center called the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI). This is developed for application with household surveys, making it possible to expand the dimensions and even include non-material deprivations.
As in the NBI method, dimensions and deprivation indicators are defined in each dimension.
Thresholds are established for each indicator to dichotomously classify households and their members: satisfies or does not satisfy. The difference introduced, in addition to the possibility of including more dimensions and indicators, is that each indicator and dimension is weighted and that the aggregation method is not the union (does not satisfy at least one need as in NBI), but an intersection (does not satisfy at least K indicators).
This reduces the dependence on the number of indicators and allows calculating not only the extent or incidence of poverty but also its intensity (average deprivations suffered by the poor) as in the poverty line method.
This approach has been recently implemented by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC, 2015a and 2015b) at the request of the Government of the Republic. However, this indicator is only available at the planning region level since it is derived from the Household Survey (Encuesta de Hogares). For this reason, the index was estimated using the 2011 Population and Housing Census (Censo de Población y Vivienda del año 2011) in order to obtain the desired levels of disaggregation for the baseline analysis and its replication in the coming years.
The importance of using this index, besides being a very complete way to socially characterize the population, is that it aligns with the measures used by the government to monitor advances in the country's social development and therefore facilitates future control and monitoring of the social component since the same unit of analysis is available.
Dimensions and Variables of the Social Index The population census contains fewer variables but allows for greater geographical disaggregation. Since fewer variables are available, the INEC estimation based on the ENAHO cannot be replicated exactly, but it can be approximated. In this census-based approximation of the IPM, the five dimensions and the 19 deprivations established by INEC in its IPM are maintained. The same percentage of deprivations (20%) is also used to consider a household as poor. Where some discrepancies occur, which may explain the results, is in the operational definition of the deprivation thresholds within each dimension. The dimensions and variables used in the calculation of the index are described below:
Figure 1: Dimensions and variables of the cantonal IPM. Source: INEC (2015a) and Leonardo Sánchez Hernández (2017) B. Construction of the Economic Index The identification and definition of the economic axis aims to achieve a territorial characterization of economic activity and the conditions for the development of productive activities based on existing endogenous resources. This is for the purpose of creating a baseline of economic indicators that can be used in the National Wetlands Policy (Política Nacional de Humedales) and its Regional Action Plans.
In view of the above, the methodology developed aimed to create an economic index in light of existing information in the country, economic theory, and a series of methodological applications that allowed providing a greater understanding of the relationship between territorial economic dynamics and existing social gaps.
Dimensions and Variables of the Economic Index The bibliographic review process and the databases allowed the construction of a matrix of variables and indicators essential for a robust approximation of a territorial index of economic activity. The proposed economic index has three dimensions, namely: a) Productive specialization; b) Productive infrastructure; and c) Governance and institutionality. These dimensions are in turn broken down into 22 indicators and 39 variables. The index was calculated at the cantonal level, which is the minimum level of disaggregation possible with existing information in the country. The dimensions and variables used in the calculation of the index are described below:
Figure 2: Dimensions and variables of the economic index. Prepared by Leonardo Sánchez Hernández (2017) C. Construction of the Environmental Index The availability of environmental indicators in the country is limited. After conducting an exhaustive review of variables and indicators, it was decided to use the Cantonal Environmental Sustainability Index (Índice de Sostenibilidad Ambiental Cantonal, ISAC), developed by the Development Observatory of the University of Costa Rica, as the summary measure with the greatest scope for verifying the territorial environmental status. This indicator was used as a possible explanatory environmental factor for territorial inequalities.
Dimensions and Variables of the Environmental Index This index is composed of five dimensions: environmental systems, reduction of environmental stresses, reduction of human vulnerability, social and institutional capacity, and social and institutional responsibility.
These five dimensions are in turn disaggregated into 11 indicators and 26 variables. The level of disaggregation is cantonal. Figure 3 shows the composition of the index according to the indicators and variables that comprise it. The dimensions are detailed below:
Figure 3: Dimensions and variables of the environmental index. Prepared by Leonardo Sánchez Hernández (2017) D. Social, Economic, and Environmental Characteristics of the Watersheds Where the Wetlands are Located and Their Prioritization of Actions Each of the three previous indices is calculated separately with its respective dimensions at the cantonal level and then integrated at the Watershed (Cuenca Hidrográfica) level. In order to integrate all the indicators into a single index, a "Global Index" was estimated that integrates the three indices (social, economic, and environmental).
For the purposes of constructing the Global Index, equal weights were assigned to the three indices that compose it.
Figure 4 shows the value of the index ordered from highest to lowest. The highest value represents a better average performance in the three evaluated indices (social, environmental, and economic). The values of the 4 indices are grouped into 5 prioritization categories based on their social, environmental, and economic conditions.
These categories are: 1. Low; 2. Medium Low; 3. Medium; 4. Medium High; and 5. High. The Low category represents the best conditions in the three evaluated indices and the High category the worst conditions.
Figure 4: Global Index by watershed. Prepared by Leonardo Sánchez Hernández (2017).
In general terms, the wetlands located in the Río Esquinas, Río Madre de Dios, Río Península de Osa, Río Frío, Río Sixaola, and Zapote watersheds present the most unfavorable conditions according to the three evaluated indices. In contrast, the highest obtained values are found in the Grande de Tárcoles, Río Reventazón, Río Barranca, Río Parrita, Río Jesús María, and Río Barú watersheds, with a difference of more than 10 points in the Global Index compared to the lowest-value watersheds.
Similarly, the Río Grande de Térraba, Pocosol, Península de Nicoya, Río Sarapiquí, and Río La Estrella watersheds obtained a priority level of "4" and are also considered to have a relatively low social, economic, and environmental profile and therefore a significant priority level within the wetlands policy.
(See Figure 5) Figure 5: Distribution of wetlands by watershed and prioritization level. Prepared by Leonardo Sánchez Hernández (2017).
The information shown in Table 1 allows classifying the watersheds according to the environmental, social, and economic profile that characterizes them. In general terms and for the environmental axis, the most favorable conditions (highest index) are present in the Barú, Tusubres, Sixaola, Grande de Tárcoles, and Tortuguero watersheds.
Conversely, the lowest environmental index is located in the Zapote, Bananito, Matina, San Carlos, and Banano watersheds.
For their part, the Grande de Tárcoles, Barranca, Reventazón, Jesús María, and Parrita watersheds present the best social conditions; conversely, the Sixaola, Zapote, Río Frío, Sarapiquí, and Pocosol watersheds present the most unfavorable social conditions.
Regarding economic conditions, the San Carlos, Tárcoles, Matina, Bananito, and Cueña watersheds obtain the best economic indicators, respectively. Conversely, the Península de Osa, Sixaola, Esquinas, Zapote, and Térraba watersheds have the lowest economic conditions.
Ramsar wetlands were also analyzed and characterized under the 4 estimated indices. Table 2 shows the values in each axis (social, economic, and environmental) and the value of the global index. The indices are ordered based on the position they obtain among the 11 wetlands. Likewise, the wetlands were classified according to their intervention priorities, meaning a value of 1 signifies low priority, a value of 2 signifies medium priority, and 3 signifies high priority.
Table 1: Environmental, economic, and social index by watershed. Prepared by Leonardo Sánchez Hernández (2017).
In general terms, the Caribe Norte wetland occupies the best position in all indicators compared to the rest of the Ramsar wetlands, and together with the Maquenque and Turberas de Talamanca wetlands, they are grouped within priority group 1, that is, low intervention priority since they show the best conditions compared to the rest of the Ramsar wetlands.
The most unfavorable conditions (social, economic, and environmental) are present in the Térraba Sierpe, Gandoca Manzanillo, Caño Negro, and Palo Verde Ramsar wetlands. All these wetlands were grouped within the high intervention priority (value 3).
Finally, the Baulas, Embalse Arenal, Laguna Respingue, and Potrero Grande Ramsar wetlands were identified as medium priority.
Table 2: Global, environmental, economic, and social index by Ramsar wetland. Prepared by Leonardo Sánchez Hernández (2017).
6. Typology of Wetland Ecosystems Table 3: Classification System for wetland ecosystems. Based on Decreto Nº 35803-MINAET "Technical Criteria for the Identification, Classification, and Conservation of Wetlands" (Criterios Técnicos para la Identificación, Clasificación y Conservación de Humedales). Available in La Gaceta No. 73 of April 16, 2010.
Fluvial System - Permanent/seasonal/intermittent/irregular rivers/streams Estuarine System - Estuaries. - Intertidal forested wetlands: mangroves, "nipa" swamps, tidal freshwater flooded or floodable forests. - Intertidal marshes and salt flats (zonas inundadas): salt marshes, saltwater-inundated zones, halophytic meadows, salt flats, elevated zones inundated with saltwater, freshwater and brackish water zones inundated by tides.
Marine System Consists of littoral areas exposed to ocean water flows, including marine extensions up to the back limit of marine phanerogams or coral reefs, or, in their absence, up to 6 meters depth at low tide.
- Subtidal marine beds: algal beds, seagrass beds, and mixed tropical marine meadows. - Rocky marine shores; includes rocky islets and cliffs. - Permanent shallow marine waters: bays and straits. - Sand or pebble beaches: sand banks, spits, points, and islets. - Coral reefs.
Lacustrine System - Permanent freshwater lakes, includes large oxbow lakes (madre viejas/meandros o brazos muertos de río). - Seasonal/intermittent freshwater lakes or lagoons, includes lakes in floodplains. - Permanent saline/brackish/alkaline lakes or lagoons. - Seasonal/intermittent saline/brackish/alkaline lakes and inundated zones.
Palustrine System - Yolillales, waterlogged freshwater forests. - Permanent saline/brackish/alkaline swamps/salt flats/pools. - Seasonal/intermittent/permanent swamps/salt flats/pools. - Marshes and salt flats on inorganic soils, with emergent vegetation in water for at least most of the growing season. - Seasonal/intermittent freshwater swamps/salt flats/pools on inorganic soils. - Non-forested peatlands. - Forested freshwater wetlands.
Problematic Factors Affecting Wetland Ecosystems in Costa Rica Figure 6: Causes and effects of the deterioration of wetland ecosystems and their consequent detriment of ecosystem services.
Factors Affecting Wetland Ecosystems in Costa Rica 7. Factors Affecting Wetland Ecosystems in Costa Rica 8. Ecosystem Services According to the Convention on Biological Diversity, ecosystem services refer to the goods and services that human populations obtain from the functioning and dynamics of ecosystems, including resource provisioning services, regulating services, cultural services, and supporting services.
From an ecological point of view, Costa Rica is a highly diverse country, and that same diversity is also reflected in wetland ecosystems, which harbor large numbers of flora and fauna species, including both local species and migratory or transient species, allowing migratory flow and genetic exchange, as well as the fulfillment of the reproductive cycle of many species, among which birdlife and marine species stand out. The latter are an important part of the country's resource and food security, its economy, and that of other countries.
In this sense, the ecological functions of wetlands represent a series of goods and services for Costa Rican society since ancestral times. Primarily as a source of water and life support, but also as a source of production and maintenance of productive and extractive activities, based on the biotic and abiotic resources that these ecosystems offer, and among which fishing, aquaculture, the various uses of water resources, and other derived activities such as ecotourism, research, and training can be highlighted.
In addition to the above, there is a wide diversity of knowledge related to the culture of wetlands, which possesses intrinsic value for many indigenous populations and local communities. This cosmovision is associated in many cases with value systems and cultural practices of enjoyment and maintenance of the ecological characteristics of wetlands, which strengthen sustainable use and conservation practices, as well as the belonging and rootedness of these communities with these ecosystems. Not considering these ties as part of the ecosystem services provided by wetlands causes them to be undervalued and risks triggering conflicts between different management objectives for the same area.32 32 Pritchard, D; M. Ali and T. Papayannis. 2016. Guide: Rapid Cultural Inventories for Wetlands. Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat. Available at: http://www.Ramsar.org/sites/default/files/documents/library/guia_inventarios_culturales_rapidos_para_humedales.pd, last visited: January 6, 2017 Due to all of the above, wetland ecosystem services are classified into:
- Supporting services: necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services. - Provisioning services: products obtained from wetland ecosystems. - Regulating services: benefits obtained from the regulation of ecosystem processes. - Cultural services: non-material benefits that people obtain from ecosystems.
Among the most prominent goods and services that wetland ecosystems offer us are those mentioned in Table 4, below:
Table 4: Ecosystem value of wetlands, according to category of goods and services offered.33 33 Based on: World Resources Institute. 2005. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Wetlands and Water. Synthesis Report, Washington, DC. ISBN 1-56973-597-2. And De Groot, R.S., Stuip, M.A.M., Finlayson, C.M. & Davidson, N. 2007. Wetland valuation: Guidelines for valuing the benefits derived from wetland ecosystem services, Ramsar Technical Report No. 3/No. 27 of the CBD Technical Series. Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention, Gland (Switzerland), and Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal (Canada). ISBN 2-940073-31-7.
9. Relationship of Indigenous Peoples with Wetland Ecosystems The opinions referred to in this section are the product of the analysis, discussion, and prioritization of the recommendations and proposals resulting from the "Participation Process of Indigenous Territories in the Formulation of the National Wetlands Policy (PNH)." The recommendations and proposals were specified from the "Cosmogonic Vision," which starts from the principle that the individual and collective action of indigenous peoples is an interdependent and indissoluble relationship between the Universe - Nature - Humanity, where the conservation of the resources of Mother Earth must be guaranteed, as well as its wetland ecosystem services, among others; and the growth of individuals, their families, and community collectivities in harmony, respect, and balance, thus expressing "Good Living" (Buen Vivir).
In this sense, the relationship with the universe occurs through the observation of the movements and alignments of the stars since the very existence of indigenous peoples, which has generated knowledge of the universe for the tracing and following of the route, as well as the recording of time. These are fundamental elements for the relationship with nature and humanity.
Together with this, nature is related to the observation of the movements of Mother Earth, the universe, and the living beings that inhabit it; indigenous peoples have generated a wealth of knowledge that allows them to understand it, through ancestral practices based on harmony and balance with nature and the universe. The cultural use and management of the territory implies that indigenous people only take from nature the resources they need for their good living, and at the same time, they carry out conservation practices for resources, observing the behavior of the cosmos and practicing spirituality.
In the indigenous cosmovision, there are four sacred elements: Fire, Earth, Water, and Air; each of these elements is contained in the others, and all together are in the human being. WATER is the element that gave rise to our life, hence the cultural importance of wetland ecosystems.
Because of this, for cultural use and management, it is essential to have territorial security, which must include the areas delimited by the state and those of ancestral cultural use where many sacred, cultural, historical, architectural, and other sites exist. Furthermore, with cultural use and management, the indigenous economy and an equitable distribution of benefits to individuals, their families, and communities must be strengthened.
Here we find then the third pillar, humanity. The practice of spirituality is the means for communication with the ancestors who are in other dimensions, with Mother Earth, and with the cosmos. The recognition, exercise, and application of indigenous rights, territorial security and autonomy, territorial governance and community norms, indigenous organization from their own traditional community forms, cultural identities, the existence of peoples, territories, and communities, as well as cultural, social, political, environmental, and economic relationships, are also important for living as indigenous peoples and multiethnicity and pluriculturality as a society.
10. Policy Approaches The approaches are defined from a specific point of view, in order to direct attention based on some assumptions. In simpler words, the approaches would be like the lenses we must put on when we are going to talk about an issue or problem. In the case of the National Wetlands Policy, the main approaches are:
1. Conservation:
The State shall protect, supervise, and administer, within its conservation programs, wetland ecosystems and their associated natural processes. Always considering that their ecological characteristics are dynamic in space and time, that they possess associated uncertainty, and that human populations must adapt to these changes without expecting the ecosystems to adapt to them.
2. Ecosystem approach to wetlands:
It is recognized that human beings, their cultural diversity, and current development model are one more component of ecosystems, and therefore cannot be separated from the integral interactions that analyze scenarios in search of sustainable development. Thus, decision-making in addressing environmental issues must be substantiated and must include social, cultural, economic, political, and institutional interactions within a geographical framework, defined mainly by ecological limits, in a holistic and integral manner.
3. Sustainable Development Sustainable development is approached from the social dimension that emphasizes equity and its consequent adaptation to demographic changes, cultural aspects, and the effective participation of decision-makers; the economic dimension that relates to the adopted development model and its implementation, preserving the productive capacity of natural resources; and the environmental dimension that focuses on the integrity of ecological systems, understanding that their functioning is essential for the survival of human beings and other species.34 34 Arellano, D. 2002. The ecosystem approach for sustainable development through the promotion of synergies on a national scale. Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering, Vol. XXIII, No. 2. Available at: http://www.bvsde.paho.org/bvsacd/cd19/collazo/enfecosi.pdf, last visited: January 6, 2017 In other words, it refers to the balance between the integration of conservation and the sustainable use of biological diversity, which is critical for associated populations, both for its intrinsic value to the ecosystem and for the role it plays in maintaining the goods and services associated with their health, productivity, and sustainability in their quality of life and habitat.
Within this framework, sustainable human development conceives development as a continuous and integral learning process that brings together components and dimensions of the development of societies and individuals, in which the generation of capacities and opportunities with equity for current and future generations is central. In this sense, adopting a model of sustainable development requires a State vision that starts from the bases of the social fabric, influencing culture, through training and learning, so that its actions at all levels are consistent with sustainability.
4. Integrated watershed management (Manejo integrado de cuencas hidrográficas):
Processes carried out in wetland ecosystems such as nutrient cycling, productivity, succession processes, or competition relationships among species are largely controlled by their hydrological regime. In this sense, wetlands are both a source of water and users of it, which is why ensuring the water they need will promote the conservation of their biodiversity, as well as the sustainable use of their components. Knowledge of the needs regarding the quality, quantity, and timing of water for wetlands will then contribute to its sustainable management, keeping the repercussions of its uses within ecological limits for their integrity and proper functioning.35 35 Resolution XXII.12 of COP 12 of Ramsar. Available at: http://www.Ramsar.org/sites/default/files/documents/library/cop12_res12_water_requirements_s.pdf, last visited: January 6, 2017 From the foregoing, the importance of analyzing the interaction, interrelation, and dependence that exists between the various sections of the watershed (cuenca hidrográfica) (upper, middle, and lower sections), from the perspective of its fluvial dynamics, with the spatial distribution of wetlands, according to the importance each one holds and its specific location, can be deduced. The watershed (cuenca hidrográfica) concept therefore allows for the development in greater detail of all those processes, activities, and actions related to watershed management, land-use planning (ordenamiento territorial), environmental zoning, and the execution of regulatory plans by municipalities, in order to regulate and organize population growth and the various development activities generated.
Due to the foregoing, integrated watershed management is an approach that must be incorporated into the planning and implementation of actions directed at wetland ecosystems, because even though action plans or any other operational instrument developed may follow a political territorial structure, it must incorporate the analysis of the territory by viewing it as a part of the watershed system, considering the cumulative or synergistic impacts that various activities may cause along these systems.
5. Human rights: gender equity, intergenerationality, and interculturality:
According to Article 11 of the Biodiversity Law (Ley de Biodiversidad), biodiversity is considered to be of public environmental interest and therefore its use "shall guarantee the development options of future generations, food security, the conservation of ecosystems, the protection of human health, and the improvement of citizens' quality of life." Inclusive development therefore implies considering the needs, interests, characteristics, and socio-cultural diversity of people: women, men, young people, older adults, children, and adolescents with different visions, since all of them play, directly or indirectly, a fundamental role in the conservation, ecological rehabilitation, and sustainable use of wetland ecosystems, and therefore must be included in planning and decision-making processes, as well as in the execution of projects and programs, according to their capacities and potential. In this sense, the policy considers that in all cases, the specific demands and needs of different age groups, cultural visions, and genders must be analyzed, considering the role that populations play in the sustainable management and use of wetlands.
11. Principles governing the policy Principles guide human action. They are general-universal norms that have a legal basis, and are therefore classified as the foundation upon which a person's way of thinking or acting regarding any idea, norm, or project is oriented.36 The principles in the development of the National Wetlands Policy and its future application are:
36 Costa Rica. Ministry of National Planning and Economic Policy. Development Analysis Area. Guide for the preparation of public policies / Ministry of National Planning and Economic Policy -- San José, CR: MIDEPLAN, 2016. 59 p.: 28 cm x 21 cm. Available at www.mideplan.go.cr 1. Integration of conservation and sustainable/rational use of wetland ecosystems The conservation and sustainable/rational use of wetland ecosystems must be incorporated into sectoral and intersectoral activities, plans, programs, and strategies, so that they are integrated into the national development and planning process.
In this sense, sustainable or rational use must be understood as the utilization of biodiversity components in a way and at a rate that does not cause their long-term decline or deterioration, thereby maintaining the possibilities of meeting the needs and aspirations of current and future generations37. In this regard, and under the concept of rational use used by Ramsar, the maintenance of the ecological and dynamic structure and functionality of wetland ecosystems is also considered, in order to ensure their long-term permanence, in pursuit of human well-being, poverty reduction, and the conservation and ecological rehabilitation of wetlands38.
37 Decree No. 33433 "Regulation to the Biodiversity Law" (Decreto N° 33433 "Reglamento a La Ley de la Biodiversidad").
38 Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention, 2010. Rational use of wetlands: Concepts and approaches for the rational use of wetlands. Ramsar Handbooks for the rational use of wetlands, 4th edition, vol. 1. Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention, Gland (Switzerland).
2. Participatory management:
For comprehensive management of wetland ecosystems by the State to be successful, the active and effective involvement of society as a whole is required, through representative organizations and the participation of different actors, both in the formulation of the policy and in its execution, monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and constant improvement, to the extent permitted by law. This involvement must therefore be inclusive, systematic, informed, consulted, and responsible.
For this reason, this approach postulates the design and application of management mechanisms that inclusively allow for the transparent adoption of decisions at local and national levels for the sustainable use of wetlands, as well as in monitoring, evaluation, and constant improvement systems, which make it possible to identify the results of certain measures for the various stakeholders39. In this sense, decisions regarding the planning, management, and administration of wetland ecosystems must democratically consider the different sectors and actors of society40,41 using mechanisms permitted under the current legal framework.
39 Resolution VII.8 of COP 7 of Ramsar, available at: http://www.Ramsar.org/sites/default/files/documents/library/key_res_vii.08s.pdf 40 Olsson, P.; C. Folke and F. Berke. 2004. Adaptive Comanagement for Building Resilience in Social- Ecological Systems. Vol. 34, Issue1, 75-90 pp. Available at: http://link.springer.com/article/10.10 07/s00267-003-0101-7http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00267-003-0101-7, last visited: January 6, 2017.
41 Olsson, P; C. Folke and T. Hahn. 2004. Social-Ecological Transformation for Ecosystem Management: the Development of Adaptive Co-management of a Wetland Landscape in Southern Sweden. Ecology and Society, Vol. 9 (4(, art. 2. Available at. http://esanalysis.colmex.mx/Sorted%20Papers/2004/2004%20 SWE%20-CS%20SWE,%203F%20Social%202.pdf, last visited: January 6, 2017.
3. Preventive principle The anthropogenic causes of wetland ecosystem loss, as well as of the elements that compose their biodiversity, must be anticipated, prevented, and addressed. Likewise, from a social point of view, those causes that from environmental management may negatively affect populations directly or indirectly associated with these ecosystems must be anticipated, prevented, and addressed, both in the short, medium, and long term, establishing affirmative action when deemed necessary.
4. Precautionary principle The development of any activity that is directly or indirectly linked to wetland ecosystems must be analyzed comprehensively, under a long-term vision that considers all situations where there is or may come to be a certain level of uncertainty regarding the effects it may generate on the ecosystem itself or on the populations that depend on it to some extent. The absence of scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason to not adopt protective measures.
5. Maintenance of ecological characteristics42 42 According to Handbook 1. Rational Use of Wetlands, characteristics "are the combination of the ecosystem components, processes, and benefits/services that characterize the wetland at a given moment." According to Article 49 of the Biodiversity Law (Ley de Biodiversidad), "The maintenance of ecological processes is a duty of the State and citizens. For this purpose, the Ministry of Environment and Energy and other pertinent public entities, taking into account the specific legislation in force, shall issue the appropriate technical standards and use mechanisms for their conservation, such as environmental planning and assessments, environmental impact assessments and audits, closed seasons, permits, environmental licenses, and incentives, among others." The purpose of maintaining ecological characteristics lies in maintaining or enhancing the structure and functioning of ecosystems, so that they can fulfill their biological function, while simultaneously providing the ecosystem goods and services used by human populations.
6. Adaptation and resilience building Adaptation allows us to plan despite uncertainty, enabling actions so that social and ecological systems adjust to constant changes and stimuli, through learning and the modification of actions as part of a continuous improvement process, which in turn generates resilience (capacity to recover from a disturbance or withstand pressures during it, essentially conserving the same structure, function, and identity, or taking actions for a change or improvement, without transitioning to a lower-quality state). More than static conservation, this Policy must promote active and dynamic conservation of ecosystem functions and processes, so that their benefits continue to be perceived in the long term despite the new conditions they must face. In this sense, as part of this approach, the use of active management is included, this being understood as the combination of form and methods of human intervention on ecosystems, in a planned manner directed towards ecological rehabilitation43. Both adaptation and resilience must be viewed not only from the ecological perspective, but also from the social or community perspective, which ultimately has a direct relationship and, in the case of human populations, depends on correct and continuous ecological functioning.
43 Executive Decree No. 27345 (Decreto Ejecutivo N° 27345): Approves the Active Ecosystem Management Regulation for Palo Verde National Park and amends decree N° 27345 "Establishes Active Management in its Wetlands and Pasture Areas for Palo Verde National Park and Creates an Advisory Committee" (Decreto Ejecutivo N° 27345: Aprueba Reglamento Manejo Activo de Ecosistemas Parque Nacional Palo Verde y reforma decreto N° 27345 "Establece para el Parque Nacional Palo Verde Manejo Activo en sus Humedales y Áreas de Pasto y Crea Cómite Asesor"). Published in La Gaceta 148 of August 3, 2016. Available at: http://www.pgrweb.go.cr/scij/Busqueda/Normativa/Normas/nrm_norma.aspx?param1=NRM&nValor1=1&nValor2=82031&nValor3=104847&strTipM=FN, last visited January 6, 2017.
7. Subsidiarity Any matter must be resolved by the authority (regulatory, political, or economic) closest to the object of the problem. Therefore, the autonomy of each administrative entity to decide during processes is recognized, respecting the instruments of self-regulation and co-regulation established by the national and international legal framework, requesting dialogue and the participation of those involved in decision-making, as well as in the design, execution, and evaluation of strategies to achieve the objectives defined by the collective.
8. Shared global responsibility Understanding that the benefits provided by wetland ecosystems are local, national, and global in nature, their conservation and sustainable use must be strengthened both by State institutions and through free or organized local citizen participation, as well as by representation from the private sector and international cooperation, which includes, but is not limited to, other Contracting Parties of the Ramsar Convention.
12. GeneralObjectiveof the NationalWetlandsPolicy Comprehensively manage the wetland ecosystems of Costa Rica in order to contribute to national development through the conservation of their ecological integrity and the sustainable use of the ecosystem services they provide for current and future generations, with special emphasis on those populations directly dependent on these ecosystems. (Effective period: 2017 to 2030).
To achieve this objective, the Policy consists of five action axes, mentioned below:
Axis 1: Conservation of wetland ecosystems, their goods and services.
The conservation of biodiversity and its corresponding natural processes are vital for life on the planet; therefore, at the national level, the actions to be implemented to meet this objective must be clarified, including in planning the different scales of attention, the purpose of efforts, and the resources allocated.
In this sense, the first axis of attention to be considered in this policy is to promote direct investment in the conservation of wetland areas and/or species, in order to directly ensure their ecological integrity, and therefore the goods and services they offer as a consequence.
Due to the various problems that put the provision of ecosystem services at risk, as a result of the disconnection between the macroeconomic model and policy and the country's environmental competitiveness, conservation is considered the primary use that allows continuity for the rest of the uses.
This axis thus responds to the need to avoid future losses of wetland ecosystems, as well as all those factors that may affect their characteristics, health, productivity, functioning, and ecosystem services. At the same time, it aims to increase the areas placed under some degree of protection in the most appropriate management categories for their management, according to their ecological and social characteristics and potential; including in this aspect the current conservation gaps and those that arise under a progressive climate change scenario.
In this sense, measures are incorporated that address the updating of their inventory and monitoring, as well as those related to generating greater visibility of these ecosystems in the various land-use planning (ordenamiento territorial) instruments, in the improvements of ecological connectivity, and in the dependency relationship with water resources.
Objective 1: Increase the ecological integrity of wetland ecosystems, in order to conserve their ecosystem services at the national level, with sociocultural relevance, in accordance with the current legal framework.
Goal 1: By 2030, Costa Rica increases the ecological integrity of wetland ecosystems, based on information from the National Wetland Inventory and other official information sources, and their incorporation into different land-use planning (ordenamiento territorial) planning processes, based on the integrated watershed management approach.
Result 1: Improved ecological integrity of wetland ecosystems in Ramsar Sites, wetland ecosystems in protected wild areas, wetland ecosystems outside protected wild areas that are not State Natural Heritage, and wetland ecosystems on private property, according to this order of prioritization.
Indicators:
a. Number of land-use planning (ordenamiento territorial) planning processes1 in execution that apply technical and legal standards to maintain the ecological integrity and ecosystem services of wetlands.
b. Percentage of coverage of wetland ecosystems monitored, based on the updating of the National Wetland Inventory.
c. Number of wetland ecosystems where conservation conditions are increased and threat levels are reduced (increase in forest cover (cobertura boscosa) per canton and extension of protected area, as well as good construction practices and agroproductive practices2.
The guidelines, actions, goals, indicators, and actors linked to addressing the five axes of the National Wetlands Policy are developed below. The timeframes correspond to three periods, the first of them set from 2017 to 2020, the second from 2021 to 2025, and finally from 2026 to 2030. In these timeframes, you will see the approach of the period in which the actions must be completed, observing in red those that are priority 1, in yellow, those of priority 2, and in green those of priority 3, similar to the attention colors set by traffic lights.
Axis 1: Conservation of wetland ecosystems, their goods, and their services.
Footnotes for Axis 1 tables 1 Includes Land-Use Plans (Planes de Ordenamiento Territorial), Regional Action Plans, Local Action Plans, Management Plans, Utilization Plans, and other sectoral or institutional spatial planning instruments of this type.
2 Agroproductive and agroecological practices especially in the production of coffee, sugar, banana, pineapple, melon, rice, oil palm, and other crops.
3 These indicators must consider but not be limited to parameters related to the limits of the wetland ecosystem, site topography, soil type and quality, quantity and quality of water resources, presence of native and invasive species, threatened or endangered species; effects of climate change, main problems, potential sustainable uses, and existing uses, including those cultural or spiritual uses in indigenous territories and local communities, as well as macro indicators that can be incorporated into the System of Indicators on Sustainable Development.
4 "... the Ministry of Environment and Energy, in collaboration with other public and private entities, shall provide a system of parameters that allows for the identification of ecosystems and their components, to take appropriate measures, including mitigation, control, restoration, recovery, and rehabilitation", Article 51, Biodiversity Law (Ley de Biodiversidad).
5 The design of the monitoring system must be finalized by 2020, in order to be put into practice. Its operation must be at 100% by 2030.
6 Based on Law No. 6043 on the maritime-terrestrial zone and its respective regulation, as well as Law No. 59 on the Creation and Organization of the National Geographic Institute, Forestry Law (Ley Forestal) No. 7575, and Water Law No. 276, among others, the National Geographic Institute is responsible for the demarcation of the public zone and within it the estuaries, mangroves, rias, and coastal areas. On the other hand, the implementation of the cadastral registry must be carried out complying with the stages described in Article 9 of the National Cadastre Law No. 6545 (Ley 6545 de Catastro Nacional), published in 1981, an input that, according to the State Natural Heritage Land Classification Manual, will allow the unequivocal description of the properties published therein and as such is comparable to a cadastral map. The information generated must have a digital backup, which can be used by SINAC itself, various institutions, and the general public for general inquiries and decision-making, therefore it must be incorporated into the ABRE Cadastre, SIREFOR, SNIT, and CENIGA.
7 These plans must be renewed every 5 years and must consider the guidelines proposed in Ramsar's "Guide for Strengthening the Participation of Local and Indigenous Communities in Wetland Management." Furthermore, these plans must incorporate both specific conservation actions and the possibilities for ecological rehabilitation and sustainable use, when required, including, where applicable, access and cultural use by indigenous peoples. The foregoing based on information from the national wetland inventory and its characterization, as well as the provisions of Ramsar and the orientations or directives provided by MINAE.
8 Includes the preparation of Participatory Plans for local management or handling of wetland ecosystems.
9 "The following are declared protection areas: a) Areas bordering permanent springs (nacientes), defined within a radius of one hundred meters measured horizontally. b) A strip of fifteen meters in rural areas and ten meters in urban areas, measured horizontally on both sides, on the banks of rivers, streams, or creeks, if the land is flat, and fifty horizontal meters, if the land is broken.
- c)A zone of fifty meters measured horizontally on the banks of natural lakes and reservoirs and on artificial lakes or reservoirs built by the State and its institutions. Private artificial lakes and reservoirs are excepted. d) Recharge areas and aquifers of springs, whose limits shall be determined by the competent bodies established in the regulation of this law." Forestry Law (Ley Forestal), Article 32.
10 "The following are declared as a reservation of ownership in favor of the Nation: a) The lands surrounding drinking water catchment sites or supply intakes, within a perimeter of no less than two hundred meters in radius; b) The forest zone that protects or must protect the set of lands where drinking water infiltration occurs, as well as those that serve as the base for watersheds (cuencas hidrográficas) and deposit margins, supply sources, or permanent course of the same waters." Water Law (Ley de Aguas), Article 31.
"When in an area larger than the one mentioned above there is a danger of contamination, whether in surface or groundwater, the Executive Branch, through the Drinking Water Section referred to in the following article, shall arrange in said area the measures it deems appropriate to avoid the danger of contamination." Water Law (Ley de Aguas), Article 32.
11 Matrix "Land-Use Criteria According to Aquifer Contamination Vulnerability for Water Resource Protection" (Matriz "Criterios de Uso del Suelo según la vulnerabilidad a la contaminación de acuíferos para la protección del recurso hídrico"), agreement number 3303, taken by the Board of Directors of Senara in Extraordinary Session No. 239-06, held on September 26, 2006.
Axis 2: Development, provision of ecosystem services, and climate adaptation.
The second axis contemplated in this policy is associated with the sustainable/rational use and management of wetland ecosystem goods and services, and therefore responds to the need to repair inequities in the distribution of wealth, as well as conditions of socio-economic vulnerability. Additionally, it consists of attempting to achieve a linkage between the macroeconomic model and policy and the country's environmental competitiveness. The foregoing to recognize the diverse links between conservation, the maintenance of livelihoods, and respect for human rights, always focusing to a greater extent on organizational processes rather than on the presence or absence of their elements.
Because of this, this axis indirectly contemplates the Principle of Democratic Sustainable Development, mentioned in Resolution No. 2013-10540 of the Constitutional Chamber, as well as in Executive Decree No. 39519-MINAE (Decreto Ejecutivo N° 39519-MINAE), where it is expressed that this principle "guarantees the sustainable use of existing resources by present generations and ensures the subsistence of future generations, ensuring that access to resources and the wealth generated is distributed justly and equitably throughout society, especially including the people who make up the social and productive sector linked to the use of biodiversity." By international legal provision, wetlands are multiple-use areas and their sustainable use can be carried out within the framework set forth in Article 50 of the Political Constitution, the principles contained in Article 2, subsections a), b), and c), and Article 4, subsections a) and b) of the Organic Environmental Law No. 7554, as well as Article 18 of the Forestry Law (Ley Forestal) No. 7575. Because this legal framework only allows a few uses within protected wetlands, this policy promotes the opening of activities in wetland ecosystems, which may only be proposed under the concept of sustainable/rational use described above.
For this, and in order to give life to Article 3.1 of the Ramsar Convention, which requires the contracting parties to "formulate and implement their planning so as to promote the conservation of the wetlands included in the List, and as far as possible the wise use of wetlands in their territory," the guidelines for the application of the concept of Rational Use (Recommendation 4.10) and the additional guidance for its application (Recommendation 5.6) are adopted.
In this way, the aim is to insert the ecological and social dynamic into the planning processes for the use and distribution of ecosystem services and land-use planning (ordenamiento territorial), through actions contextualized to the site, to the ecosystem itself, and to the local social reality; under a strong relationship with the administrative authorities governing the subject matter and together with all related institutions, both along the watershed and within the wetland ecosystem itself, including in this sense the various linked sectors.
Specifically, from the perspective of climate adaptation, the adaptive capacity of wetland ecosystems, and therefore of linked human populations, depends on changes in their geographic distribution, especially in coastal zones and páramo (páramos) zones. The foregoing means planning actions to establish protected wild areas that guarantee the permanence of wetland ecosystems in critical zones for the future provision of ecosystem services. Hand in hand with this, the sensitization and empowerment of communities that directly depend on these ecosystems is necessary, which is achieved by incorporating them into the planning processes.
Objective 2: Promote the sustainable use of wetland ecosystems for better socio-economic development, a better quality of life, and a fair and sustainable distribution of their benefits, in accordance with planning mechanisms.
Goal 2a: By 2030, practices for the use and exploitation of wetland ecosystem services are improved.
Goal 2b: By 2030, the execution of climate change mitigation and adaptation actions in vulnerable areas of priority wetland ecosystems is increased.
Result 2: Increased ecosystem services and climate adaptation in the application of sustainable/rational use practices in wetland ecosystems.
Indicators:
a. Coverage of wetland ecosystems, based on the National Wetland Inventory, that have the quantity and quality of water resources required for the maintenance of their ecological integrity.
b. Number of wetland ecosystems vulnerable to climate change with actions aimed at preventive adaptation and the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions.
c. Number of land-use planning (ordenamiento territorial) planning processes in execution that apply technical and legal standards to maintain the ecological integrity and ecosystem services of wetlands.
Footnotes for Axis 2 tables 1 The preparation of the Strategy and the Regional Action Plans will be completed by 2020. The execution of the plans will begin in 2021.
2 In this sense, the Sustainable Tourism program for Protected Wild Areas (ASP), which is currently being implemented with support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), is articulated.
3 The incentive system will be developed starting in 2020, and its execution will begin in 2025. In the case of indigenous territories, the development and execution date will depend on the creation of the Indigenous Consultation Mechanism and its application.
4 Article 99, of Law No. 7554: Organic Environmental Law (Ley Orgánica del Ambiente), published in La Gaceta No. 215, of November 13, 1995: "Article 99.- Administrative sanctions.
In the event of violation of environmental protection regulations or conduct harmful to the environment clearly established in this law, the Public Administration shall apply the following protective measures and sanctions: g) Imposition of compensatory or stabilizing obligations for the environment or biological diversity." The foregoing to impose sanctioning measures (administrative or judicial) for the loss or impact on wetland ecosystems and their environmental services, taking into account the cost of altering ecological integrity and the provision of goods and services.
5 The indicators for environmental damage assessment must be officialized by 2020, and its compensation mechanism to rehabilitate the damage must be in execution by 2025.
6 "Article 29. Incentives for reforestation: Persons who reforest shall have the following incentives: a) Exemption from the real estate tax on the planted area. b) Exemption from the payment of uncultivated land tax. c) Exemption from the payment of the asset tax, during the planting, growth, and thinning period, which shall be considered pre-operative. d) The protection contemplated in Article 36 of this law. e) Any other incentive established in this law.
The State Forestry Administration shall issue the necessary documentation to enjoy these incentives and shall register those interested in a registry, once the requirements established by the regulation of this law are met." 7 The goal of this action will correspond to the result of the implementation of the "Tax Exemption Program for Real Estate for Forest Plantations," which is part of the State Policy for Territorial Rural Development.
8 Based on the identification and prioritization of those communities directly related to wetland ecosystems that are at risk due to climate variability and global climate change. For example, by reducing conversion rates or preventing pollution, as well as by establishing buffer zones that allow for the inland migration of mangroves.
Axis 3: Ecological rehabilitation of wetland ecosystems.
Rehabilitation has been seen as a modular piece of this policy in the sense that, in addition to avoiding future losses of wetland ecosystems that currently possess a certain ecosystem integrity, those that need to re-establish their conditions in terms of health, structure, and composition in order to fulfill their ecological functions and provide their inherent ecosystem services must be recovered.
As part of this process, the aim is also to respond to the problems posed by changes in climate patterns, which is why the issue of mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions is addressed, as well as the generation of resilience by ecosystems and associated communities.
Although the environmental, social, and economic benefits from wetlands are clear, in many cases it has not been possible to generate a sense of ownership and care on the part of neighboring or upstream communities, so it is still necessary to deepen the degree of awareness about the local importance of their conservation and rational use. This situation is aggravated by the socioeconomic situation in which many of the populations associated with these ecosystems find themselves, where there is a dilemma between development and the satisfaction of basic needs versus conservation. This occurs not only in terms of the use of the biotic resource, but also in the exploitation of abiotic components such as water and certain minerals used for construction.
Rehabilitation actions, seen as a participatory process, also represent an effort to reduce inequality gaps and situations of poverty, while continuing to meet the biodiversity conservation objectives present in Costa Rican territory, allowing, on the one hand, the opportunity for the ecosystem to increase its ecological integrity, and on the other, the opportunity for populations to improve access to the ecosystem services they offer, strengthening the link between conservation and sustainable/rational use.
Objective 3: To rehabilitate degraded wetland ecosystems to recover the ecological integrity and the ecosystem services they offer through State actions in collaboration with linked actors.
Target 3a: By 2030, the wetland ecosystems prioritized based on monitoring or vulnerability studies at the national level are rehabilitated with the support of the participation of different actors.
Target 3b: By 2030, initiatives are executed based on the necessary technical, legal, and administrative tools to control invasive or harmful species.
Result 3: Ecosystem services of the prioritized wetlands are rehabilitated.
Indicators:
a. Number of rehabilitation initiatives underway for the attention of prioritized ecosystems.
b. Percentage of progress in the fulfillment of rehabilitation processes.
c. Coverage of wetland ecosystems with improvement in their ecological integrity and production of ecosystem goods and services.
Axis 3 Table Footnotes 1 The management and control system must be in accordance with the Inventario Nacional de Humedales, the characterization and monitoring of the ecological integrity of the main wetland ecosystems.
2 The plans may include strategic active management actions, considering long-term environmental, social, or economic benefits, and must be formulated based on the results of the national wetland inventory, as well as the characterization and monitoring of their ecological integrity and their dependence on local communities and indigenous peoples. In this ecological rehabilitation, many institutional actors from the public sector may be involved, including municipalities and Conservation Areas, as well as NGOs, Development Associations, private enterprise, and other actors related to their ecosystem services.
Axis 4: Institutional strengthening for the integrated management of wetland ecosystems.
Many of the problems facing wetland ecosystems are due to a lack of knowledge about the impacts caused by various human activities. However, in many other cases, this knowledge does exist, and the problem is rather due to a lack of capacity to respond, the complicated administrative arrangement presented by different institutions, or the absence of an intersectoral vision regarding the management of services.
This axis therefore aims to strengthen the management of wetland ecosystems through an improvement in the articulation of entities related to both conservation and sustainable/rational use, at different territorial scales, while at the same time attempting to meet demands for resources of different types, such as financing and human resources.
In this sense, the legal framework and the updating of its reference framework become necessary to achieve the legal coherence that allows the satisfaction of the needs of wetland ecosystems and the populations related to them, in line with other State policies, international agreements, and the country's vision regarding the conservation and sustainable uses of these ecosystems.
Objective 4: To improve the efficiency and effectiveness in the management of ecosystem services and their corresponding accountability, in order to improve the integrity of ecosystems and the lives of neighboring populations in compliance with national and international commitments, through the strengthening of institutional action and strategic alliances.
Target 4a: By 2030, the incidence in Integrated Watershed Management by the State and other involved actors is increased, having the necessary financial and human resources.
Target 4b: By 2030, the coordination and execution mechanisms for compliance with the national and international legal framework are improved.
Result 4: Wetland ecosystems and human development are strengthened through comprehensive inter-institutional management.
Indicators:
a. Number of legal instruments adapted to the international regulatory framework.
b. Number of watersheds with integrated management projects in execution.
c. Percentage of wetland ecosystems executing conservation and sustainable/rational use actions included in the National Development Plans and other intersectoral and inter-institutional management and planning instruments.
Axis 4: Institutional strengthening for the integrated management of wetland ecosystems.
Axis 4 Table Footnotes 1 "When there is environmental damage to an ecosystem, the State may take measures to restore, recover, and rehabilitate it. To this end, it may enter into all types of contracts with higher education institutions, private or public, companies and scientific institutions, national or international, in order to restore the damaged elements of biodiversity. In state-owned protected areas, this decision must come from the Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación of the Ministerio del Ambiente y Energía. For restoration on private lands, the procedure will be in accordance with articles 51, 52, and 56 of this law." Artículo 54, Ley de Biodiversidad.
2 In the Creation of the Fondo Nacional Ambiental. Both ecological representativeness and related socio-cultural activities are considered. The foregoing through public-private alliances for fundraising, a compensation fund for environmental damage, resources for the recovery of lands belonging to the Natural Heritage of the State and Indigenous Peoples, an increase in revenue from the Water Use Fee (Canon de Aprovechamiento de Agua), charging for certain environmental services and debt swaps, as well as funds collected from the assessment of environmental damage and the reform of Artículo 93 and 94 of the Ley Orgánica del Ambiente so that the execution of environmental guarantees is destined for the rehabilitation of the affected ecosystem. To achieve the purposes of this law and finance the development of the programs of the Secretaría Técnica Nacional Ambiental, the Fondo Nacional Ambiental is created, whose resources will consist of:
a. Legacies and donations.
b. Contributions from national and international, private or public organizations, in accordance with the respective agreements.
c. Executed performance guarantees, which are received based on what is established in this law.
d. Funds placed in trust, coming from international loan agreements to finance activities or projects related to the environment.
e. Income from the sale of environmental impact assessment guides, publications, and other documents necessary to fulfill the purposes of this law." Artículo 93, Ley Orgánica del Ambiente N°. 7554.
"Use of resources The Fund's resources may be used to contract personal services temporarily, and non-personal services; acquire materials, supplies, machinery, equipment, vehicles, spare parts, and accessories; purchase real estate and pay for constructions, additions, improvements, current capital transfers, and global allocations and, in general, to develop the programs of the Secretaría Técnica Nacional Ambiental; as well as to cover the costs incurred by the competent authority when carrying out the works or activities referred to in article 97 of this law.", Artículo 94, Ley Orgánica del Ambiente N°. 7554.
3 "The SINAC and other public agencies, which by their nature are authorized to do so, will provide the 'Programa Nacional de Humedales' with the material and human resources necessary for its proper functioning. Likewise, the Ministries and Institutions of the State, with the faculties to do so, are authorized to collaborate with technical, administrative, and financial resources with the Programa Nacional de Humedales.", Artículo 5, Nº 36427, Creates the Programa Nacional de Humedales and Comité Nacional de Humedales as the Implementing Body of the Ramsar Convention within the Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación and repeals Decretos Ejecutivos N° 22839 of 22/01/1994 and N° 28058 of 23/07/1999.
4 A report will be prepared on the structure 5 See Resolución #3855-2016 of March 15, 2016, of the Sala Constitucional.
6 The improved environmental impact assessment process must be ready for execution by 2020.
7 "Artículo 12.- Education. The State, municipalities, and other public and private institutions shall promote the permanent inclusion of the environmental variable in formal and non-formal educational processes and programs at all levels. The objective shall be to adopt an environmental culture to achieve sustainable development." "Artículo 13.- Purposes of environmental education. Environmental education shall relate environmental problems to local concerns and the national development policy; in addition, it shall incorporate an interdisciplinary approach and cooperation as the main solution formulas, aimed at promoting the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources." "Artículo 14.- Participation of mass media. The state agencies responsible for dictating environmental policies shall promote the creation of the necessary instruments so that the mass media, based on the social function they exercise, favor the formation of an environmental culture towards the sustainable development of the Nation's inhabitants." 8 Program of the Ramsar Convention on communication, education, awareness, and participation (CECoP), adopted through Resolution X.8 at COP10 in 2008.
Axis 5: Inclusive participation and democratic governance.
The absence or weakness of governance schemes and citizen participation is considered one of the primary causes of the detriment of wetland ecosystems. The biotic and abiotic elements of ecosystems must be under decentralized management from the lowest appropriate level, and the managers of these ecosystems must manage them within their functional limits, in accordance with article 50 of the Ley de Biodiversidad44, considering the possible effects that the activities of different sectors may cause in nearby ecosystems, seeking the appropriate balance between conservation and sustainable/rational use.
44 "Human activities must conform to the scientific-technical standards issued by the Ministry and other competent public entities, for the maintenance of vital ecological processes, inside and outside protected areas; especially, activities related to human settlements, agriculture, tourism, and industry or any other that affects said processes." Artículo 50 of the Ley de Biodiversidad:
In this way, the demand is raised for the country's inhabitants to participate democratically in the conservation and sustainable/rational use processes of ecosystem services, on the understanding that human development requires the enjoyment of a healthy and ecologically balanced environment, and that, at the same time, it must aspire to the adequate distribution of wealth, in accordance with a permanent policy of social justice.
In this sense, the first article of Decreto Ejecutivo N.° 39519-MINAE indicates that Costa Rica is a multi-ethnic and pluricultural Republic, and in response to this, article 3 of Decreto Ejecutivo N.° 39519-MINAE establishes that different governance models are recognized: Governmental, shared, private, and by indigenous peoples and local communities. In addition to the above, article 5 of this same decree mentions that "the governance model will respond to the conservation objectives of the Protected Wilderness Area and must be adopted with a view to its effective protection, guaranteeing broad and equitable participation of the different actors and social sectors; together with a fair and equitable distribution of the benefits it generates." In line with what has been proposed, differences in the way of managing conservation and making sustainable use of natural resources must be recognized, supporting Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, which states that "...environmental issues are best handled with the participation of all concerned citizens, at the relevant level. At the national level, each individual shall have appropriate access to information concerning the environment that is held by public authorities, including information on hazardous materials and activities in their communities, and the opportunity to participate in decision-making processes. States shall facilitate and encourage public awareness and participation by making information widely available. Effective access to judicial and administrative proceedings, including redress and remedy, shall be provided." The foregoing is supported by the Ley Orgánica del Ambiente in its article 2, subsections a) and c).
Objective 5: To strengthen capacities in democratic governance in search of improving the processes of conservation and sustainable use of wetland ecosystems, through the inclusive, active, and informed participation of the different actors.
Target 6: By 2030, the coordination and information mechanisms established to guarantee the representativeness, participation, and information of society in environmental management processes are strengthened.
Result 5: Capacities for responsible participation are improved for the sustainability of wetland ecosystems and the quality of life of the population through the different levels of governance structures.
Indicators:
a. Percentage of watersheds with an integrated watershed management governance structure in legally constituted spaces.
Axis 5 Table Footnotes 1 Publication of Decreto N°36427-MINAET of January 25, 2011 "Creates the Programa Nacional de Humedales and Comité Nacional de Humedales as the Implementing Body of the RAMSAR Convention within the Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación" and its amendments.
2 In this sense, the contributions of traditional knowledge from local communities and indigenous peoples in the conservation of wetland ecosystems must be recognized and disseminated, as well as their cosmogonic relationship with these ecosystems.
13. Institutional Management Model The management model is the necessary organization, work approaches, operating style, and resources that the State and society as a whole must have to guarantee the effective execution of a policy, specifying the role of the participating actors or entities.
The Política Nacional de Humedales will be the official instrument indicating the actions to be followed by the State and other involved actors regarding the conservation and sustainable/rational use of wetlands at the national level, in the period 2017 to 2030. The Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía has the obligation to ensure the conservation of the country's natural resources, the administration of wildlife, the use of forest resources, the conservation of soils, and the recommendation of measures that ensure the perpetuity of species. Consequently, the Minister of Ambiente y Energía has the mandate to avoid any risk or danger that threatens the permanence of wetland ecosystems, and to generate appropriate articulation in management, as well as to promote the participation of relevant actors, which is why it is the entity responsible for this process both at the operational and political levels.
It is a priority that the issue of wetland conservation be incorporated into national planning and territorial management instruments, such as the "Planes Nacionales de Desarrollo", "Planes de Ordenamiento Cantonal y Costero", among others. It is important to make the importance of wetland conservation visible at the national level based on what the policy instrument establishes.
In this way, there are two levels to promote the actions of the Policy, the first of which is at the "Sector Ambiente, Energía, Mares y Ordenamiento Territorial" level, which is under the stewardship of the Minister of Ambiente y Energía according to Decreto Ejecutivo 38536 -MP-PLAN45 "Reglamento Orgánico del Poder Ejecutivo" published in La Gaceta 159 of August 20, 2014. The Ministers of Vivienda y Asentamientos Humanos (MIVAH), of Agricultura y Ganadería (MAG), of Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT), of the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT), as well as the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AyA), Instituto Nacional de Vivienda y Urbanismo (INVU), Instituto de Desarrollo Rural (INDER), Instituto Costarricense de Pesca y Acuicultura (INCOPESCA), Refinadora Costarricense de Petróleo S.A. (RECOPE), Comisión Nacional de Prevención de Riesgos y Atención de Emergencias (CNE), Servicio Nacional de Guardacostas of the Fuerza Pública of the Ministerio de Seguridad Pública, and Servicio Nacional de Aguas Subterráneas, Riego y Avenamiento (SENARA) participate in it. This mechanism allows agreements to be taken internally within this sector in a binding manner for the entities that are part of it. These must be developed in coordination, in some way, with MINAE and, in turn, with all the institutions that directly or indirectly have competencies or influence the management of wetlands, as promoted by the Política Nacional de Biodiversidad 2015-2030 and its corresponding Estrategia Nacional de Biodiversidad 2016-2025; the latter developed and articulated in parallel to the Política Nacional de Humedales and from which the first actions related to the management of wetland ecosystems are mentioned. The second is at the Ministry level, where the "Consejo Nacional Asesor de humedales" has been established, which is composed of representatives of public institutions, universities, non-governmental organizations, and indigenous peoples. Among its functions is to advise the Minister of Ambiente y Energía on issues related to the conservation and rational use of wetlands. In the Solís Rivera administration 2014-2018, through Acuerdo Presidencial N°.002-P of May 08, 2014, published in Diario Oficial La Gaceta N°88, of May 9, 2014, the Viceministro de Agua, Mares, Costas y Humedales was formalized, assigned through Directriz DM-726-2014 of December 17, 2014. Among the competencies of this body is to guarantee and articulate institutional efforts for the coordination of policies, strategies, and plans, promoting the participation of various sectors that allow a comprehensive approach to the blue agenda in the management of water resources, wetland, and marine ecosystems.
45 Decreto Ejecutivo N° 38536: Reglamento Orgánico del Poder Ejecutivo Published in La Gaceta 159 of August 20, 2014. Available at: http://www.pgrweb.go.cr/scij/Busqueda/Normativa/Normas/nrm_texto_completo.aspx?param1=NRTC&nValor1=1&nValor2=77799&nValor3=100654&strTipM=TC, last visited January 06, 2017.
The actions and priorities established in the Policy must be developed, to a large extent, internally within the different bodies that make up MINAE; however, according to the current legal framework on environmental matters, it specifically corresponds to the Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación (SINAC), as a deconcentrated body, to execute, coordinate, and follow up on the issue of conservation and rational use of wetlands, as established by article 7, subsection h) of the Ley de Conservación de Vida Silvestre, which, through the Programa Nacional de Humedales, has the purpose of promoting, planning, and developing the Wetlands of Costa Rica46.
46 Decreto Ejecutivo Nº 36427-MINAET "Creates the Programa Nacional de Humedales and Comité Nacional de Humedales as the implementing body of the Ramsar Convention within the Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación and repeals Decretos Ejecutivos nº 22839-mirenem of January 22, 1994, and nº 28058-minae of July 23, 1999" and its amendments, published in La Gaceta No. 81 of April 28, 2008.
The governance mechanism, for its part, refers to the effectiveness of public management subjected to effective and daily social control by citizens who, once they express their demands, acquire the necessary information, and clarify their commitments, are in optimal conditions to follow up on the solution of their needs and the corresponding adjustment and fulfillment of common objectives. In the process of the Política Nacional de Humedales, the first point of reference in this sense is the Consejo Nacional de Áreas de Conservación (CONAC), composed of the Minister of Ambiente y Energía, who will preside over it, the Executive Director of SINAC, the Executive Director of the Oficina Técnica of the Comisión Nacional para la Gestión de la Biodiversidad (CONAGEBIO), the Directors of each Conservation Area, a representative of each Consejo Regional de las Áreas de Conservación, designated from within each Council, as established by the respective CORAC Regulation47. These have, among other functions, defining the technical and political strategies related to the consolidation and development of the Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación, as well as supervising its management. Subsequently, the Consejos Regionales de Áreas de Conservación (CORAC´s)48 are public bodies belonging to the administrative structure of SINAC and, more generally, to that of MINAE. The functions that article 30 of the Ley de Biodiversidad attributes to these Regional Councils are considered public, as they contain substantial attributions in the administration of Conservation Areas and in the management and protection of natural resources located in said areas49. The CORAC´s reflect the participation of civil society in the management and conservation of natural resources, including the environmental decision-making process, by being able to include representatives of all interested non-governmental and community organizations. Finally, there are the Consejos Locales de Áreas Conservación (COLAC´s)50, whose creation is permitted in Conservation Areas where technical and administrative complexity is demonstrated, by agreement of the Consejo Regional del Área de Conservación, whose constitution will be defined in the respective creation agreement, so they are auxiliary or support bodies, strictly collaborative, to the substantive work that the CORAC is entrusted by law51.
47 Artículos 30 to 48 of Decreto Ejecutivo No. 34433 "Reglamento a la Ley de Biodiversidad", published in La Gaceta No. 68 of April 08, 2008.
48 Artículos 10 to 14 of Decreto Ejecutivo No. 34433 "Reglamento a la Ley de Biodiversidad", published in La Gaceta No. 68 of April 08, 2008.
49 Dictamen No. 166-2016 of August 05, 2016, of the Procuraduría General de la República.
50 Artículo 49 to 51 of Decreto Ejecutivo No. 34433 "Reglamento a la Ley de Biodiversidad", published in La Gaceta No. 68 of April 08, 2008.
51 Idem.
In this way, with the proposed institutional management model, the objectives of the Policy, as well as its targets, must be reflected in the different planning instruments of SINAC at both the national and regional levels, using the tools mentioned in Section C: Follow-up and evaluation, to be accountable to the population and other linked institutions. In parallel, both decision-making and the prioritization of actions at the national, regional, and local scales must be carried out considering the information generated, through Section 13: Knowledge management model for decision-making.
14. Knowledge management model for decision-making The management model refers to the organization of actors in the implementation of the policy, thus providing a characteristic approach or style of work and operation, closely related to the management of system resources. Its purpose is to guarantee the effective execution of a policy, so its structure is developed based on the scope that the policy proposes, as well as the possibilities for the distribution of responsibilities during the process, according to the competencies and opportunities of those involved.
The management model must include evaluation criteria, instruments to be used, responsibilities of the participants, and technical and administrative procedures that must be applied during the execution of the policy. Its evaluation must be subject to periodic updates, if necessary, so that it can be aligned with the priorities of the Government Administration52.
52 Ministerio de Planificación Nacional y Política Económica. Área de Análisis del Desarrollo. "Guía para la elaboración de políticas públicas / Ministerio de Planificación Nacional y Política Económica" -San José, CR: MIDEPLAN, 2016.
In this sense, it will be through the Centro Nacional de Información Geoambiental (CENIGA), constituted by Decreto Ejecutivo N° 29540-MINAE "Constitutes the Centro Nacional de Información Geoambiental as a body of the Dirección General de Hidrocarburos of the Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía" published in La Gaceta N°105 of June 01, 2001, which gives CENIGA the competencies to carry out coordination activities that promote the development of the environmental information system, accountability, planning, and the provision of environmental information for decision-making by the Minister of Ambiente y Energía, as the political authority, and the Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación (SINAC), as the technical administrative authority, which is responsible for administering, supervising, and protecting wetlands (Artículo 7 of Ley N° 7313: Ley de Conservación de Vida Silvestre). The Ministry and its decentralized agencies must execute the policy that the Minister-Rector dictates for the conservation and protection of wetland ecosystems, based on the information available for decision-making.
This information must also be available in the Sistema Nacional de Información Ambiental (SINIA), coordinated by CENIGA. SINIA constitutes the official platform for institutional and sectoral coordination and linkage of the Costa Rican State to facilitate the management and distribution of knowledge of national environmental information, created by Decreto Ejecutivo N° 37658- MINAET "Establishment of the Sistema Nacional de Información Ambiental (SINIA) and reform of Artículo 3º of Decreto Ejecutivo nº 29540-MINAE of May 11, 2001", published in La Gaceta N°. 93 of May 16, 2013.
In turn, the information generated by CENIGA will be fed by:
· The National Program for Ecological Monitoring (Programa Nacional de Monitoreo Ecológico, PRONAMEC) as an inter-institutional program attached to the Department of Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services of the Executive Secretariat of the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC), whose purpose is to generate and disseminate reliable scientific information on the state of conservation of the country's biodiversity and its trends, which is useful for decision-making at the local and national scale, in terrestrial, inland water, and marine realms.53 53 Decreto Ejecutivo No. 39747-MINAE, Reglamento de Creación y Funcionamiento del Programa Nacional de Monitoreo Ecológico (PRONAMEC)", published in La Gaceta No132 of July 8, 2016.
· The National System of Climate Change Metrics (Sistema Nacional de Métrica de Cambio Climático, SINAMECC), which in the country is under development as part of the functions of the Climate Change Directorate of MINAE54, involves incorporating measurement elements in both mitigation and adaptation in the sectors of energy, industry, transportation, waste, agriculture, fisheries, water, ecosystems/biodiversity, coastal zones, health, infrastructure, urban areas, tourism, disaster reduction, planning, and governance, to improve the transparency of information and the commitment to the challenges of climate change, leading to better decision-making.
54 Decreto Poder Ejecutivo No.35669-MINAET "Reglamento Orgánico del Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía" within the functions of the Climate Change Directorate. "Article 40: Subsection f. "Coordinate and establish the National System of Metrics for the monitoring, evaluation, and follow-up of the National Climate Change Program, through information and knowledge management at the national level for the operational management of the Program." Subsection g. "Coordinate and follow up on ministerial, organizational, and sectoral plans for climate change, promoting the establishment of standards that feed the National System of Metrics." · National Territorial Information System (Sistema Nacional de Información Territorial, SNIT), is a technological infrastructure developed with the objective of promoting the generation, access, and use of georeferenced, updated, and reliable geographic (geospatial) information, standardized and positionally compatible with the fundamental bases of the Costa Rican territory at national, regional, and local coverage, produced by public entities and bodies, as well as by private individuals, physical or legal, which is useful to support decision-making in all fields of public and private management, also addressing citizen needs, within the framework of a common data infrastructure; as established in its executive decree of creation No. 37773-JP-H-MINAE-MICITT, published in La Gaceta No. 134 of July 12, 2013, and based on articles 10, 11, 12, 13, and 15 of Law No. 59 creating the Instituto Geográfico Nacional and its reform by Law No. 8905. This initiative is led by the Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN) of the Registro Nacional de Costa Rica, as constituted by the IGN, and with the collaboration of the information also provided by the Registro Inmobiliario of the Registro Nacional.
· The National Wetlands Inventory (Inventario Nacional de Humedales), is the reference for the identification and location of wetlands inventoried in the country, the latest document is the "Inventario de los Humedales de Costa Rica" which was prepared by the Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía- Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación and the regional office of IUCN-ORMA in 1998, therefore, in 2016 a new National Inventory is being prepared by the Proyecto Humedales (Project "Conservación, uso sostenible de la biodiversidad y mantenimiento de los servicios ecosistémicos de los ecosistemas de humedales protegidos de importancia internacional"), coordinated by the Programa Nacional de Humedales -SINAC.
· National Information System for Integrated Water Resource Management (Sistema Nacional de Información para la Gestión Integrada del Recurso Hídrico, SINIGIRH), aims to integrate water sector information to share data, visualize the spatial component, and perform multidimensional analyses related to the integrated management of water resources in Costa Rica, with timely, traceable, and expeditious access for users from public and private bodies, communities, and the general public. Implementing cutting-edge technology, it allows institutions to exchange and access information expeditiously, facilitating decision-making and identifying information gaps. It also avoids duplicating efforts and investing resources in topics that have already been developed. In turn, it is fed by the Real-Time Groundwater Monitoring System (Sistema de Monitoreo de Agua Subterránea en Tiempo Real, SIMASTIR), which is the national network that records groundwater information. Sensors are installed in the drilled wells and piezometers, recording variations in water level, temperature, and in some cases hydraulic conductivity. All stored information is transmitted in real time via cellular signal to the servers at the Dirección de Aguas-MINAE. Therefore, all SINIGIRH information integrates that provided by the Dirección General de Aguas of MINAE, the Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AyA), and the Servicio Nacional de Aguas Subterráneas, Riego y Avenamiento (Senara).
· The Cousteau Observatory for the Coasts and Seas of Central America (Observatorio Cousteau para las Costas y Mares de Centroamérica, OCCA), is a regional platform for the management of marine-coastal information, which shares governmental, educational institutional, economic actor, and civil society organization results through the collection, processing, and analysis of marine-coastal information in the Central American region.
This aims to influence and transfer knowledge among diverse actors and sectors of Central American society, for the design and evaluation of public policies, therefore within this Policy it is considered a manager of indicators at the Regional level.
· Other indicators: Likewise, other actors such as the Observatorio del Desarrollo (OdD), a research support unit of the Universidad de Costa Rica, oriented towards consolidating reflection and decision-making processes by providing timely access to information on topics relevant to national development; the Observatorio Costeau de los mares y costas de Centroamérica (OCCA) aims to contribute to solving current problems affecting marine and coastal ecosystems, through the collection and systematization of scientific, social, and economic information and the creation of a network of academics and institutions in the region; the Ocean Health Index, which is the comprehensive framework used to measure ocean health from global to local scales; as well as data generated by academia and non-governmental organizations (ONG´s).
To the extent that adequate geographic information and tools for its management (Geographic Information Systems) are available, in combination with decision-making instruments and their associated interoperability, State institutions related to wetlands, as well as the private sector and communities, will have a tool that allows knowledge-based decision-making and a greater opportunity to address critical problems of social, environmental, and economic importance related to wetland ecosystems.
In this sense, the System of Indicators on Sustainable Development (Sistema de Indicadores sobre Desarrollo Sostenible, SIDES) is a national statistical information instrument in which the behavior of the most strategic variables is recorded.
MIDEPLAN, as Rector of the National Planning System, is the entity that seeks to coordinate, integrate, articulate, and build consensus on efforts made throughout the country, through six modules: International, Social, Economic, Environmental, Citizen Security, and Government Performance. The idea of placing SIDES within the Knowledge Management Model is because, on one hand, it is necessary to strengthen this tool, and on the other, it functions as a mechanism for evaluation and follow-up of the Policy, facilitating the analysis and interpretation of the national reality for decision-making and formulation of actions.55 55 Ministerio de Planificación Nacional y Política Económica. Sistema de Indicadores sobre Desarrollo Sostenible. Available at: http://www.mideplan.go.cr/?option=com_content&view=article&id=748, last visited: January 6, 2017.
Figure 9: Knowledge Management Model for correct decision-making related to wetland ecosystems and their linked population.
15. Relationship of the Policy guidelines with the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Sustainable Development Goals 1 Fourth Strategic Plan for 2016 - 2024. Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat - the "Ramsar Convention". Adopted by the 12th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties, Punta del Este, Uruguay, June 1 to 9, 2015, by Resolution XII.2. Taken from: http://www.Ramsar.org/es/documento/el-cuarto-plan-estrat%C3%A9gico-de-Ramsar-para-2016-2024 2 Strategic Plan for Biological Diversity 2011-2020 and the Aichi Targets. "Living in harmony with nature". Taken from: https://www.cbd.int/doc/strategic-plan/2011-2020/Aichi-Targets-ES.pdf 3 Relationship with the Sustainable Development Goals. See: http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/es/objetivos-de-desarrollo-sostenible/ Monitoring and Evaluation.
For a better understanding regarding the monitoring and evaluation of the Policy and its relationship with other tools, refer to Figure 10. In this figure, the dividing lines of each bar correspond to the validity period in which each of the plans must be executed. Each time a plan must be renewed, a cut is observed in the corresponding horizontal bar.
Glossary Conservation Area (Área de Conservación) Strategic and administrative territorial unit, under the scheme of SINAC, used for the management and conservation of natural resources.
Biodiversity (Biodiversidad) Variability of living organisms from any source and ecological complex. It encompasses diversity within ecosystems, between species, and within the same species.
Climate change adaptation (Adaptación al cambio climático) Adjustment of human or natural systems to new or changing environments. Climate change adaptation refers to adjustments in human or natural systems in response to projected or real climatic stimuli, or their effects, which can moderate harm or take advantage of beneficial aspects.
Various types of adaptation can be distinguished, including anticipatory and reactive, public and private, or autonomous and planned (Taken from: IPCC, 2014: Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability - Summary for policymakers. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Field, C.B., V.R. Barros, D.J. Dokken, K.J. Mach, M.D. Mastrandrea, T.E. Bilir, M. Chatterjee, K.L. Ebi, Y.O. Estrada, R.C. Genova, B. Girma, E.S. Kissel, A.N.
Levy, S. MacCracken, P.R. Mastrandrea and L.L. White (eds.)]. World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 34 pp. (in Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, French, English, and Russian).
Climate change (Cambio climático) Statistical variation of the climate, compared against a minimum of 30 years of information, that persists for prolonged periods. Attributed directly or indirectly to human activities whose result alters the composition of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The United Nations Framework Convention distinguishes climate change from climate variability, which by definition is attributable specifically to natural causes (see climate variability).
C-Neutrality (C-Neutralidad) Removing as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as is emitted. For this, the equation E + R + C = 0 is used, where E refers to greenhouse gas emissions, R refers to the reductions of these same gases, and C refers to the compensation of quantities that could not be reduced, using carbon bond units.
Co-management (Co-gestión) Management strategy that seeks to link local communities with governments in pursuit of more efficient, equitable, and multi-level governance; greater ease in monitoring and improving processes, greater democratization of decision-making, promotion of conflict resolution under the principle of subsidiarity, and encouraging the participation of linked actors.
Local community (Comunidad local) Human population that coexists in a specific geographic area and shares a collective identity that includes knowledge, traditions, innovations, and life practices related to the conservation and use of biological diversity. They may be rural, urban, coastal, and riverside. (Decreto ejecutivo N° 31514, Normas generales para el acceso a los elementos y recursos genéticos y bioquímicos de la biodiversidad).
Ecological connectivity (Conectividad ecológica) Refers to the ability of a specific population or groups of populations of any species to communicate with individuals of another population(s) in a fragmented landscape, thus measuring the functional connections between ecosystems in a territory.
Knowledge (Conocimiento) Dynamic product generated by society over time and through different mechanisms, including what is produced traditionally, as well as that generated by scientific practice (Ley de Biodiversidad, Article 7, subsection 6).
Traditional knowledge (Conocimiento tradicional) It is the dynamic knowledge that improves with constant innovation and experimentation. The traditional element refers to the way it is acquired, shared, and used through a social learning process that is unique to each indigenous culture and local community. (Taken from Decreto ejecutivo N° 31514: Normas generales para el acceso a los elementos y recursos genéticos y bioquímicos de la biodiversidad and the Política Nacional de Biodiversidad PNB).
Likewise, the Convention on Biological Diversity defines traditional knowledge as "The knowledge, innovations, and practices of indigenous and local communities around the world. It is experience gained over centuries, transmitted orally from generation to generation, in the form of stories, songs, proverbs, beliefs, and culture, very frequently linked to agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing, health, horticulture, forestry, and nature in general." In Article 8, paragraph j), it provides that each Contracting Party, including Costa Rica, shall "respect, preserve and maintain knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity." As part of this, the Sala Constitucional in Ruling 2008-005844 mentions that respect for cultural traditions may not be detrimental to the right to a healthy and ecologically balanced environment.
Conservation (Conservación) Maintenance of the elements of biodiversity inside or outside protected wild areas.
In situ conservation (Conservación in situ) Maintenance of the elements of biodiversity within natural ecosystems and habitats. It also includes the maintenance and recovery of viable populations of species in their natural surroundings; in the case of domesticated or cultivated species, in the surroundings where they have developed their specific properties. (Taken from Ley de Biodiversidad, Article 7, subsection 8).
Sustainable development (Desarrollo sostenible) The concept of Sustainable Development was described in 1987 in the Report of the Brundtland Commission as a "development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." There are four dimensions of Sustainable Development: society, the environment, culture, and the economy, which are interconnected, not separate.
Fair and equitable benefit-sharing (Distribución justa y equitativa de beneficios) Participation in the economic, environmental, scientific, technological, social, or cultural benefits resulting from research, bioprospecting (bioprospección), or the economic use of the elements and biochemical and genetic resources of biodiversity among the actors involved in access to and conservation of biochemical and genetic resources, with special attention to local communities and indigenous peoples.
(Decreto ejecutivo N° 31514, Normas generales para el acceso a los elementos y recursos genéticos y bioquímicos de la biodiversidad) Ecosystem (Ecosistema) Dynamic complex of communities of plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms and their physical environment, interacting as a functional unit (Ley de Biodiversidad, Article 7, subsection 12).
Species (Especie) Set of organisms capable of reproducing among themselves. Invasive exotic species (Especie exótica invasora) One that, upon introduction into sites outside its natural geographic distribution range, colonizes ecosystems and its population becomes abundant, thus being a competitor, predator, parasite, or pathogen of native wild species. It becomes an agent of habitat change and has a negative effect on biological diversity. Those exotic species whose populations become abundant and cause damage to human activities or human health are also considered invasive (Article 2, Ley de Conservación de la Vida Silvestre N° 7317).
Environmental Impact Assessment (Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental) Scientific-technical procedure that allows identifying and predicting which effects a specific action or project will have on the environment, quantifying and weighting them to lead to decision-making. It includes specific effects, their global evaluation, alternatives with greater environmental benefit, a program for controlling and minimizing negative effects, a monitoring program, a recovery program, as well as an environmental compliance guarantee (Ley de Biodiversidad, N° 7788). Governance (Gobernanza) According to DECRETO EJECUTIVO N°. 39519-MINAE, it refers to "the interactions between structures, processes, and traditions that determine how responsibility is assumed and power is exercised, how decisions are made on issues of public interest, and how citizens and other sectors raise their positions. The governance of natural resources and protected wild areas depends on history, culture, traditional rights, access to information, the presence of markets, financial flows, and a variety of informal influences on decisions." It refers to "the structures and processes through which political and social actors carry out practices of exchange, coordination, control, and decision-making in democratic systems" (Natera, 2004) so that all sectors (state and non-state) are involved in the solution proposals and execution of public management (p.475 of the Plan Nacional de Desarrollo Alberto Cañas Escalante).
For SINAC, governance is a model through which SINAC and society articulate their interests, exercise their powers, fulfill their obligations, render accounts, and mediate their differences. It is developed through participation understood as legitimized, supportive inclusion processes and shared responsibility of society in decision-making and actions for the conservation, sustainable use, and distribution of benefits of biodiversity and ecosystem services (servicios ecosistémicos).
Wetland (Humedal) Wetlands are ecosystems dependent on aquatic regimes, natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, lentic or lotic, fresh, brackish, or saltwater, including marine extensions up to the posterior limit of marine phanerogams or coral reefs or, in their absence, up to six meters deep at low tide (Article 40, Ley Orgánica del Ambiente).
Ecological integrity (Integridad ecológica) Includes both the structure and the composition and functionality of the different elements that make up an ecosystem, as well as its continuous provision of environmental resources and services.
Active management (Manejo activo) Combination of forms and methods of human intervention on ecosystems, in a planned manner and directed towards ecological rehabilitation (rehabilitación ecológica).
Wildlife management (Manejo de Vida Silvestre) Application of knowledge obtained through research of the environment and its wild populations, for conservation and sustainable use purposes, in situ and ex situ (Ley de Conservación de la Vida Silvestre N° 7317, Article 2).
Compensation measures (Medidas de compensación) These are actions that are retributed to society or nature for negative environmental impacts or for cumulative negative impacts, caused by the execution and operation of an activity, work, or project (Reglamento General sobre los Procedimientos de Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental (EIA) Nº 31849-MINAE-SMOPT-MAG-MEIC, Article 3, subsection 52).
Mitigation measures (Medidas de mitigación) These are actions aimed at reducing significant negative environmental and social impacts caused by the execution and operation of an activity, work, or project and that must be applied to the total Project Area of the activity, work, or project and, depending on its magnitude, may be applicable to its direct or indirect area of influence (Reglamento General sobre los Procedimientos de Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental (EIA) Nº 31849-MINAE-S-MOPT-MAG-MEIC, Article 3, subsection 53).
Prevention measures (Medidas de prevención) These are actions aimed at avoiding the occurrence, production, or generation of negative impacts caused by the development of an activity, work, or project and that must be applied to the total Project Area of the activity, work, or project and to the direct and indirect area of influence (Reglamento General sobre los Procedimientos de Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental (EIA) Nº 31849-MINAE-S-MOPT-MAG-MEIC, Article 3, subsection 54).
Ecological rehabilitation and recovery measures (Medidas de rehabilitación ecológica y recuperación) These are actions aimed at promoting or accelerating the recovery of natural resources, socio-cultural resources, ecosystems, and habitats altered by the execution of an activity, work, or project, recreating, as far as possible, the original structure and function, in accordance with the knowledge of prior conditions (Reglamento General sobre los Procedimientos de Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental (EIA) Nº 31849-MINAE-S-MOPT-MAG-MEIC, Article 3, subsection 55).
Mitigation of Climate Change (Mitigación del Cambio Climático) Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere.
Monitoring (Monitoreo) Systematic use of biological responses to evaluate changes in the environment, to subsequently implement control or conservation programs (Taken from: SINAC (Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación).
2014. Programa de Monitoreo Ecológico de las Áreas Protegidas y Corredores Biológicos de Costa Rica PROMEC-CR. Realms: Terrestrial, Inland Waters, and Marine-Coastal. Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación-Costa Rica. 78 p).
Ecological Monitoring (Monitoreo Ecológico) Set of procedures aimed at describing the characteristics of a wild area and systematically evaluating the past and current conditions of ecosystems; based on this, strategies will be developed for the proper management of the resources of that area (Taken from: SINAC (Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación). 2014. Programa de Monitoreo Ecológico de las Áreas Protegidas y Corredores Biológicos de Costa Rica PROMEC-CR. Realms: Terrestrial, Inland Waters, and Marine-Coastal. Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación-Costa Rica. 78 p).
Access permit (Permiso de acceso) Authorization granted by the Costa Rican State for basic bioprospecting research, obtaining, or commercialization of genetic materials or biochemical extracts from elements of biodiversity, as well as their associated knowledge to persons or institutions, national or foreign, requested through a procedure regulated in this legislation, whether it involves permits, contracts, agreements, or concessions.
(Ley de Biodiversidad, N° 7788) Recovery (Recuperación) Synonym for natural regeneration. It is the process by which an ecosystem, upon being freed from the stress that altered it, begins a progressive succession and recomposes itself. Ecological succession is the engine of this process. (Reglamento a la Ley de Biodiversidad, Article 3, subsection q). Natural Resource (Recurso Natural) Any element of biotic or abiotic nature that is exploited, whether commercial or not (Ley de Biodiversidad, N° 7788).
Montreux Record (Registro de Montreux) Registry where wetlands of international importance are included where negative changes in their ecological characteristics have occurred, are occurring, or may occur as a consequence of human activity development, thus requiring special management and protection actions for their recovery.
Rehabilitation (Rehabilitación) Any attempt to recover elements of composition, structure, or function of an ecosystem, without necessarily trying to complete the ecological rehabilitation to a specific condition prior to the disturbance (Reglamento a la Ley de Biodiversidad, Article 3, subsection r).
Resilience (Resiliencia) Capacity to recover from a disturbance, to withstand pressures during it, or to adapt to it, essentially conserving the same structure, function, and identity or taking actions for a change or improvement, without moving to a state of lower quality.
Restoration (Restauración) According to manual 19 of the Ramsar Convention, restoration refers to a return to a situation prior to the disturbance; however, in many parts of this document, the term restoration is also used in its broader sense, which includes both projects that promote a return to the original situation and projects that improve wetland functions without necessarily promoting a return to the situation prior to the disturbance (see rehabilitation).
On the other hand, the Reglamento General sobre Procedimientos de Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental of SETENA (Reglamento N° 31849) includes within this definition both the recovery of natural resources and socio-cultural resources, ecosystems, and habitats altered by the execution of an activity, work, or project, recreating, as far as possible, the original structure and function, in accordance with the knowledge of prior conditions.
Risk (Riesgo) Defined as the result of combining the probability of an event occurring and its negative consequences.
It is composed of two components: hazard (amenaza) and vulnerability (vulnerabilidad).
Ecosystem services (Servicios ecosistémicos) According to the Convention on Biological Diversity, ecosystem services refer to the goods and services that human populations obtain from the functioning and dynamics of ecosystems, including provisioning services, regulating services, cultural services, and supporting services (Convention on Biological Diversity and Política Nacional de Biodiversidad). These include products such as drinking water and processes such as waste decomposition, air purification, and others, considering quality, quantity, and access.
System of Conservation Areas (Sistema de Áreas de Conservación) Deconcentrated and participatory institutional management and coordination regime, which integrates the competencies in forestry, wildlife, and protected areas of the Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía, with the purpose of issuing policies, planning, and executing processes aimed at achieving sustainability in the management of Costa Rica's natural resources. (Decreto ejecutivo N° 31514, Normas generales para el acceso a los elementos y recursos genéticos y bioquímicos de la biodiversidad).
Rational use (Uso racional) That which allows maintaining the dynamic ecological structure and functionality of wetland ecosystems, as well as the benefits and services they offer, in order to ensure their long-term permanence, in pursuit of human well-being, poverty reduction, and the conservation and rehabilitation of wetlands (Taken from: Ramsar Convention Secretariat, 2010. Wise use of wetlands: Concepts and approaches for the wise use of wetlands. Ramsar handbooks for the wise use of wetlands, 4th edition, vol. 1. Ramsar Convention Secretariat, Gland (Switzerland)).
Sustainable use (Uso sostenible) Understood as the utilization of components of biodiversity in a way and at a rate that does not cause its long-term decline or deterioration, thereby maintaining its possibilities to meet the needs and aspirations of present and future generations. (Reglamento a la ley de la biodiversidad, N° 33433). In this sense and under the concept of rational use used by Ramsar, it also considers the maintenance of the dynamic ecological structure and functionality of wetland ecosystems, in order to ensure their long-term permanence, in pursuit of human well-being, poverty reduction, and the conservation and restoration of wetlands.
Climate variability (Variabilidad climática) Refers to variations in the mean state of the climate on all temporal and spatial scales. It can be due to both natural internal processes within the climate system and external radiative forcings.
Wildlife "Set of organisms that live under natural conditions, temporary or permanent, in the national territory, both in the continental and insular territory, in the territorial sea, internal waters, exclusive economic zone, and jurisdictional waters, and that do not require human care for their survival," Article 2, Ley de Conservación de la Vida Silvestre N° 7317 Vulnerability Refers to the characteristics or circumstances that make an object susceptible to the harmful effects of a hazard. It is basically composed of exposure to the hazard, susceptibility to it, and resilience capacity ACAHN Área de Conservación Arenal Huetar Norte ABRE Áreas Bajo Regímenes Especiales ACALAC Área de Conservación La Amistad Caribe ACAT Área de Conservación Arenal-Tempisque ACCVC Área de Conservación Cordillera Volcánica Central ACG Área de Conservación Guanacaste ACLAP Área de Conservación La Amistad-Pacífico ACMIC Área de Conservación Marina Isla del Coco ACOPAC Área de Conservación Pacífico Central ACOSA Área de Conservación Osa ACT Área de Conservación Tempisque ACTo Área de Conservación Tortuguero ASP Área Silvestre Protegida AyA Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados CEDARENA Centro de Derecho Ambiental y de los Recursos Naturales CENIGA Centro Nacional de Información Geoambiental CNAH Consejo Nacional Asesor de Humedales CONAC Consejo Nacional de Áreas de Conservación CORAC Consejo Regional de Áreas de Conservación FIR Ramsar Information Sheets for wetlands (See Ramsar Abbreviation) FONAFIFO Fondo Nacional de Financiamiento Forestal HII Humedales de Importancia Internacional HNTS Humedal Nacional Térraba Sierpe ICE Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad ICT Instituto Costarricense de Turismo IFAM Instituto de Fomento y Asesoría Municipal INCOPESCA Instituto Nacional de Pesca y Acuicultura INTA Instituto Nacional de Innovación y Transferencia en Tecnología Agropecuaria INVU Instituto Nacional de Vivienda y Urbanismo LCVS Ley de Conservación de Vida Silvestre LOA Ley Orgánica del Ambiente MCJD Ministerio de Cultura y Juventud MEP Ministerio de Educación Pública MIDEPLAN Ministerio de Planificación Nacional y Política Económica MINAE Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía MIVAH Ministerio de Vivienda y Asentamientos Humanos PROMEC Programa de Monitoreo Ecológico de las áreas protegidas y corredores biológicos de Costa Rica PSA Pago por servicios Ambientales RAMSAR Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat, known as Ramsar RVSM Refugio de Vida Silvestre Mixto SENARA Sistema Nacional de Aguas, Riego y Avenamiento SENASA Servicio Nacional de Salud Animal SETENA Secretaría Técnica Ambiental SIDES Sistema de Indicadores sobre Desarrollo Sostenible SINAC Sistema de Áreas de Conservación SINIA Sistema Nacional de Información Ambiental SIREFOR Sistema de Información de los Recursos Forestales de Costa Rica SNIT Sistema Nacional de Información Territorial TAA Tribunal Ambiental Administrativo Acknowledgments Public management in Costa Rica has a purpose: to serve and meet the needs of the people, with the objective of guaranteeing well-being for all and providing the necessary environment for sustainable development. This implies the construction of public policy with the participation of the citizenry, diverse sectors, priority groups, and institutions.
Wetland ecosystems are natural spaces of high ecological, cultural, environmental, and economic value; they provide services that today are becoming necessary to maintain, protect, and manage, which is why a policy such as this one could not fail to be participatory and shared with the people who relate directly and indirectly to them.
On behalf of the Government of the Republic and the Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía, we thank all the people who took their time and gave themselves permission to be part of the construction of the First National Wetlands Policy for Costa Rica. The Solís Rivera Administration firmly believes that dialogue and participation are the most effective tools for achieving the necessary changes. This instrument will allow the institutions of the Costa Rican State to guide their work in the comprehensive management of the ecosystems, their biodiversity, and their socio-environmental dynamics, enabling not only conservation, but also their sustainable use and their rehabilitation should it be necessary.
We also thank the various partners who funded and were part of the facilitation and logistics of this Policy: the United Nations Development Programme, the Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación, the Project for conservation, sustainable use of biodiversity, and maintenance of the ecosystem services of protected wetlands of international importance (Proyecto Humedales), executed by the Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación (SINAC), and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.