Coastal Conflicts in Costa Rica and the Territorios Costeros Comunitarios Law Project (Tecocos)
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COASTAL CONFLICTS IN COSTA RICA AND THE TERRITORIOS COSTEROS COMUNITARIOS LAW PROJECT (TECOCOS) Kevin Haddock, BCom Mémoire présenté à la Faculté de Sciences Sociales et Economiques (FASSE) de l’Institut catholique de Paris (ICP) dans le cadre du Master 2 Solidarité et Action Internationales. Institut catholique de Paris Septembre 2012 Last updated on November 7th, 2012. Coastal Conflicts in Costa Rica and the Territorios Costeros Comunitarios Law Project (TECOCOS) Kevin Haddock, BCom Institut catholique de Paris, 2012 Superviseure: Mme. Cécile Dubernet Abstract: This work aims to contribute to the debate on social conflicts generated by coastal development and the process of land tenure reform as a conflict resolution mechanism. We will present the case of the Territorios Costeros Comunitarios reform movement (TECOCOS) currently mobilized in Costa Rica and integrated by over 60 coastal communities. This reform movement initiated in reaction to a recent wave of planned evictions threatening specific coastal communities on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, following a decade of aggressive coastal tourism development. The TECOCOS movement has produced two historic law projects that are currently in the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica. Since the majority of the social conflicts on the coasts of Costa Rica find their roots in the legal and regulatory framework (which includes the coastal land tenure system) and tourism policies, this thesis will attempt to demonstrate how the legal and institutional arrangements as well as the international trends in the tourism industry have led to unsustainable coastal development triggering the creation of a unified front of coastal communities demanding for social change and the recognition of their economic, social and cultural rights. iii iv Table of Contents List of Tables ........................................................................................................ vii List of Figures ...................................................................................................... viii List of Illustrations ................................................................................................. ix Chapter One: Introduction .....................................................................................11 Section 1.1 Problem Statement .....................................................................14 Section 1.2 Research Questions ....................................................................15 Section 1.3 Limitations of the Study................................ .............................15 Section 1.4 Definitions and Key Themes .....................................................16 Section 1.5. Thesis Outline ...........................................................................21 Chapter Two: Coastal Development in Costa Rica ...............................................25 Section 2.1. Coastal Tourism Development Models, Macroeconomic Indicators, Trends and Impacts ............................................................25 2.1.1. Coastal Tourism Models, Industry Trends and Macro-economic Indicators .....................................................................................26 2.1.2. Socio-Economic Trends and Impacts ........................................43 Section 2.2. Understanding the Legal, Regulatory and Institutional Framework for Coastal Development ..................................................53 2.2.1 Legal and Institutional Framework for Tourism Development and the Coastal Land Tenure System ................................................54 2.2.2. Legal and Institutional Framework for Environmental Protection .....................................................................................................59 Section 2.3. Summary ...................................................................................60 Chapter Three: Social Impacts of Coastal Territorial Planning and Tourism Development Policies ...................................................................................63 Section 3.1. Biased Territorial Planning and its Impacts on Coastal Communities ........................................................................................65 3.1.1. Inefficient and Discriminatory Territorial Planning Excluding the Coastal Communities ............................................................65 3.1.2. Territorial Inequalities and the Abandonment of the Coastal Communities ...............................................................................75 Section 3.2. Tokenistic Tourism Policies Prioritizing Growth and FDI Attraction .............................................................................................79 v 3.2.1. Lack of Empowering Plans and Policies for Coastal Communities and Tokenistic Tourism Development Plans ........79 3.2.2. FDI and Pro-Growth Objectives Overestimating the Positive Impacts of Tourism .....................................................................94 Section 3.3. Summary ..................................................................................97 Chapter Four: Territorios Costeros Comunitarios Movement .............................101 Section 4.1. The Birth of the Territorios Costeros Comunitarios Movement ............................................................................................................103 4.1.1. The Beginning and Key Dates .................................................103 4.1.2. The Drafting of the TECOCOS Law Project and the Initial Support ......................................................................................108 Section 4.2. The Law Projects ....................................................................111 4.2.1. Ley de los Territorios Costeros Comunitarios No 18.148 ........112 4.2.2. Ley del Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre Ostional (RNVSO) No 17.512 ...................................................................................120 Section 4.3. Mobilization and Conflict Dynamics ......................................125 4.3.1. Coastal Communities, Mobilization and Conflict Group Formation ..................................................................................126 4.3.2. Position of the Political Actors: ICT and Deputies of the Legislative Assembly ................................................................133 4.3.3. Contentious Issues relating to the TECOCOS law project ......143 Section 4.4. Summary .................................................................................151 Chapter Five: Conclusion ....................................................................................153 Annexes ................................................................................................................160 References ............................................................................................................173 Vita....................................................................................................................... 190 vi List of Tables Table 1: Tourist arrival and yearly growth (2000-2011) .......................................36 Table 2: Tourism industry macroeconomic indicators (2003-2008) .....................36 Table 3: Foreign real estate spending by province in US$ millions (2004-2007*) ...........................................................................................................38 Table 4: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) distribution per sector (2002-2007) ....40 Table 5: Employment by province and sector (construction, hotels and restaurants, real estate activities, business and rentals % of total) .......................48 Table 6: Social security insurance coverage overall and tourism sector as % of total employment (2002) ...................................................................48 Table 7: Social development initiatives for the tourism planning unit of Puntarenas and the Islas del Golfo (ICT, 2007) ................................83 Table 8: Zoning distribution in the proposed coastal land use plan for Cabuya- Montezuma .......................................................................................87 Table 9: Actors involved in the initial stages of the TECOCOS movement .......109 Table 10: Law project No 18.148 articles by chapter ...........................................114 Table 11: Coastal areas legally defined as “Areas for Tourist Aptitude” ............146 vii List of Figures Figure 1: Political Map of Costa Rica ....................................................................13 Figure 2: National Parks of Costa Rica ..................................................................14 Figure 3: Foreign tourism and real-estate investment in US$ millions (2000- 2007*) ...............................................................................................37 Figure 4: 2007 promotion pitch for real estate development in Costa Rica (Coldwell Banker, 2007) ...................................................................41 Figure 5: 2007 promotion pitch for real estate development in Costa Rica (Coldwell Banker, 2007) ...................................................................42 Figure 6: Percentage of households in extreme poverty (2003-2009) ...................45 Figure 7: Incidence of household poverty per region (1994-2009) and (2009-2010) ...........................................................................................................46 Figure 8: Concessionable land in the Terrestrial and Maritime Zone (ZMT) .......55 Figure