Exploring the Political Economy of Everyday Life on the Costa
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EXPLORING THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF EVERYDAY LIFE ON THE COSTA RICAN FRONTIER FROM AGRARIAN REFORM TO THE PINEAPPLE BOOM A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment on the Requirements for the Degree of Doctorate of Philosophy with a Major in Environmental Science in the College of Graduate Studies University of Idaho and CATIE by Irene Shaver December 2014 Co- Major Professors: Leontina Hormel, Ph.D. and Nicole Sibelet, Ph.D. ii iii Abstract The focus of this dissertation is to understand the process and implications of capitalist incorporation and agrarian change in the frontier region of Northern Costa Rica within the San Juan-La Selva Biological Corridor. Within this larger narrative the analysis focuses on three major themes: agricultural intensification, migration dynamics and family farmers. Data utilized in this analysis includes: community workshops, 35 interviews with government officials, agribusinesses, producer organizations and large landholders, a randomized household survey of 139 households, grey literature, census data and extended participant observation. Key findings are as follows: Structural adjustment reforms have driven a trend of agricultural intensification through the expansion of pineapple, which has led to homogenization of the agricultural matrix’s land cover. Pineapple expansion has also increased regional economic dependency on large agribusinesses, created incentives for land turnover, and has drawn labor migrants. These parallel social-ecological changes caused by the expansion of pineapple, undermine the biodiversity of the agricultural matrix and do not facilitate development of the agricultural sector in a way that is inclusive of the diversity of farmers present in the study region. Migrants to this region are largely marginalized populations with low socio-economic indicators of wealth and quality of life. International and internal migrants have come in two general waves; early migrants were seeking land and later migrants were seeking labor opportunities. The earliest migrants in the eldest life stage are faring the worst on the frontier and have not been able to capitalize on their land resources to tangibly improve their quality of life. The family farmer is in peril in this landscape and is primarily participating in traditional domestic markets. Collective organization and state help are critical factors that allow family farmers to persist and prosper in the political economic iv and eco-regional context of the frontier. This dissertation provides a model to inform future analysis of coupled human-ecological systems that accounts for social, political and ecological change as coupled parallel processes. v Acknowledgements I would like to thank my family. They are the greatest family anyone could ask for and have been relentlessly supportive and patient with this process. I would like to thank my dear friend Renée Hill. Without her, this journey would not have been as fun and would seem impossible. I would like to thank Mouhamadou Diop, my partner for his support, patience and kindness. Thank you to all the great thinkers and advisors that helped shape my love for social and interdisciplinary research and big ideas over my education: Jim Proctor, Rob Goldman, J.D. Wulfhorst, Adam Sowards, Alex Fremier, Ed Galindo, Sammy Matsaw, Nicole Sibelet, and Leontina Hormel. This has been a collective journey and I want to thank my team who has embraced this challenge to work together for four years and whom I have grown to love and respect as people and as scientists. Thank you Kate, Andre, Adina and Ricardo. Thank you Lisette for being our faculty leader. Thank you to Nilsa Bosque-Pérez and the IGERT steering committee. Thank you to people who helped me edit and develop these ideas during the often difficult writing process: Leontina, Nicole, Sean, Eberle, Judy and Renée. Thank you to my committee: Lee Vierling, Gundars Rudzitis, Bryan Finegan, David Carr, Nicole Sibelet and Leontina Hormel. Thank you for supporting me and engaging in the interdisciplinary work and in my disciplinary research. Nicole and Leontina, you were just what I needed in this process and supported me both in an academic sense but also as young woman that is learning how to be in this world. In Costa Rica, there were several people who became great friends, who adopted me into their homes and lives and who were extremely generous to me in sharing their knowledge and vi experiences. Luisa and Orlando were my family there and provided me a safe home to return to during fieldwork. Martis was a great friend who supported me early on and put up with my initially terrible Spanish. Thanks to all the soccer players at CATIE and in Sarapiquí for the mejengas and good times. Mariel, a dear friend, helped me do my ethnographic work and is an incredible person I am honored to know. Thank you to my field assistant, Jessica Montejo. You taught me so much and were so patient with my fieldwork schedule. Thank you to Yazmin, Teresa and Germán, to Eduardo Artavia, the staff at Laguna del Lagarto Lodge in Boca Tapada, and the Ministry of Agriculture in Sarapiquí and San Carlos. I am indebted to the government representatives, pineapple company managers, large landholders, and producer organization representatives that allowed me to interview them. These are amazing people who have such powerful stories to tell. Thank you to all of the families that let me into their homes and shared their personal lives with me. Thank you to the communities of Pangola and El Roble for doing the community workshops with Renée and I. You have worked so hard to build and maintain these communities and you have my deepest respect. Any errors in this dissertation are my own. vii Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to Gerardo Vega Chavarria, el zorro, who passed away during my first field season. He was an exemplary Tico of this region, an avid conservationist and birder, jovial conversationalist and storyteller, a dedicated community member and someone who was brave enough to make his life what he dreamed it could be. May you be in peace. viii Table of Contents Authorization to Submit Dissertation......................................................................................... ii Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... iv Dedication ................................................................................................................................ vii Table of Contents .................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures .......................................................................................................................... xii List of Tables........................................................................................................................... xiii Preface ..................................................................................................................................... xv Chapter 1: Coupled Social, Economic and Ecological Outcomes of Agricultural Intensification in Costa Rica and the Future of Biodiversity Conservation in Tropical Agricultural Regions ..................................................................................................................1 Abstract .......................................................................................................................................1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................2 Theory .........................................................................................................................................2 Integrating Political Ecology and Landscape Ecology ...................................................2 Materials and Methods ................................................................................................................5 Study Region ...................................................................................................................5 Political Ecology Analysis ..............................................................................................9 Landscape Ecology Analysis ..........................................................................................9 Results and Discussion ..............................................................................................................11 Pineapple Expansion and Intensification as a Social, Economic and Ecological Process .......................................................................................................................................12 ix Impacts of Pineapple Expansion on Forest and Future Biodiversity Conservation in the Agricultural Matrix .......................................................................................................19 Current Policy on Pineapple at a Landscape Scale .......................................................23 Conclusions ...............................................................................................................................24 References .................................................................................................................................27 Chapter