Forests, rights and development in Costa Rica: a Political Ecology perspective on indigenous peoples’ engagement in REDD+

Abstract

Costa Rica is well known for its policies to enhance conservation and sustainable use of forests. The country was also instrumental in promoting the mitigation strategy ‘Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+)’ under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The effective and legitimate implementation of REDD+ requires the participation of local stakeholders, including indigenous groups from forest regions, and corresponding provisions were established through social safeguards at the international level. In this article, we review this normative and institutional set-up and link it with experiences from the national and local levels by analysing the development of indigenous groups’ engagement in Costa Rican REDD+ politics. Drawing on a multilevel Political Ecology approach, we analyse data, which were gathered through interviews and participant observation on central government developments and on the Cabagra and Salitre indigenous territories. Our study illustrates the sociopolitical processes related to political agency, land conflicts and lessons learned, e.g. regarding epistemological biases and the local organisation of political participation, which indigenous communities have experienced during the design and consultation of the national REDD+ strategy.