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This paper provides a look at the social conflicts that have taken place in Costa Rica during the Covid-19 pandemic (January 2020 and December 2021). This study comes from the registered collective actions and the experiences of the "Community Observatory of Collective Actions." Based on this data, four axes of conflict were identified during this period: a) The demand for rights and defense of indigenous territories, b) Communities in defense of water and the environment, c) Draft laws that threaten common goods, d) Labor conflicts and pollution in the production of monocultives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Environmental compensation is a technical-legal instrument of environmental management used to offset damage due to non-reversible and unavoidable impacts. Usually, offset regulations are included in national environmental legislations. This paper summarizes environmental compensation legislation in Costa Rica, a country with a recognized conservation tradition and environmental awareness. Our goal is to describe how compensation is formulated in that country and identify possible regulations gaps. Methods: We carried out a systematic review of environmental legislation through the Costa Rican Legal Information System (http://www.pgrweb.go.cr/scij/avanzada_pgr.aspx), considering both regulations and pronouncements on compensation measures and mitigation. Results: The Political Constitution of Costa Rica recognizes a healthy environment as a fundamental right for all citizens. At least seven laws dealing with environmental issues and their respective regulations are currently enforced. This bulky legislation aims to protect natural resources by regulating their use and creating an assemblage of protected wild areas. However, the legislation is somewhat repetitive and open to interpretation, facilitating confusion. Actions requiring compensation are regulated in a general way, making it difficult to establish when and how to apply them. In addition, compensation is considered based on when the damage is identified and not on its level of environmental impact. Furthermore, the regulations do not make explicit the principles and goals that support the compensatory measures or how they should be carried out, briefly mentioning some actions that do not ensure that the net environmental loss is zero. Conclusions: This review reveals the need to standardize the mechanisms to determine compensatory measures at the regulatory level, also analyzing the strategies that will be followed to ensure proportionality and ecological equivalence. The legislation must emphasize the importance of compensation as a positive practice, which must be incorporated within the guidelines of the Environmental Impact Study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores some of the many possible interactions and common areas between the so-called environmentalism of the poor, understood as an environmental current arising from the lower strata and present in diverse space-time contexts of the relationship between society and nature, or as a specific type of socio-environmental conflict and the studies of social exclusion, with a long tradition in social sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking into consideration that tourism is the main source of income for Costa Rica, this paper underscores the importance of developing this sector in accordance to its ecological aspects. It shows a summary of the progress tourism has experienced in Costa Rica and its relation to the environment. It also provides an example of how to organize a community so that it can take advantage of its natural beauty and promote tourism in the region. Lastly, it shows recommendations to improve tourism in the country in harmony with nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking into consideration that tourism is the main source of income for Costa Rica, this paper underscores the importance of developing this sector in accordance to its ecological aspects. It shows a summary of the progress tourism has experienced in Costa Rica and its relation to the environment. It also provides an example of how to organize a community so that it can take advantage of its natural beauty and promote tourism in the region. Lastly, it shows recommendations to improve tourism in the country in harmony with nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluation of an index to value urban green zones: Its application and analysis with a geographic perspective in Barrio Dent and Altos del Escalante.The conservation and incorporation of nature in the urban system through the correct management of land tracts that enables the growth of vegetation has become an indispensable requirement in sensible urban planning. This paper reviews the reliability of an index (%IZV) designed to evaluate the importance of urban green zones in a local scale. The model was tested in two costarrican neighborhoods: Barrio Dent and Altos del Escalante, both incorporated to the District of Montes de Oca. Observations indicate that most values fall in the %IZV range = 50 to 80; however, values of %IZV could be found in all ranges, except %IZV ranges = 81 to 90. The results seems to indicate that %IZV can be used eficiently for selecting and discriminating land tracts for either conservancy or future urbanization. In respect to the management of green patches, only the abandoned coffee plantation category differ estatisticly (average= 95; standard deviation= 2) in comparison to the rest of the classifications. When analyzed in a spatial perspective, this patches aggregate in a green nucleus around Quebrada de los Negritos' water way. This attribute could facilitate environmental design practices and the establishment of a greenway with other important surrounding green zones. Future threats to these urban green zones are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]