Search

This paper explores the creation of cross-scale linkages between local governance institutions and national and international organizations. It does so in the context of the decentralization of decision-making for protected area management and biodiversity conservation in the Central American country of Costa Rica, where the issue is a matter of high national interest. Costa Rica stands out among all developing tropical countries for its commitment towards environmental and natural resources issues, especially those regarding biodiversity conservation. For instance, the central government has developed a protected area system that has given some kind of protected status to 25% of its national territory. In the mid-nineties the Costa Rican government started to decentralize management and decision-making of all protected areas in the country to promote locally-based biodiversity conservation governance. All protected areas were grouped in eleven regionally-based administrative units and were labeled as conservation areas. The central government gave each conservation area the authority to exercise significant degrees of autonomy to design and implement policy for the management of the protected areas under their jurisdiction. Through a comparative and longitudinal analysis, this paper explores the different ways in which each conservation area created cross-scale linkages and attempts to explain the variation in their performance achieving local autonomy from the central government. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]