Figure 1: Costa Rica Landscape. Source: OTG (2018)
Figure 1: Costa Rica Landscape. Source: OTG (2018)

1. Overview

Global Land Use

Global environmental degradation is driven by land use, exacerbated by climate change. Deforestation, agriculture, and urbanisation play a key role in the decline of natural landscapes, fragmenting habitats, and altering global biodiversity.1 Impacts on ecosystem services these environments provide, are especially apparent in tropical regions, damaged by human activities such as logging, mining, and need for agricultural land. The issue of land use is becoming increasingly highlighted across global scales, with extractive land uses a “lethal threat to the living world”.2

A Case Study: Costa Rica

One nation, adapting their land use patterns, is Costa Rica. Situated in Central America, it is bordered by Nicaragua to the North, Panama to the South, the Pacific Ocean to the West, and Caribbean Ocean to the East (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Costa Rica Location on a Continental and Global Scale. Country of Costa Rica is highlighted in red. Source: WikiAtlas (2023)
Figure 2: Costa Rica Location on a Continental and Global Scale. Country of Costa Rica is highlighted in red. Source: WikiAtlas (2023)

Costa Rica is leading the way forward in environmental management, driving sustainable land use changes, accounting for the needs of local communities. Although the country accounts for only 0.03% of Earth’s land surface, it contains 6% of the world’s biodiversity3, making the region of vital global importance.

Land use in Costa Rica is influenced by climate and topography, with a range of ecozones providing different ecosystem services. The location of Costa Rica has driven its ecological richness, serving as a migratory bridge between continents, enhancing biodiversity.

Types of Land Use in Costa Rica

The spatial distribution of land use in Costa Rica is outlined in Figure 3.

  • The country is dominated by forest cover. Forest plantations are more prevalent in northern parts of the country.

  • The main urban areas are in central Costa Rica, reflecting the location of the country’s main cities – San Jose, Cartago and Alejuela.

  • Wetlands are located primarily on the Northern Caribbean Coast, with small regions of mangroves here. Mangroves are also located in the southwest.

  • The large water body in the northwestern region is Lake Arenal, the country’s largest landlocked body of water, covering nearly 85 km2. The Arenal Dam located here produces 12% of Costa Rica’s electricityref.

  • Cropland covers unforested land in the country, prevalent on the inland south-western and north-eastern regions of the country, and central urban fringes.

Figure 3: Map showing Land Use Coverage in Costa Rica. Data Source: Banerjee et al. (2021)
Figure 3: Map showing Land Use Coverage in Costa Rica. Data Source: Banerjee et al. (2021)

Figure 4 highlights land use cover percentages in Costa Rica.

  • At present, forest land covers 59.8% of the country.

  • Agricultural land uses account for 35.5%.

  • Urban areas account for very little amount of land area, despite growing population pressures.

Figure 4: Percentage of Land Use Type Cover in Costa Rica (2021). Data Source: OECD (2021)
Figure 4: Percentage of Land Use Type Cover in Costa Rica (2021). Data Source: OECD (2021)

2. Historical Land Use Changes

Figure 5: Land Use History Overview timeline. Created in Canva (images sources from Canva) (2023)
Figure 5: Land Use History Overview timeline. Created in Canva (images sources from Canva) (2023)

Pre-1500s

  • Indigenous populations have been living in Costa Rica since 7000 BC.

  • Archaeological evidence suggests people were growing maize in Costa Rica during the Curre archaeological phase (1500 to 300 BC), with varying intensity of human impact.^Clement 2001^

1500s

  • The first European settlers came over to Costa Rica in the 1500s^vacation website^, driven by the promise of gold in the region.

  • The name Costa Rica translates to “Rich Coast”, reflecting the richness of the land.

  • Gold mining was some of the first industrial activity in the region, having many impacts on land use, leaving its legacy through disruption of Costa Rica’s pristine primary forests.

1820s

  • The first exports of coffee occurred in 1820, after Costa Rica became an independent nation from Spain.

  • The coffee was heavily incentivised by the government moving the newly independent Americas away from its previous Eurocentric and autonomous economies.^riven coffee roasters^

  • The coffee industry supported the development and modernisation of Costa Rica moving into their new independence, developing infrastructure and transport networks.^driven coffee^

1950s

  • Rapid economic growth followed World War II, with the population doubling between the 1950s and 1970s. The agricultural sector had to adapt to population pressures.

  • This changed land use, as many forested areas were cleared for agricultural pastures, cropland, or urban regions.

  • A studyref-doc found that agriculture expanded by 4.3% per year, between 1962 and 1979, with bananas and coffee exports growing rapidly in relation to the nation’s GDP. refdoc

1970s

  • The nation experienced an ‘oil-price shock’ during the late 1970sdocument. This increased prices of agricultural imports and state agricultural lands declined in productivity, due to overuse and exploitation. This grew intensive production methods on private lands.

  • The 1970s were also when ecotourism began to take off in Costa Rica.

1986

  • The environment minister within Oscar Arias’s government, Alvaro Umana, catalysed an environmental shift across Costa Rica, which aimed to restore forest cover.

  • This encouraged farmers to restore forest, using financial incentives, positively changing land use in the country.

2023

  • Presently, Costa Rica is one of the most biodiverse nations on Earth.

  • Recent land use changes and governmental incentives have played a vital role in Costa Rica altering its land use practices, prioritising conservation, restoration, and preservation of their land.

3. Socio-Economic Drivers of Land Use

There are a range of socio-economic drivers of land use, vital to the functioning of Costa Rican society.

Agricultural practices

  • Subsistence farming
    • Important within local community structure, driving decision making.
    • Small-scale farming supports many local markets and rural communities.
    • This farming works sustainably with the environment to provide livelihoods for rural communities.
  • Agricultural production targeted at global export markets
    • This is perhaps the largest economic industry in Costa Rica.
    • The country is a global exporter of many agricultural commodities, such as bananas, coffee, pineapples, and beef.
    • Economic growth in Costa Rica is driven by these external markets for agricultural produce, making it a key factor for how land use in the country is determined.

Ecotourism

  • Costa Rica is well known for its ecotourism industry, which makes up a large part of the country’s economy. Without these external visitors, the development and land use of the nation would be altered drastically.

  • This increase in tourism has also driven infrastructure development within the country, improving road networks and transport links, developing new tourist attractions/resorts.

  • Whilst good for the economy and allowing easier access to previously unconnected parts of the country, this land use change can have negative impacts on the environment, through habitat fragmentation and destruction of wildlife corridors.

Urbanisation and Population Growth

  • Urbanisation is causing rapid changes to land use in Costa Rica, with many of its cities, such as San Jose, the capital, experiencing increasing population growth.

  • In 1950, the population was 148,000. This value has increased rapidly heading towards the 21st Century, reaching a population of over a million in 2000. Currently, in 2023, San Jose has a population of 1,462,000ref.

  • Urbanisation rates across the country have increased by over 40% since 1971,chiledoc as shown in Figure 5. This expansion of urban growth in the country is altering land use, encroaching on forest and agricultural regions, especially areas on urban fringes. This introduces competing land use pressures, reducing the space available for other, economically vital industries.

Figure 6: Graph showing the urbanisation rate across Costa Rica. Data Source: … (data) (2023)
Figure 6: Graph showing the urbanisation rate across Costa Rica. Data Source: … (data) (2023)

Hydropower

  • Costa Rica is moving towards a green energy transition, committed to reaching net zero, with renewable energy supplying 99.78% of the nation’s energy output.ITAdoc

  • The nation is especially successful at utilising its abundant water resources for electricity generation, through hydropower.

  • In 2018, hydropower made up 72% of Costa Rica’s renewable energy usage.ITAdoc

4. Biodiversity, Conservation and Legislation

Costa Rica is known to be one of the most biodiverse places in the world, with an estimated half a million species found within this small nation.kew

By protecting biodiversity, it has attracted many visitors to the country. Ecotourism was estimated to have bought in over £3 billion to the country and its economy.kew Not only is restoring biodiversity beneficial from an ecological perspective, but it also plays a key role in enhancing the economical character of the nation.

Protected Areas in Costa Rica

National parks and reserves in Costa Rica cover 25.6% of land area (embassy doc), having one of the highest percentages of protected areas across tropical nations (Gonzalez-Maya, 2015). There are 28 national parks in the country, as highlighted within Figure 7 below. Three of these parks are also UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

This extent of ecological protection across the country is a key driver of land use, especially as the nation moved into the 21st century.

Figure 7: Map showing the location of all land and marine National Parks in Costa Rica. Data Source: Google Maps (2023)

Governmental Legislation

Conservation in Costa Rica is vitally important, with biodiversity facing threats from habitat loss, pollution, and climate change. Conservation initiatives are imperative to sustaining these habitats, and the success of these local changes is dependent on the national actions driven and implemented by governmental stakeholders, through mitigative legislative framework.

The country has signed 45 international environmental treaties and have many environmental regulatory bodies within their government. The most notable legislative action that Costa Rica took was the establishment of the Forest Law (1996) and Biodiversity Act (1998).

5. Forestry

Forest cover across Costa Rica is expansive. Costa Rica’s forest coverage is estimated at 30,185,000 ha.^FAO ref^, over double that of agricultural regions.

Forest land declined in the late 20th Century. By 1987, over half of the forest cover had been destroyedkew. Expansion of cattle grazing pastures encroached on forested areas, deforestation driven by inappropriate and ineffective governmental policies.

At this point, a new government was appointed, and intervened. Now, Costa Rica is driving the way for environmentally sustainable development.pesUN Current forest cover is close to maximum historic levels, showing reforestation initiatives are successful.

The forests are a vital carbon sink, playing a key role in sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide. They are heavily impacted by destructive land use practices.

  • Studies determined total CO2 sequestered by these forests. Figure 9 shows, between 2001 and 2022, 6.4 MtCO¬_2_e/year was released from tree removals.

  • However, forests were sequestering more carbon than emitting, with the nation having an overall net carbon sink of -11 MtCO_2_e/year.

  • This is a positive step towards mitigating climate change impacts.

Figure 8: Map showing the location of all land and marine National Parks in Costa Rica. Data Source: Google Maps (2023)
Figure 8: Map showing the location of all land and marine National Parks in Costa Rica. Data Source: Google Maps (2023)

Forest Law (1996)

This legislation established protection, conservation, and management of forest areas as a key priority, regulating resource use and extraction. It ensures sustainable use of forests, reducing exploitation, and improving livelihoods of rural communities.

Aims included:

  • Conservation of biodiversity.

  • Protection of water.

  • Designation of riparian regions as protected areas.

  • Mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions.

Success of the Forest Law

Payments of Ecosystem Services

The Forest Law pioneered Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) which rewarded landowners for positive environmental mitigative actions. Over 18,000 families have benefitted from this programme and have invested a total of US$ 524 million into the project, spanning over 1.3 million hectares of land.pesUN The programme also accounts for local indigenous communities, with the wider implications of protecting ecosystem services, benefitting over 100,000 indigenous peoples.

Increased Forest Cover

Figure 8 shows the change in forest cover between 1987 and 2017 in the Osa Peninsula (the southwestern-most peninsula on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica), using Landsat derived data. Forest cover has expanded in the region since the Arias government came into power, with positive land use trends since implementation of the Forest Law. Wildlife and habitat corridors to become established, by the increased forest cover, between the Corcovado and Piedras Blancas National Parks, which is vital for conservation of endangered species, such as the Jaguar.

Figure 9: Osa land cover change . Data Source: Google Maps (2023)
Figure 9: Osa land cover change . Data Source: Google Maps (2023)

6. Agriculture

Agriculture makes up a large part of Costa Rica’s economy, playing a central role to the nation’s development and socioeconomic growthdoc, contributing to all aspects of economic activity in the country. The sector employs a fifth of the local population.ref This land use is, therefore, relied upon to support the Costa Rican economy. Ensuring these industries can be supported whilst sustaining the environmental impacts of agriculture is imperative.

The agricultural sector is of primary importance to Costa Rican society and their international relations, making a large part of external markets, rather than local internal ones doc. It acts as a significant contributor to foreign trade.CRinfo

The amount of agricultural exports, compared to goods used internally, for domestic consumption, grew by 20.7% between 1962 and 1979 (doc). This number has since risen further moving into the 21st Century, as the nation becomes more reliant on international trade markets.

However, recently, a significant barrier that the agricultural industry is facing is that of limited infrastructure, with lack of space, technology, and investment in the industry.

Types of Agriculture

  • Up until the 1980s (ref-doc), crops made up nearly two thirds of total production in the sector. Livestock made up a quarter of this value and other activities accounted for the remaining 10%.

  • Food products made up the basis of agricultural activities in Costa Rica. (95% of produce)document.

  • The main cash crops grown in Costa Rica are coffee, bananas, sugar and cocoaenclycoped, with coffee and bananas discussed in more detail below.

Coffee

  • This is the nations oldest agricultural product, and still a key contributor to land use.

  • In 2021, coffee was the 6th most exported product in Costa Rica, valuing at US$ 372 million.oecworld

  • The coffee industry are now focusing on quality of their coffee, developing infrastructure to obtain a higher value product, rather than larger quantities.usdadoc This change, however, will have potentially negative implications for land use in the central valleys of Costa Rica, where most coffee is grown, altering the ecological regimes of the environment.

Bananas

  • Costa Rica a top 5 global banana exporter. In 2021, the nation produced 2.32 million tonnes of bananas.navvillastat

  • Banana production has increased more compared to coffee production, however these two commodities after often viewed as the determining factor of agricultural growth in Costa Rica.

7. Future Land Use Change

8. References

  1. Chatham House Report (2023). The state of the world’s Land Resources. The Emerging Global Crisis of Land Use . Available at: https://www.chathamhouse.org/2023/11/emerging-global-crisis-land-use/02-state-worlds-land-resources

  2. Monbiot, G. (2023). Costa Rica restored its ravaged land to health. the rich UK has no excuse for such complete failure | George Monbiot, The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/21/costa-rica-uk-land

  3. Environment: Embajada de Costa Rica en DC (2023). Environment | Embajada de Costa Rica en DC. Available at: http://www.costarica-embassy.org/index.php?q=node%2F12