This paper discusses the social impacts of Costa Rica's Payments for Environmental Services (PSA) program and their effect on rural poverty. Although the analysis is hampered by significant information gaps, we believe that the PSA Program has probably managed to have an impact on the poor. This...

The Rio Conference in 1992, with its Agenda 21 and the statement of principles for sustainable development, was an important impetus for environmental issues in Costa Rica, which together with processes already emerging in the country, led to the creation of Program Payment for Environmental...

In this article, we analyse a new type of bilateral cooperation aimed at promoting sustainable development. The keystone of this new structure is the sustainability treaty that the Netherlands has arranged with Costa Rica (the statement of intent dates from 1992). This treaty was conceived to...

Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) is struggling with a lack of science-management integration. Many computer systems, usually known as "decision support systems", have been developed with the intention to make scientific knowledge about complex systems more accessible for coastal...