Contested Understandings of Sustainability and Climate Issues in Southern Costa Rica

Abstract

Purpose

This study examines how small famers in southern Costa Rica think about environmental issues and climate change in agricultural practice and sustainability, assuming local models about these issues must be understood as dynamic representations which are modified in response to both changing conditions and new ideas.

Methodology/approach

Ethnographic research in Coto Brus, in southern Costa Rica, in the late 1990s and mid-2000s forms the basis of this analysis.

Findings

Farmers in this area understand environmental issues in terms of local controllable circumstances around environmental issues. This puts them at odds with government agents and outside researchers, who offer solutions based on their perceptions of the situation rather than farmer perceptions. Farmer resistance to proposals which do not solve problems that farmers see as important frustrates government representatives, who perceive these actions to be arbitrary.

Research limitations

The research is quite limited in time and space, giving only a quick snapshot of a complicated and ongoing problem.

Practical implications

Different models for understanding problems and a lack of understanding of how other stakeholders perceive the situation has made it harder to improve the sustainability of agriculture in southern Costa Rica. Similar dynamics can be seen elsewhere and suggest that a greater attempt to engage with local models and understandings can improve development and acceptance of innovations and improvements.

Originality/value

The exploration of conflicts between local and national/scholarly understandings of environmental issues suggests a way forward, engaging with local understandings and concerns to change behavior.

Citation

Smith, J. (2016), "Contested Understandings of Sustainability and Climate Issues in Southern Costa Rica", The Economics of Ecology, Exchange, and Adaptation: Anthropological Explorations (Research in Economic Anthropology, Vol. 36), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 33-56. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0190-128120160000036002