ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the success of conservation in a variety of protected areas in Costa Rica covering almost 30 per cent of the country. Since the creation of the country’s first reserve in 1963 and the enactment of the 1969 Forest Law, more has been done in Costa Rica to protect forest resources than in any other Central American country. To examine in more detail the nature of social conflicts which arise when conservation areas are created or expanded, a case study was undertaken of the Carara Biological Reserve in the central-Pacific region of Costa Rica. The reserve was created in 1978 in an area of 7700 hectares. Its aim was to protect the last remnants of forest and the considerable biodiversity which exists in what constitutes a transition zone between the drier northern region of the country and the more humid region to the south.
