Avances en la comprensión de la transición forestal en fincas costarricenses

This study proposed to evaluate which factors have influenced the adoption of conservation practices and the increase of On-farm Tree Cover (OTC) in three areas of Costa Rica. We compared information from population census and geospatial data with results of interviews and workshops with 163 producers, applying the approaches of appreciative inquiry and the community capitals framework. The results confirm that using development indicators based on these approaches and working with OTC within agricultural landscapes, the Forest Transition theory (Mather 1992) also applies. In addition, our results suggest that when the development process emphasizes the strengthening of social (organizational capacity, sharing of information) and human capital (health, education, technical assistance), there is more probability that development will be accompanied by a process of recovery of the OTC in agricultural landscapes. The combination of these factors had greater effect on OTC than the Forest Law of 1996 with its payment for environmental services scheme.