We promote the adoption of international standards for responsible fishing in collaboration with fishing organizations, governments, academia, and industry. We use the Fair Trade (FT), Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), and Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) standards to frame our action plans. The four phases of the building block are:

1. Healthy stocks. We evaluate the status of the fisheries in order to determine the proper management methods and instruments to apply, depending on the fishery (e.g., catch shares, effort control, size limits).

2. Healthy ecosystems. We evaluate the effect of the fishery on

other species and habitats, as well as the effects of environmental change to fisheries and community. The latter to promote adaptation. 

3. Robust governance systems. We promote the formation of groups to

define management rules (both formal and informal) in a collective, transparent,

and democratic way. We also calculate investment costs in sustainable fishing and define sustainable financial plans.

4. Social justice.  We apply social justice principles and practices within the fishery: clear access rights, compliance with occupational, health standards, and access to fair prices.

We have three capacity building programs to pursue legal, sustainable and competitive fishing practices:

1. Capacity building for leaders: It focuses on human development at the individual level. We identify community leaders and provide the tools and knowledge to strengthen their leadership for the common good. The leaders develop sustainable fishing and marine conservation projects, to which COBI provides follow-up. We have had 38 fellows from 18 communities.

2. Capacity building for fishing cooperatives: It provides legal guidance and

training to fishing cooperatives to improve their operations, be more competitive, and ensure financial sustainability in the mid and long-term. 26 cooperatives have participated in the program.

3. Capacity building for fishery committees and alliances: Designed to increase collective action in working groups that represent different stakeholders

and interests within a given area or resource. The program provides guidance to define common goals, rules for decision-making and operations, working plans, and a follow-up strategy. Four committees and an alliance have participated in the program.

The approach applied in GMWR will allow the integration not only of scientific and community-based information, but also of local perceptions (that historically tend to be relegated to a secondary plane) on prioritized focal management targets and into the characterization of forms and means of local communication. These social aspects can now be integrated into official management instruments, as essential elements of the strategy needed to address the conservation gaps around GMWR. For such a strategy to be effective, it must encompass a public participation strategy that is designed on the basis of the above findings (4.1 and 4.2). In turn, for this participation strategy to be robust and responsive, it should consider the quantitative and qualitative analysis of existing communication and coordination networks, and should propose means to strengthen and consolidate these networks. This is crucial, given the finding that there is a direct correlation between the density and power of social networks in coastal communities, and the effectiveness of conservation actions in these areas.

The effectiveness of natural resource conservation in protected areas is closely and directly linked with the effectiveness of communication and stakeholder coordination strategies. However, social rapprochement efforts often occur within the limits of protected areas, without taking into consideration actors located in the areas of influence or buffer zones. For GMWR and its surrounding “conservation gap areas”, it was important to assess and improve the effectiveness of the current communication strategies and to build trust to facilitate dialogue concerning the protected area. For this, a new methodology was developed, using a set of 6 positional and global indicators based on the social role of each actor (nodes). The information was collected through several participatory activities, such as community workshops, and individual consultations with local community leaders and government representatives. The data were analyzed with UCINET and Net Draw mathematics and graphics programs. Each activity had the objective to review and update progress made, and to reach agreements on next phases; these iterative steps augmented the sense of transparency and openness of the process being conducted.

Conservation actions, or “focal management targets”, for areas around the GMWR were identified and prioritized using biological data as well as social perceptions on the status and importance of these targets. Perceptions are shaped by the degree of reliance, both current and historical, that local actors have on those targets. The prioritization exercise also considers key characteristics such as ecological values, representativeness, capacity to influence other focal management targets, threats, and relevance to local livelihoods improvement, and serves as a guide for resource designation while also helping to bring local concerns closer to protected area / buffer zone management goals. The threats affecting each target were also identified and assessed by experts and communities alike.

The results of the multi-sectorial dialogues are reflected in agreements regarding implementation plans. These agreements form the basis for establishing the model of governance, or in other words the set of formal and informal rules and their enforcement mechanisms. The agreements document the stakeholders’ understandings of the geographical delimitation of the area, its zoning, and the management category. They also establish the steps to be followed in the process for implementing the management areas, such as the consolidation of a governance model through a Local Council, which is a figure that gives legal support composed of diverse representatives.

To promote voluntary participation and to achieve consensus among the key sectors involved, stakeholders including local authorities, fishermen, local residents among others, are identified through a previous mapping of actors. The different sectors then propose their representatives who are formally committed to the process by signing a document. A multi-sectorial dialogue platform is established and the interests of the stakeholders are discussed using an approach of collaborative facilitation and alternative dispute resolution. This platform addresses the issues of geographical delimitation of the management area, and the governance model with roles and responsibilities by sector and areas of use.

An Administrative resolution was made by the local conservation authorities to determine the technical, social, legal and financial feasibility of implementing protected areas in the sites of conservation importance. The resolution considers information from scientific studies and highlights the importance of establishing a participatory process through the creation of a multi-sector dialogue panel. At the same time, the local authority created a follow-up Committee with institutional representatives of the national protected area management authority to legitimize the process and ensure that it is documented and institutionalized.

The scientific study identifies coastal and marine areas of Costa Rica that are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts. The vulnerability analysis combined three factors: exposure, potential impacts and the adaptive capacity of communities to respond to these impacts. Through these three factors the climatic threats of sea level rise, atmospheric temperature rise and changes in precipitation patterns were evaluated to identify vulnerability. The analysis supports the prioritization of climate change adaptation actions for protected areas and districts of local communities. These actions include the recovery of key habitats such as riparian forests, mangrove forests, beach terraces and the relocation of touristic trails close to the beach within the protected areas.

Three scientific studies provide technical information to identify areas that should be included in the national system of protected areas. An evaluation of marine ecoregions in Mesoamerica was the first step to achieve a marine and coastal biodiversity conservation agenda at the regional level. To meet the targets established for the eco-regional level, gaps in representativeness and integrity for the marine and coastal biodiversity in Costa Rica were identified through a comparison of the national system of marine protected areas with the sites of conservation importance identified during the evaluation. National sites of conservation importance were prioritized in the gap analysis. Additional technical evaluations to elaborate on the state of conservation at a local site level were done. This scientific information helped to build up considerations for local level priorities, and the actual and potential uses along with the use conflicts.