Uneven Territorialization and Sea Turtle Conservation in Neoliberal Costa Rica

Abstract

The commodification of nature through environmental conservation always requires appropriate institutional frameworks to be put in place. Such frameworks often entail making market-conservation practices the only viable choice for accessing and using natural resources. State territorialization constitutes a driving process as it delineates the authority required to determine who has access to and control over natural resources, how and when. In a neoliberal context, such processes of territorialization tend to involve and be oriented by several non-state actors encouraged by interests of securing the means for environmental conservation and capital accumulation. However, by referring to the case of a small Costa Rican protected area called Las Baulas National Park; this article argues that conflicts may also arise between the chosen stewards – in this case, tourism-related real estate entrepreneurs and conservationists. Moreover, in contexts determined by contradicting scales of governance such conflicts may render neoliberal territorialization partial and unclear.