The coercive laws of competition in a neoliberal era: the case of forestry in Costa Rica

Market-oriented forms of conservation are believed to deliver enhanced efficiency in ecosystem management. This greater efficiency is derived from the introduction of competitive mechanisms in resource governance. Market competition, however, produces new social relations that can alter the division of benefits between various actors within the economy and present opportunities for accumulation. The consequent gains in efficiency are not necessarily equitably distributed. Furthermore, the introduction of competition can erode cooperative arrangements designed to assist the poor and politically marginal. Drawing on theories of the 'coercive laws of competition', I seek in this article to understand how competitive structures compel actors to behave in ways that put profit before social or environmental responsibility and encourage self-interested behavior. I explore these ideas in the context of Costa Rican forest conservation, showing that competitive contracting in private forest management has resulted in an uneven distribution of benefits and a comparative advantage for larger landowners. In addition, I also re-think the 'coercive laws' for a neoliberal era. Keywords: competition, neoliberalism, conservation, markets, efficiency, PE

Payments for ecosystem services and the neoliberalization of Costa Rican nature

“Payments for ecosystem services” (PES) represents a new form of environmental governance rooted in the logics of capitalist economics. As such, PES frequently produces new conceptions and material forms of nature that embody the principles of neoliberal ideology. This thesis explores the processes by which these policies have been deployed and taken root in Costa Rica, one of the foremost sites of financialized conservation worldwide. It provides a historical account of policy formation and the neoliberalization of Costa Rican nature. I situate this analysis in a critique of capitalist logic, explaining the particular type of neoliberalization that emerges as a consequence of capital's own internal contradictions. I place particular emphasis on ideological inconsistencies in the deployment of neoliberal ideals while highlighting the justice implications that inevitably still emerge. I do so by adopting a critical political-ecology perspective that sees questions of environmental management as fundamental questions of social and environmental justice – how are conservation mechanisms designed, by whom, for what purposes, and to whose ultimate benefit? Specifically, I consider three aspects of neoliberalization in Costa Rica's national Pagos por Servicios Ambientales (PSA) program: the design of a new market-like financing mechanism; the promotion of individualized contracting and participation; and the expansion of exclusionary land management practices. I show that these actions produce the conditions for uneven development, facilitate the consolidation of control over resources, and enable the accumulation of benefits among larger, wealthier landowners. I further explore conceptual understandings of neoliberalism (as ideology or process) and address the growing concern in the critical literature with ways that policy deviates from doctrine. I explain that such an emphasis on ideologically divergent practice distracts from the material and justice effects of encroaching neoliberalization, which invariably operates in partial and unfinished ways. Finally, I revisit the role of the internal contradictions of capital in producing the patterns of governance that constitute this era of neoliberal environmentalism

The coercive laws of competition in a neoliberal era: the case of forestry in Costa Rica

Market-oriented forms of conservation are believed to deliver enhanced efficiency in ecosystem management. This greater efficiency is derived from the introduction of competitive mechanisms in resource governance. Market competition, however, produces new social relations that can alter the division of benefits between various actors within the economy and present opportunities for accumulation. The consequent gains in efficiency are not necessarily equitably distributed. Furthermore, the introduction of competition can erode cooperative arrangements designed to assist the poor and politically marginal. Drawing on theories of the 'coercive laws of competition', I seek in this article to understand how competitive structures compel actors to behave in ways that put profit before social or environmental responsibility and encourage self-interested behavior. I explore these ideas in the context of Costa Rican forest conservation, showing that competitive contracting in private forest management has resulted in an uneven distribution of benefits and a comparative advantage for larger landowners. In addition, I also re-think the 'coercive laws' for a neoliberal era. Keywords: competition, neoliberalism, conservation, markets, efficiency, PE

Costa Rican ecotourism and the (re)construction of social-natures on the Osa Peninsula

This thesis is concerned with the social construction of nature and society through ecotourism on the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica. It demonstrates that ecotourism is based on an idealized conception of nature external to and separate from society, allowing uneven power relationships to go unexamined and causing themes of social justice and equity to go unaddressed in the development and implementation of it. In my research I show how society and nature are linked in a mutually re-constructive relationship in order to redirect attention onto the way in which powerful agents control the idea of nature in Costa Rica and privilege those who accept the idealized external form, ultimately resulting in uneven development. This is achieved, first, by showing how society constructs nature through discursive representation and, second, by exploring how those new natures reconfigure social relationships and re-order social structures. Methodologically, I take an interpretive approach to participant observation and employ a discourse and image analysis of travel media. Specifically, I analyze Costa Rican travel brochures, advertisements, guidebooks, and electronic sources and contrast two Osa tourism ventures, utilizing information collected from informal interviews and student course journals. I argue that nature on the Osa Peninsula is increasingly being re-made as an object external to society, that society is being reconfigured as a result, that the entire process is controlled by an elite minority, and that the outcome is inequity based on a willingness and ability to accept the dominant new ideas about nature in Costa Rica

The narrowing gap between vision and execution: Neoliberalization of PES in Costa Rica

Recent work has called into question the status of Costa Rica's Payments for Environmental Services program (PES) as an iconic example of market-based conservation. The actual practice of this program has proven to have only loose correspondence with its idealized neoliberal vision. Thus far, however, several important aspects of the program have remained under-analyzed. This paper identifies three key ways in which the gap between " vision" and " execution" is being narrowed: through changes to the way the program is financed, through promotion of competitive contracting, and through the removal of collective participation. The paper also explains the detrimental social and ecological implications of these actions. Analysis is situated in a theoretical framework that understands neoliberalization as an incomplete and adapting process, rather than a monolithic ideology that is uniform across history and geography. The empirical evidence demonstrates why this interpretation is essential for assessing the practical effect of neoliberal policies

‘Payments for Ecosystem Services’ and Property : The Expansion of Exclusionary Land Management Practices in Costa Rica

The practice of making “payments for ecosystem services” (PES) is about the formation of new social relations between land managers and the human beneficiaries of functioning ecological systems. More specifically, it is about establishing economic relations that (theoretically) transfer financial resources from “users” of services to “producers” who institute prescribed land management practices. Interpreted as a form of “neoliberal conservation”, this approach to environmental governance can be seen as a driving force in the commodification, marketization, and financialization of nature. Hinging on “clearly defined and enforced” property rights, it can also be seen as a factor in the expansion of individualized private ownership. Troubled by this renewed prospect of privatization, critical scholars have done well to challenge the new enclosures of land and resources. But what about when PES operates in areas where private ownership rights are robust and widespread? Are we to believe that the tendency towards privatization poses no threat because those areas are already “lost” to private ownership? This paper considers how the social relationships that constitute property are shifting under the prescribed management practices of PES. I present evidence from Costa Rica’s national PES program to suggest that, even on lands that are ostensibly already privately owned, these new practices are resulting in an expansion of exclusionary management. The objective is to demonstrate some of the reasons why financialized approaches to conservation are a problem in “already neoliberal” economies and to offer some conceptual tools for challenging the uncritical assumption that PES is harmless in areas where private ownership is already well established

The economic valuation of nature: A question of justice?

While many of the concerns over the economic valuation of nature have gained broad exposure, justice concerns remain largely peripheral. Within both scholarly debate and actual valuation exercises, the emphasis is most often on reconciling cultural and monetary valuation. Increasingly, as the valuation of nature gains momentum, proponents of the trend seek to relieve apprehensions by suggesting that economic valuation is entirely compatible with intrinsic and esthetic values. This attempt to mollify skeptics, however, misses the mark; regardless of whether or not nature may be valued simultaneously in cultural and economic terms, the social and environmental justice implications of monetary valuation remain. The purpose of this commentary is to clarify that much of the resistance to the economic valuation of nature is motivated by these justice concerns and that reassurances about the cultural value of nature do little to quell them. Several of the justice reasons to remain cautious of the economic valuation of nature are also elaborated

Valuing nature : A reply to Esteve Corbera

This paper is a reply to Esteve Corbera's critique of my earlier commentary on the economic valuation of nature. It seeks to clarify my motivations and objectives in writing the original piece. It highlights important distinctions between our positions and explains why acceptance of financialized approaches to conservation (in any of its guises) works to deepen the embedded nature of neoliberal ideology