Problems related to the social areas

The various consultants’ reports on the social and economic aspects of the SJRB all portray the region as an area in which most of the population lives in extreme poverty. Poverty is demonstrated and corroborated by the different indices of population growth, health, education, etc., and by the poor condition, lack, or nonexistence of basic services. Furthermore, these populations survive by exerting heavy pressure on natural resources through a predominantly subsistence economy, which is a counterpoint to the extensive agribusiness economy and agroindustrial and industrial processes using polluting technologies in one sector of the basin. This is a region that has been subject to ecological intervention through anthropomorphic action, and is clearly trending toward a worsening of the social and environmental situation, if the efforts and actions currently being undertaken to mitigate the problem are not given sufficient technical and financial backing, and if institutional and organizational capacities are not jointly developed with civil society and local governments, thereby helping to solve the environmental problems in a comprehensive manner. Natural resources are clearly of great value from the social point of view, but few settlers view these resources as a production input having any economic value. In terms of the ecological value of natural resources, it could be pointed out that this valorization is demonstrated by the persons involved in natural resource management at the technical level and by the communities organized around conservation and resource protection projects.

The basin receives a flow of migrants from mainly the western and central zones of Nicaragua. This occurs chiefly as a result of the following developments: the current economic crisis in Nicaragua, the natural phenomena that have occurred in that country, and the development of human settlements in natural reserve areas as a result of the planning processes begun in the early 1990s. Most of this migrant population, in search of subsistence, settles on the fringes of the agricultural areas, developing their own productive patterns brought from their place of origin. Others cross the border into Costa Rica in search of employment opportunities on the big plantations (coffee, banana, sugar cane) and in the services sector. Migration is a constant problem in the SJRB. Labor is a mobile factor, which tends to shift in the event of relative scarcity or uneven distribution of work. In this case the movement is from Nicaragua to Costa Rica. The migratory flow is significant during the sugar cane harvest, the coffee and banana crop seasons, the citrus harvest, and has tended to become permanent and therefore a source of concern to both countries, which are making efforts to control it. In studies on rural poverty in the Costa Rican sector of the basin, cantonal comparisons between 1973 and 1984 show no significant change in the indices for meeting basic needs. The agricultural sector is the hardest hit by poverty.

Twenty five percent of the population gets its water from wells that represents 99% of the scattered, rural population. It is estimated that the condition of the wells of 10% of the population is poor and that 4% of the population uses rain or river water to meet its needs. surface waters have a high degree of pollution from municipal and household used water, the infiltration of sewage water, and contamination from solid and agroindustrial waste. Sixty four percent of the population in the Nicaraguan sector of the basin has a supply of water for human consumption. Ninety three percent de of them figure lives in urban areas and 39% belongs to the rural sector. Sixty one percent of the households have septic tanks, 38% with latrines, and 0.5% lack any type of system for the disposal of excrement. Latrines may pollute the groundwater through fluctuations in the freatic level. The national sewerage network covers only 34% of the territory and only 8 of the 19 existing systems have treatment plants functioning below par.

In the Nicaraguan sector, it was determined that 70% of the population lives in conditions of extreme poverty. Twenty six percent of the infant population between 6 and 9 years old is suffering from stunted growth and child malnutrition in the area is close to 6%. The causes of this phenomenon are different in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, but the common denominator is the lack of education of the population, which makes people used to these sanitary conditions. The lack of resources on the part of the government and the municipalities makes it impossible to address this social problem. Tables 21 and 22 of Annex 3 show the main social indicators in the Costa Rican and Nicaraguan sectors of the basin, respectively.

The population’s lack of environmental education is one of the major causes of the environmental problems of the SJRB, due to the fact that civil society is unaware of many of the goods and services that the ecosystems can offer and of the restrictions on their use. The lack of interest on the part of civil society and the technical and economic limitations of government institutions is aggravating environmental problems, which are becoming increasingly difficult to solve. Unawareness of the negative environmental effects of certain human practices is part of this lack of environmental education. Environmental education in the primary and secondary education programs is needed so that youth will grow up with a concept of rational use of the environment surrounding them. Environmental courses should be introduced for primary and secondary school teachers to enable them to speak and teach about environmental issues. In this regard, the process of construction-structuring of a sustainable culture should promote the valorization of natural resources, particularly water resources, not only as a free, infinite, and renewable resource but also as a social value. This should be affirmed through formal, nonformal, and informal education.

Environmental education for the population contributes to the improvement of the environment itself, based on the observation and analysis of which practices can be beneficial or harmful to the environment. Without education, it is very difficult for individuals to realize that certain activities they carry out are prejudicial to the environment. Both the encroachment of farming and transborder migrations (caused by natural, political, and economic factors) influence population growth in a catalytic and tangible way. By farming new areas, organized or nonorganized groups fight for concessions of land for agricultural or livestock production. In some cases, these persons are marginalized because of the lack of integral development of these new areas.

Nicaraguan migration to Costa Rica has been occurring since the 1970s when the political problems in Nicaragua deepened, causing economic recession, unemployment, and a lack of social guarantees conducive to migration. Other major sources have fed the migratory process from the Nicaraguan sector of the basin, namely the natural disasters occurring in recent years, which have strongly impacted on the region’s economy. This accelerating population growth in the southern sector of the basin has prevented public services from adapting to the situation and places sudden pressure on natural resources. This obviously leads to environmental degradation.

To mitigate these problems, it is necessary to create profitable economic alternatives for producers in the SJRB; to improve the conditions of hygiene and sanitation by building systems to supply drinking water and treat waste water, at both the municipal and industrial levels; to develop programs for the proper management and disposal of solid waste; and to strengthen technical assistance and environmental education programs.

© 2004 PROCUENCA-San Juan   -   Terms of Use and Policy Notice