COMPARATIVE RESEARCH IN BRAZIL AND COSTA RICA.

OBJECTIVES

The main objectives are as follows:

• To identify in the law texts and codes of the two countries the competence of local communities and elected administrative entities in regards to environment law.
• To promote the application of those rights on a sample of local administrative entities, selected in Brazil and Costa Rica.
• To identify the obstacles to the application of those rights (legal, technical, of communication, training of managers and research or consulting organisations...)
• To propose and experience solutions allowing to solve the identified problems
• In regards to the experimentation and comparison of laws and rights, to make recommendations in order to adapt national legal setting and eventually environment policies.
• To learn from experience in terms of consulting and training methodologies for the application of environmental laws by local entities.

ACTIVITIES

The key activities are the following:

• selective inventory of the laws concerning local natural resources management
• choice of application zones
• examination of local difficulties for the application of laws and rights
• set up of rights application devices on chosen sites
• monitoring of the consequences of such an application and eventual necessary corrections analysis of evolutions and synthesis in terms of rights and consulting methodologies.

EXPECTED OUTCOME

The work carried out will help thinking such important topics for the management of natural resources as local planning and control. It will deal with taxes and land tenure and ownership rights, creation of regional and municipalities’ parks, commercial but sustainable use of resources of resources and biodiversity preservation.

It will open also new analysis on project devices and methodologies for local natural resources management and for communication about environmental rights and policies.