| This thesis analyzes Canadian debt-for-nature investment in Costa Rica in the context of development and the historical relationships of power between industrial countries and colonies, between the state and the people, between men and women, and between human beings and nature.; The stated aim of Canadian debt-for-nature investment in Costa Rica is to develop a model of environmental management which reduces poverty and environmental degradation. This is done through funding the activities of two non-governmental organizations (NGOS): the National Institute of Biodiversity INBio and the World Wildlife Fund-Canada (WWF-C).; INBio is the debtor NGO using debt-for-nature funds in eleven nationally-designated conservation areas throughout Costa Rica to identify and access the resources of biodiversity for the international market.; WWF-C is the creditor NGO using debt-for-nature funds to create micro-enterprises in the same eleven conservation areas. (WWF-C). is based in the Arenal Conservation Area (ACA) where it has initiated a unique land management and planning project including, at its core, the microenterprise Abanico Medicinal Plant and Organic Agriculture Project (the Abanico Project).; This thesis presents a close analysis of the structure and functioning of the complex Canada-Costa Rica debt-for-nature investment relationship and the projects developed by INBio and (WWF-C). In this context, the thesis highlights the micro-enterprise Abanico Medicinal Plant and Organic Agriculture Project. Micro-enterprises, such as this one, are income-generating units for low-income people promoted by public policies and developed by NGOS using international aid funds such as debt-for-nature investments.; This research, at both the macro and the micro level, shows that the environmental economic model of debt-for-nature investment does not depart from the neoclassical models of economic development that underlie the current environmental, social, and cultural crisis. Both INBio and WWF-C activities operationalize the commitment of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and many large environmental NGOs to pursue sustainable development and gender equity by means of the market. In documenting these practices and their consequences for local populations, this study challenges the claims that debt-for-nature investment reduces poverty and ecological destruction and, instead, uncovers the inadequacy of market-based solutions for these kinds of problems. |
