San Carlos River Basin, northeastern Costa Rica
Socio-Economic Development
The northern plains of the San Carlos basin were populated for over two thousand years by ethnic groups such as The Votes, Corobicíes, Ramas, Guatuzos and Huetares (Rodriguez, nd). A comparatively late colonization with territorial occupation only began in the mid-19th century, after government-driven measures to expand agricultural activities. The latter activities were mostly smaller-scale livestock through forest conversion into pastures in the mid to lower catchment. Only from the middle of the twentieth century a strong livestock expansion began. At the same time, the cultivation of sugarcane provided a significant economic boost to the region, accompanied by the development of citrus and ornamental crops promoting a new agro-exporting model driven by large transnational corporations. In 1996, a new forest protection law banned logging and protected the remaining forests in the upper catchment. The most recent land use change started in the late 1990s with pineapple monocultures concentrating large amounts of land area for its production converting Costa Rica into the biggest pineapple export country in the world despite not necessarily favorable climate conditions (wet) and water-logged soil characteristics (Rodriguez, nd). However, such large-scale monocultures also often come at the expense of increased environmental and social problems.
By 2013, San Carlos recorded a total population of 178,460 inhabitants with the regional Capital Cuidad Quesada, where approximately 43,000 people live. The population density is 53.3 inhabitants per square kilometer with a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.8 in 2018 close to the national average (PNUD, 2018).
References
Barrantes, V.J. (2019). Drought in the northern area goes beyond the El Niño phenomenon. CAMPUS Magazine, September 2019 edition, National University of Costa Rica (UNA). Recovered from: http://www.campus.una.ac.cr/ediciones/2019/setiembre/2019setiembre_pag04.html
Birkel, C. et al. (2020). Headwaters drive streamflow and lowland tracer export in a large-scale humid tropical catchment. University Space for Advanced Studies (UCREA), University of Costa Rica (UCR). Recovered from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/hyp.13841
Correa, A. (2020) Blogs of the European Union of Geosciences, EGU Blogs. Featured catchment series: The San Carlos Catchment in northeast Costa Rica, a multi-scale hydrological observatory to leapfrog data scarcity in the tropics. Recovered from: https://blogs.egu.eu/divisions/hs/2020/02/19/san-carlos-catchment/
Water direction (2020). Public report: Flow assigned by use (total) per basin (San Carlos river basin). Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE). Recovered from: http://www.da.go.cr/rp/reportOptions.action?exportType=0&submitRun=Ejecutar&reportId=24747
Fick, S. & Hijmans, R. (2017). WorldClim 2: new 1km spatial resolution climate surfaces for global land areas. Recovered from: https://www.worldclim.org/data/worldclim21.html
National Forest Finance Fund, FONAFIFO (2012). Costa Rica Forest Coverage Study 2009-2010. Recovered from: https://www.sirefor.go.cr/pdfs/tematicas/Cobertura_Boscosa/Estudio_de_Cobertura_Forestal_2010_v2_0512.pdf
Costa Rican Electricity Institute, ICE (2017). Power generation expansion plan 2016 – 2035. Recovered from: https://www.grupoice.com/wps/wcm/connect/beb21101-9c67-4acf-964e-c7a00f682040/PEG+2016-2035.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=lPcDy1N
Instituto Metereologico Nacional, IMN (No date). Climate Atlas of Costa Rica. Recovered from: https://www.imn.ac.cr/en/atlas-climatologico
National Institute of Statistics and Census, INEC (2014). VI National Agricultural Census. Recovered from: https://www.inec.cr/censos/censo-agropecuario-2014
Rojas, N. (2011). Study of Costa Rica's watersheds. Recovered from: http://cglobal.imn.ac.cr/index.php/publications/estudio-de-las-cuencas-hidrograficas-de-costa-rica/
Rodríguez, F. (No date). The San Carlos river basin. Historical, economic, social and environmental characterization. Studies on the San Carlos River Basin, Costa Rican Institute of Technology. Recovered from: https://www.academia.edu/2245967/ESTUDIOS_SOBRE_LA_CUENCA_DEL_R%C3%8DO_SAN_CARLOS
United Nations Development Programme, PNUD (2018). Human Development Index (IDH). Recovered from: https://www.cr.undp.org/content/costarica/es/home/library/indice-de-desarrollo-humano--idh-.html
National Territorial Information System, SNIT (2020). OGC Services. National Geographic Institute (IGN), Costa Rica. Recovered from: https://www.snitcr.go.cr/ico_servicios_ogc
