Fighting climate change through “patrimonialization” : Study cases of the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica

Domesticando el territorio: Genealogía de la transferencia tecnológica del cacao en Talamanca, Costa Rica en el siglo XX / Domesticating territory: genealogy of cocoa’s technological transfer in Talamanca, Costa Rica in the 20th Century

Laura Henry (1, 2)

1 CREDA - CREDA - Centre de Recherche Et de Documentation sur les Amériques - UMR 7227
2 USN IHEAL - Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3 - Institut des Hautes Études de l'Amérique latine

Fighting climate change through "patrimonialization" : Study cases of the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica I. Background Even after the damages caused by monilia in the 1980's, production in Costa Rica remains a 100 % Fine or Flavor Cocoa. Both countries are often used as successful examples of sustainable quality cocoa in different ways, Costa Rica being the country where the renowned Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) is located, and the Dominican Republic having experienced a great paradigmatic shift regarding its production, placing it now as a premier organic cocoa exporter in the world, with 40 % of its production classified as Fine and Flavour Cocoa when it was known in the 1980's as a bulk and cheap cocoa producer. Many interventions, originating from international organizations, from state administrations and from the private sector take place in the cocoa sector. The Dominican Republic is the tenth largest producer of cocoa beans in the world (77 681 tonnes in 2020) and the tenth largest exporter. With more than 80,000 tons of beans produced in 2018, the cocoa sector supports 40,000 producers and indirectly involves approximately 350,000 people (Data collected in interviews with the Department of Cocoa of Ministerio de Agricultura in 2015). In addition, the Dominican Republic is a world leader in organic cocoa and is a perfect example of how a sector has improved thanks to its patrimonialization. Costa Rica's production is considerably lower: about 1% of the Dominican Republic's production, 800 tonnes in 2020 for CR compared to 77 000 tonnes of grains in the DR. However, the sector is an integral component of the agricultural policies implemented by the Costa Rican Ministry of Agriculture. They highlight the practice of ecotourism, the heritage nature of this crop, as well as environmentally friendly agroforestry farming systems.

Domaines: Sciences de l'Homme et Société; Géographie

Laura Henry. Fighting climate change through “patrimonialization” : Study cases of the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. International Symposium on Cocoa Research, Dec 2022, Montpellier, France. , 2022, ⟨10.22134/trace.81.2022.802⟩. ⟨hal-03885909⟩