Understanding migration to protected area buffer zones in Costa Rica utilizing cultural consensus analysis

Human migration to the world’s protected areas’ (PA) buffer zones is widely seen as a significant threat to conserving biodiversity. Research since 2005 has demonstrated some evidence for global migration trends but also highlighted the simultaneous need to understand the local, contextual factors that drive migration around individual PAs. Investigation into human migration patterns to these buffer zones has frequently relied on methods that do not accurately capture the calculus used by migrants in their decisions. The research presented here uses a mixed-methods, cognitive anthropological approach to assess the motivations of Costa Rican migrants to the buffer zones of three national parks. Employing cultural consensus analysis methodology in combination with a demographic analysis based on the Costa Rican census, this study was able to develop important insights into Costa Rican migrant motivations. Importantly, the research finds that there is not a single cultural model among the migrants surveyed regarding conditions driving their decisions. However, data collected indicate significant trends in migrants’ evaluation of critical variables driving decisions, how they relate to one another, and their significance to these migrants. Thus, migrant assessments of the conditions of these variables in both previous and current communities reveal a more complex, contextual picture. This work demonstrates the potential of cognitive anthropological methods to help unpack migrant decision making and help conservation managers understand the factors that drive migration to surrounding communities. The analysis provides further evidence supporting calls for methods that help managers and communities understand the particularities of migration behavior in PA contexts.