Organización Rural, Desarrollo Territorial y Sostenibilidad Ambiental en el Caribe de Costa Rica: El Caso del Área de Conservación Tortuguero

The rural areas of Costa Rica suffered significant transformations as a consequence of two phenomenon: In one hand, the long tendency to economical, political and cultural global integration living by the most diverse nations in the contemporary time. In the other hand, the reorientation of the growth economy model and the institutional reform introduced since the 80 decade in this country. In this document are presented the main discoveries obtained with the evaluating study about the impact of these economic and political changes in Tortuguero Conservation Area (ACTo), focused in the rural organizations development. The main tendencies follow up by the productive, environmental, institutional and social processes, occurred in this rural territory, allow to perceive the context conditions in which the local rural organizations development happened and the opportunities and challenges that they confront in the present time.