In Costa Rica, IPLC territories represent about 6% of the country area and can be categorized in one main group:

The indigenous peoples that live in areas of Reservas Indígenas. There are eight ethnicities in the country: the Huetar, Maleku, Bribri, Cabécar, Brunka, Ngäbe, Bröran and Chorotega, which account for 2.4% of the country’s total population (IWGIA, 2025). Indigenous areas in Costa Rica are mainly regulated by Law No. 6172 on Indigenous Peoples (1977), Regulatory Decree No 8487 (1978) and Executive Decree No. 13.568 on Legal representation of indigenous communities by development associations and as local governments (1982), as detailed below.

The georeferenced data available about these areas is sourced from the Landmark platform and can be found at https://landmarkmap.org/map. The information is based on data from “El Observatorio del Desarrollo, Universidad de Costa Rica (2008)”, available at http://www.pueblosindigenas.odd.ucr.ac.cr. In this dataset, there are 24 features (polygons), all of them documented and formally acknowledged by the government.

When sourcing from the indigenous areas of Costa Rica, companies should conduct their due diligence to ensure they are commercializing with the communities that are lawfully entitled to live in these territories; otherwise, companies incur the risk of dealing with unauthorized actors that might be violating land rights of indigenous peoples.

Law No. 6172 on Indigenous Peoples (1977)

Article 1. Indigenous people are those people who constitute ethnic groups that are direct descendants of pre-Columbian civilizations and who maintain their own identity.

Article 2. Indigenous communities have full legal capacity to acquire rights and enter into obligations of all kinds. They are not state entities.

Article 3. Indigenous reserves are inalienable and imprescriptible, non-transferable and exclusive to the indigenous communities that inhabit them. Non-indigenous people may not rent, lease, buy or in any other way acquire land or farms within these reserves. Indigenous people may only negotiate their lands with other indigenous people. Any transfer or negotiation of land or improvements to it in indigenous reserves between indigenous people and non-indigenous people is absolutely null, with the legal consequences that apply. The lands and their improvements and the products of indigenous reserves shall be exempt from all types of national or municipal taxes, present or future.

Article 4. The reserves will be governed by the indigenous people in their traditional community structures or by the laws of the Republic that govern them, under the coordination and advice of CONAI. The population of each of the reserves constitutes a single community, administered by a Directive Council representing the entire population; auxiliary committees will depend on the main council if the geographic extension requires so.

Article 6. (...) The businesses established within the indigenous reserves should preferably be administered by Cooperatives or other organized groups of the community.

Article 7. The lands included within the reserves, which are for forestry purposes, should maintain that character, in order to maintain the hydrological balance of the hydrographic basins and to conserve the wildlife of those regions.

Regulatory Decree No 8487 (1978)

Article 3. For the exercise of rights and fulfillment of obligations referred to in article 2 of the Indigenous Law, the Indigenous Communities shall adopt the organization provided for in Law No. 3859 of the National Directorate of Community Development Associations and its Regulations.

Article 5. The traditional community structures [Directive Council] referred to in article 4° of the Law shall operate within the respective Communities; and the Development Associations, once legally registered, shall represent said Communities judicially and extrajudicially.

Executive Decree No. 13.568 on Legal representation of indigenous communities by development associations and as local governments (1982)

Article 1. The Integral Development Associations have the legal representation of the Indigenous Communities and act as their local government.

Article 2. There can only be one Indigenous Development Association for each Indigenous Reserve. If the extension of the Reserve warrants it, there can be local committees and/or specific associations for specific purposes, but these organizations remain dependent on the Integral Development Association.

Article 3. The jurisdictional limits of the Integral Development Associations of the Indigenous Communities must coincide with the limits of the Reserves as defined by the decrees that established these Reserves. The Development Associations of non-Indigenous Communities cannot have jurisdiction over areas located within the Indigenous Reserves; the Development Associations of Indigenous Communities cannot have jurisdiction over areas located outside the Indigenous Reserves.

If the farm plot is located within a territory of Indigenous Peoples (Reservas Indígenas, in the original language), this means that you are sourcing from an IPLC territory in Costa Rica. These territories are mainly regulated by Law No. 6172 on Indigenous Peoples (1977), Regulatory Decree No 8487 (1978) and Executive Decree No. 13.568 on Legal representation of indigenous communities by development associations and as local governments (1982). To adequately carry out your due diligence, make sure your company has commercial relations with the Indigenous Peoples that lawfully occupy this area. Ensure that your company is carrying out trading relations approved by the organizations that lawfully represent that particular territory, namely the community’s Directive Council and/or the Integral Development Associations. Avoid commercializing with unauthorized intermediaries or third parties that might be violating the land rights of indigenous peoples.