Understanding Water Resources, Governance, and Meanings in Rural Belize, 2017-2018

Haines, Sophie (2021). Understanding Water Resources, Governance, and Meanings in Rural Belize, 2017-2018. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Service. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-854925

Belize is a small country on the Caribbean coast of Central America, currently addressing the challenge of developing effective policies to manage its vulnerability to environmental hazards. As part of efforts towards sustainable development goals, governmental and non-governmental bodies are undertaking data-led 'watershed management' projects to assess and manage not only water but also land, ecosystem and human aspects of resource stewardship. Belize's history of rural development and conservation interventions has been complicated by legacies of colonialism, indigenous land rights struggles, territorial disputes and past failed projects. Given this context, my research will examine what contemporary watershed management interventions mean and entail for rural residents whose lives and livelihoods depend on the environments in question. Using theoretical tools from anthropology, science & technology studies, and political ecology, the analysis will shed new light on the conceptual and practical implications of watershed management. By tracing interactions between rural residents and the scientists, government representatives, land developers, NGOs and civil society organisations with whom they negotiate environmental knowledge, the study will examine the processes of translation and participation that may or may not occur during scientific environmental assessments and management interventions. Importantly - and relevant to contexts beyond the Belizean case study - it will ask whether emerging technologies and scientific practices including remote data collection and 'citizen science' raise new challenges and/or opportunities for effective and equitable human-environment engagements in small developing countries. The ultimate aim is to advance original understandings of how tensions between different ways of knowing and valuing environments can generate new social and environmental outcomes. The research will document rural residents' concerns and expectations; in doing so it will highlight lessons and recommendations for Belizean governmental and non-governmental institutions interested in promoting effective and transparent conservation and development. This also bears relevance for UK-based institutions: Belize has been a recipient of government overseas development assistance (and remains on the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development's aid eligibility list), and has links with the UK as a Commonwealth member and former British colony. UK-based NGOs that operate development/conservation programmes in Belize are also potential beneficiaries of the project's findings. The field research will include ethnographic participant observation, surveys, interviews and action research focus groups across two field sites in rural Belize. I will embed a collaborative approach into the research from the outset, including dedicated knowledge exchange and impact activities for both academic and non-academic audiences.

Data description (abstract)

This data was generated as part of the ‘Envisioning Emergent Environments’ project undertaken in 2017-18 in Belize. The project used ethnographic approaches to examine what contemporary watershed management interventions mean and entail for rural residents whose lives and livelihoods depend on the environments in question. The research involved household-level structured interviews (survey) (n=275) alongside in-depth interviews, group meetings, and four months of participant observation. It documented resource management concerns, activities and expectations of rural residents in 7 localities in Stann Creek, Toledo, and Cayo districts. Envisioning Emergent Environments was a two-year research project funded by the ESRC Future Research Leaders’ Scheme (Envisioning Emergent Environments: Negotiating Science and Resource Management in Rural Communities ES/N016084/1). Research was carried out in Belize, a small country on the Caribbean coast of Central America currently addressing the challenge of developing effective policies to manage its vulnerability to environmental hazards. As part of efforts towards sustainable development goals, governmental and non-governmental bodies have been undertaking data-led 'watershed management' projects to assess and manage not only water but also land, ecosystem, and human aspects of resource stewardship. Belize's history of rural development and conservation interventions has been complicated by legacies of colonialism, indigenous land rights struggles, territorial disputes, and past failed projects. In this context, and using ethnographic and collaborative approaches, the research sought to understand what contemporary watershed management interventions mean and entail for rural residents whose lives and livelihoods depend on the environments in question. The PI resided in or near the participating communities in Stann Creek and Toledo for four months while the structured interviews (surveys) were conducted alongside participant observation, in-depth interviews and group meetings with rural residents. Fieldnotes from these other data collection activities are not archived, owing to the difficulty of adequately removing details that may compromise anonymity while presenting a useful dataset in this context: the small scale and close-knit nature of rural Belizean communities — and indeed the population of the country as a whole — presents challenges to effective anonymisation of these data, especially given the potentially sensitive nature of research about the politics and management of natural resources. The purpose of the survey was to obtain community-level overviews of key issues pertaining to resource use, environmental decision-making, and water supply. The survey was designed to complement the participant observation and interviews, rather than as a standalone method; this should be taken into account when considering the use of the data outside this context.

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