Negotiating science & resource management in rural communities Sophie Haines 7th October 2017 UK-Belize Association meeting, Oxford

Introduction Infrastructure, anticipation, governance, knowledge How are diverse knowledges negotiated in environmental interventions in developing countries? Preliminary findings

Context Small developing states Policy and funding developments Social dimensions of watershed management initiatives

Environmental knowledge in practice Historical contexts of watershed assessment & management How do ‘scientists’ and ‘non-scientists’ interact? Translating environmental knowledge Rural residents and scientists, government representatives, land developers, NGOs, civil society organisations Participation & translation (beyond science vs tradition) Emerging technologies, scientific practices, environments

Methods 4 months April-August 2017 Ethnography, interviews, surveys (research assistants), focus groups, participatory mapping, meetings, farm visits, expeditions…

Watershed work in Belize Previous and ongoing research Diverse Fragmentary Limited social/cultural dimension Political and historical ecologies NGO, government, industry, community controversies Different types of… Boundaries, responsibilities, scales Governance, engagement

Headwaters protection in the citrus belt CBO co-manages national park Potable water – direct environment-health connection Responsibility and scope of the problem Water quality science – means and ends Getting money, putting in metered systems?

Resource negotiation in Maya lands Communal land rights context Extensive NGO engagement (and suspicion) Experiments in resource use and governance Watershed meanings - foraging in tourist ruins vs sustainable tourism models and efforts to increase tourism income (cf Medina)

Emerging themes Top-down and bottom-up Nature, infrastructure, bodies ‘Brokers’: inhabit and traverse multiple roles

Acknowledgements Next Steps Data analysis Belize research conference Community meetings, stakeholder workshop Outputs… (input welcome!) Acknowledgements UKBA, research participants and hosts Economic and Social Research Council (UK) Institute for Social and Cultural Research (Belize) University of Belize: NRM & ERI Zinnia Bobadilla, Santiago Choc, Adelia Choc