07/12/05

In March 2004, nine students and a faculty member from Penn State’s Community and Economic Development Program conducted a “Participatory Rural Appraisal” (PRA) in Monkey River Village, Belize. The field research group worked closely with the University of Belize and the Toledo Institute for Development and the Environment in planning and carrying out the project. One of the main goals of the PRA was to determine how this small fishing village could help co-manage natural resources that are rapidly being developed for tourist ventures along the coast of southern Belize. Monkey River Village, located in a stunningly beautiful coastal area, is struggling to rebuild from Hurricane Iris that devastated the community in 2001. More important, the community is nearby a proposed resort project fueled by foreign investment dollars and the need for jobs in one of the poorest districts in Belize.

The Penn State group broke into two teams during the week-long field study. One group collaborated with students from the University of Belize to collect baseline ecological data in the Punta Negra Lagoon, an area slated for increased tourist development. Punta Negra Lagoon, considered one of the best fly-fishing locations in the world, is the epicenter for a proposed tourist development project. The second group traveled to Monkey River Village to assess how residents were currently managing their natural resource base. The team lived in the village for a week and conducted over twenty interviews with key informants. During a community forum, students worked closely with small groups of residents to “map” community resources and outline how residents wanted to see the community change. Student facilitators found clear gender differences in how community residents ranked the priority of development issues facing the community. For example, men seemed more interested in building community infrastructure (electricity), economic growth and environmental protection. Women echoed those concerns, but expanded the list to include improved sanitation, increased decision-making power for women, better education for their children and better health care. While some male/female differences are expected, the stark contrast in perspectives between genders was a valuable lesson for the students that gathering multiple perspectives is an essential part of the community assessment process.

 The group left Monkey River Village feeling upbeat about their field experience and the community’s future. Given the village’s pristine location: at the mouth of an unspoiled river, near a National Park and close to the barrier reef, eco-tourism appears to be the greatest economic opportunity available to residents interested in developing tourism-related businesses. There is already a small but active eco-tourist trade oriented toward sport fishing and river tours. The Penn State team was impressed with how far the community has come in protecting their own natural resource base. At the same time, there appears to be much more that could be done to build an ecologically friendly tourist economy. Nature trails, birding tours, nighttime “jungle walks”, captive breeding of some local species, a medicinal healing center are just some of the services that could be developed and marketed to future eco-tourists. With enough time to organize themselves and plan for the future, the residents of Monkey River Village seem poised to take on a larger role in the management of the natural resources they depend on for survival and future prosperity.