Listening to the Belize River II
Ground-truthing, community knowledge, and the next steps for freshwater stewardship in the Lower Belize River Valley
By Jaren Serano | BFREE Dermatemys Social Scientist | Belizean PhD Student, University of Florida
For BFREE, conservation has always been about more than protecting individual species. It is also about strengthening relationships between people, place, and the living systems that sustain both wildlife and communities. Recent fieldwork led by Jaren Serano in the Lower Belize River Valley (LBRV) continued this work by combining in-water reconnaissance of the Belize River with a community meeting designed to share earlier findings from his PhD research, which began in summer 2025. The goal of this summer’s work is to listen to local perspectives, engage external stakeholder groups connected to freshwater management and conservation, and prepare for the next phase of the study: participatory mapping of the Belize River to better understand the anthropogenic pressures affecting the integrity of the river system.
These activities are part of Jaren’s broader interdisciplinary research project focused on freshwater governance and community-based conservation in Belize. While the Hicatee, or Central American River Turtle, remains an important flagship species for river conservation, the project has increasingly taken a systems-based approach. In simple terms, the health of the Hicatee cannot be separated from the health of the river, the condition of riparian forests, the pressures affecting the waterway, or the decisions made by communities, institutions, and policymakers. This is the second installation in a series from Jaren about his research at BFREE.
Re-engaging with community members
Another major field component was a community meeting held at the Community Baboon Sanctuary Women's Conservation Group Community Center. Approximately 35 community members attended, representing communities across the Lower Belize River Valley. The meeting created space for me to reconnect with residents, share preliminary results from the previous field season, and invite feedback on the next phase of the project. The tone of the meeting was intentionally conversational. Ground rules emphasized respect, shared space, and open dialogue.
A key part of the conversation was explaining how my project has shifted from a species-specific focus to a broader systems-based conservation approach. The Hicatee (Dermatemys mawii), or Central American River Turtle, remains an important example within this work because it is both endangered and culturally significant in the Lower Belize River Valley, where it has long been harvested as part of food traditions and local ways of life. Rather than framing this only as a species issue, the discussion emphasized why systems-based conservation is important: protecting freshwater wildlife also requires attention to river health, riparian forests, harvesting pressures, local livelihoods, cultural practices, and the governance decisions that shape how freshwater resources are used and managed.
Collaborating to Build the Next Generation of Conservation Leaders
During the community meeting with residents of the LBRV, participants recognized my development as a young leader in Belize and emphasized the importance of early childhood learning and youth engagement as part of building long-term local capacity for the protection and management of freshwater natural resources. In response to this community-identified need, BFREE was able to modify its plans for the Summer Fellows program and invite two young professionals from LBRV to participate in the planned “Conservation through Collaboration” workshop at the BFREE Field Station. Further, the workshop culminated into a youth-led conservation day camp developed in partnership between BFREE, workshop participants and the Community Baboon Sanctuary Women’s Conservation Group. The first phase focused on youth capacity development, bringing together 10 tertiary-level students from across Belize for an immersive learning experience at BFREE. Through classroom discussions, field-based activities, and sessions led by environmental professionals and educators, students strengthened their knowledge of watershed conservation, environmental communication, leadership, and the social dimensions of conservation. The experience was designed not only to build conservation knowledge, but also to prepare participants to apply what they learned through community engagement.
The second phase transitioned that learning into action. The same students worked together to design and deliver a one-day conservation summer camp at the Community Baboon Sanctuary for 29 children between the ages of 9 and 14 from the LBRV. Through interactive activities, the students shared their knowledge while helping younger participants explore the importance of the Belize River watershed, wildlife, and their own role in caring for local natural resources.
Together, the two phases created a pathway from capacity development to youth-led community engagement and early childhood learning. The initiative also demonstrated what can be achieved when conservation organizations collaborate around shared goals, combining resources, expertise, and community relationships to strengthen local conservation capacity across generations.
Value of Community Stewardship
The strength of this overall work is not only the GPS points or focus group meetings. The value is that the Lower Belize River Valley communities already know the river as a lived landscape. Residents know where banks have changed, where people access the river, where trees used to stand, where wildlife is seen, where navigation is difficult, and where restoration would be welcomed or resisted. This knowledge is not separate from science; it makes the science more grounded and more useful.
The community meeting held in May 2026 reinforced a clear message: people want action that respects them. Participants emphasized that conservation cannot be only repeated talk, outside instruction, or regulations that ignore livelihood and cultural realities. A restoration-focused phase responds directly to that message because it gives the community a visible role in identifying, repairing, monitoring, and explaining riverbank change.
Value of Institutional Stakeholder Engagement
At the same time, this work values institutional stakeholder perspectives because community stewardship does not happen in isolation. Government agencies, conservation organizations, protected area managers, and other institutional actors play important roles in policy, enforcement, restoration planning, permitting, funding, and long-term management. Including these perspectives allows the study to examine how community priorities connect with institutional mandates, where coordination gaps or implementation challenges exist, and what kinds of partnerships may be needed to move freshwater stewardship from community concern toward practical, sustained action.
Closing Message
Preliminary fieldwork has documented visible riverbank erosion, riparian degradation, and community concerns about river health. Together, these findings reinforce the need to understand freshwater governance as both an ecological and social issue.
This stage of the research has helped move the project from documenting anthropogenic pressures toward identifying practical pathways for applied restoration monitoring, community stewardship, and adaptive freshwater governance. Building on participatory mapping, field observations, community engagement, and cross-stakeholder interviews, the next phase will focus on documenting restoration and stewardship outcomes in ways that support local capacity, collective efficacy, and long-term river resilience.
Overall, this work contributes to the broader objectives of my Ph.D. research by linking community knowledge, watershed ecology, and collaborative conservation action. In doing so, the project is helping scale up freshwater stewardship in Belize. The goal is not only to better understand freshwater governance challenges, but also to generate evidence that can support community-centered approaches to river stewardship across the Lower Belize River Valley and provide a foundation for similar efforts within the region.
About the project
This research examines freshwater governance, community stewardship, and anthropogenic pressures in the Lower Belize River Valley. It uses interviews, community engagement, and participatory mapping to better understand how local knowledge and stakeholder perspectives can inform more inclusive freshwater management in Belize.
