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Environment and Development in Belize: Sustainable Solutions Or ...Eco-Rhetoric?

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Environment and Development in Belize: Sustainable Solutions Or ...Eco-Rhetoric? - - National Library Bibliothaue nationale #*Iof Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Direction des acquisitions et Bibliographic Sewices Branch des services biblicgraphiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellrigton Ottawa. Ontario Ottawa (Ontano) K1A ON4 KIA ON4 Ya~r&? vare refhe Our Irte Notre felc)rerm? NOTICE AVIS The quality of this microform is La qualit6 de cette microforme heavily dependent upon the depend grandement de la qualit6 quality of the original thesis de la th&se soumise au submitted for microfilming. microfilmage. Nous avons tout Every effort has been made to fait pour assurer une qualit6 ensure the highest quality of suphrieure de reproduction. reproduction possible. National Library Bibliiuenationale 1+1 of Canada du Cana a Acquisitions and Oirectii des acquisitions et Bibliographic Services Branch des services bibliiraphiques 395 WqStreet 385, ma WaItiiqtcm Ottawa. Ontano Ottawa (Ontario) KIA ON4 KIA ON4 routIJe vlwmrcm~ Owl* Nohsn)lbmnn, THE AUTHOR HAS GRANTED AN L'AUTEUR A ACCORDE UNE LICENCE IRREVOCABLE NON-EXCLUSIVE IRREVOCABLE ET NON EXCLUSIVE LICENCE ALLOWING THE NATIONAL PERMETTANT A LA BIBLIOTHEQUE LIBRARY OF CANADA TO NATIONALE DU CANADA DE REPRODUCE*LOAN, DISTRIBUTE OR REPRODUIRE, PRETER, DISTIUBWER - SELL COPIES OF HIS/HER THESIS BY OU VENDRE DES COPIES DE SA ANY MEANS AND IN ANY FORM OR THESE DE QUELQUE MANIERE ET FORMAT* MAKING THIS THESIS SOUS QUELQUE FORME QUE CE SOIT AVAILABLE TO INTERESTED POUR METTRE DES EXEMPLAIRES DE PERSONS. CETTE THESE A LA DISPOSITION DES PERSONNE IHTERESSEES. THE AUTHOR RETAINS OWNERSHIP L'AUTEUR CONSERVE LA PROPRIETE OF THE COPYRIGHT M HISIHER DU DROIT D'AUTEUR QUI PROTEGE THESIS. NEITHER THE TMESIS NOR SA TEESE. NI LA THESE NI DES SUBSTANTIAL EXTRACTS FROM IT EXTRAITS SUBSTANTIELS DE CELLE- MAY BE PRINTED OR OTHERWISE CI NE DOIVENT ETRE IMPRIMES OU REPRODUCED WITIiOUT HTSMElR AUTREMENT REPRODUITS SANS SON PERMISSION. AUTORISATION. - ISBN 0-612-00957-2 Dr. Gary Teeple Dr. Marilyn Gates Associate Professor Department of Sociology & Anthropology Senior Supervisor I Dr. Michael Howard Professor Department of Sociology & Anthropology I hereby grant to Simon Fraser University the right to lend my thesis, prqject or extended essay (the title of which is shown below) to users of the Simon Fraser University Libmy, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. I further agree that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Title of ThesislProjectlExtended Essay Environment and Development in Belize: Sustainable solutions or ...eco-rhetoric? - Author : @&nature) Laura Cooper (Name) December 16, 1993 (Date) Abstract d conservation programs -- approximately one for every thousand inhabitants. ef visit to this country, touted as an unspoiled tropical paradise, reveals open . Concomitant social problems include crack-cocaine consumption of epidemic and over twenty percent unemployment. how contemporary environmental attitudes relate to the country's economic m-and-bust cycles, along with the replacement of traditional sustainable ms by exploitative attitudes toward nature. The question raised is whether ss environmenAdproblems, policy and action effectiveness was rism sites. In addition to participant observation in Hopkins Village, eans at large. Academic materials, newspapers ental policy is in place, there exists a vast g enforcement appears to be virtu t projects in operatio are beyond the horizons of most Belizeans since both the infrastructure and the education I for awareness remain at the tokenistic level. In this milieu it appears unlikely that sustainable development will be successful on a national scale due to the structural incompatibility of ecocentric conservationism with the Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my traveling mates; Dee and Jesse. Gates. I would also like to ackn out the Belizean people, especially the villagers of Hopkins, this thesis would been possible. For their assistance and cooperation, I owe a debt of ch and writing of this tbesis. Table of Contents .. Approval 11 ....................................................................................................................... ... Absmet ........................................................................................................................ III Dedication ................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................ vi List of Tables ................................................................................................................ ix List of Figures ............................................................................................................... ix 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 Why Belize? Why not! ............................................................................................ 2 Geography ........................................................................................................ 5 Demographics ................................................................................................... 6 Language ......................................................................................................... 8 Ethnic Enclaves ................................................................................................. 8 Maya ....................................................................................................... 9 Creole .................................................................................................... 10 Mestizo ...................................................................................................... 10 Garinagu ............................ .................................................................... 10 East Indian and Chinese ............................................................................. 11 Mennonites ................................................................................................ 11 Colonialism and Dependency ................................................................................. 12 Sustainable Development ....................................................................................... 15 First World -.Third World Historical Processes .................................................... 16 Research Methodology .......................................................................................... 18 2. Attitudes Toward Development and the Environment............................................... 31 Animism and neo-Platonic Cosmology ................................................................... 31 Ecocentrism ....................................................................................................... 32 Non-scientific Ecocentrism .............................................................................. 34 Scientific Ecocentism .................................................................................... 36 Technocentrism and the Evolution of Western Environmentalism .......................... 40 Western Christianity ............................................................................................. 43 Traditional Ecological Knowledge ........................................................................ 44 Sustainable Development: a bridge to the future? .................................................. 48 Man-Nature and Development Theory .................................................................. 52 Modernization ................................................................................................ 52 Dependency .................................................................................................... 55 3 . From Buccaneers to Bikinis: the Underdevelopment of Belize ................................ 58 At One With the Cosmos: The Ancient Maya ....................................................... 59 Contact and Resistance: The Maya, the Spanish, and the British ........................... 63 Conflict and Confrontation: Mahogany and the Maya ........................................... 66 The Settlement of Belize: Colonial Expansion ...................................................... 67 The Forestocracy: Monopolization of the Physical Environment .......................... 69 vii .. Economic Development and the Slave Trade ....................................................... 71 Agricultural Development ................................................................................. 74 Sugar Development: Boom-and-Bust .............................................................. 77 Citrus ............................................................................................................ 79 Dependent Independence: The Political History of Belize ....................................... 81 4. Environmental Action, Conservation Strategy and Ecotourism in Belize .................. 88 Belize Audubon Society ......................................................................................
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