Drones and Spatial Storytelling in Belize with Open Reef

Open Reef Mission: We are changing the way science and society see and explore vulnerable coastal and island environments around the world through drone mapping, open data, storytelling, and citizen science.

Open Reef launched in 2016 in the Central American country of Belize, home to the second largest reef system in the world. Open Reef is an initiative of Citizen Science GIS at University of Central Florida.

The work shared in this story map is part of a 2019 US National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site through Citizen Science GIS at University of Central Florida led by Dr. Timothy L. Hawthorne (UCF) and Dr. Hannah Torres (Old Dominion University).

The purpose of this research is to demonstrate, through the use of geospatial technologies, how socio-environmental change operating on multiple scales is altering the geographic landscape of coastal and island communities.

Our work seeks to answer the overarching research question: How can geospatial technologies and spatial storytelling be used to project the stories of people in coastal and island communities?

The goal is to produce and analyze drone imagery in tandem with community interviews in order to reflect the changes that different communities are experiencing due to human and environmental/natural impacts (Theobald, 2015).

To utilize drone imagery and interviews with community members to tell the stories of the many ways in which Belizean coastal and island communities are being impacted by socio-environmental change across different geographic regions (Gouraguine, 2017).

Our work would not have been possible without the continuous support of our many community partners and grassroots organizations, including Fragments of Hope, Southern Environmental Association and University of Belize.

Through the use of citizen science, Participatory GIS, and mixed method research we share multi-faceted narratives about socio-environmental change in different coastal and island communities within Belize.

The priority during our 10 to 15 minute interviews was placed on community members and privileging their voices to tell their stories in order to not perpetuate a single sided narrative (Cooper, 2007).

Sketch maps (such as the example below from Monkey River Village) were created during various interviews in order to connect the interviewee’s narrative visually to the maps that are created (Lowe, 2019).

Drone2Map was used to process our drone imagery of the mainland and the cayes in order to create orthomosaics that were to be adopted as high resolution imagery for analysis of these locations.

ArcMap was used to digitize data and create maps as well as create geodatabases (of all the places mapped) by using images that were stitched together in Drone2Map.

Drones were flown over pre-selected areas in order to capture a holistic image of the communities we visited (as well as to track temporal change alongside imagery from previous years).

Drone technologies are affordable and engage society in scientific problem-solving. UAV imagery provides higher resolution imagery than freely available satellite imagery which is particularly lacking in island/coastal communities in Belize.

Imagery was processed after the drones were flown in order to show past and present seawalls, shorelines, docks, solar panels, buildings and other structures.

The most prevalent themes included cultural change, social change and industry. Hopkins is a coastal community that is bordered by wetlands; which in turn stresses the maintenance and development of the village proper.

Cultural Change: Some recurring concepts were loss of Garifuna language in the younger generations and lack of continuation of traditional practices amongst locals. A local commented “Youths don’t want to speak the language, but the older folks are speaking their language everywhere they go” (Business owner).

Social Change: Shifting political climate and demographics are changing the social dynamics within the village. A local business owner running for village council stated “Hopkins is for everyone now, we should focus on the maintenance of the village to reduce crime and attract more tourism.”

Industry: There were several interviews that identified distinct social divides within the community while others comment on the benefits of integration due to the mutually beneficial relationship between developers and the welcoming locals.

The most prevalent themes included environmental change and conservation/mitigation. This is most likely due to the eco-vulnerable nature of the cayes and their geographical positionality in close proximity to the effects of climate change and human activities.

Mitigation: For example, a caye employee advocated strongly for manmade cayes as a mitigation technique because he felt like, “manmade cayes are easier to handle or to manage than naturally occurring cayes.”

Fishing: One of our boat captains mentioned changes in availability of fish in the waters and fishing patterns. The boat captain mentions in an interview that it “used to be easy to find fish, but now you have to stay out for longer."

Sand Dredging/Mining: We interviewed a government biologist stationed on a caye who mentioned that sand dredging and mining is altering the biophysical and geophysical components of the cayes. The biologist mentioned, “the islands are changing because of development."

Damaging Property: We spoke to a caretaker on one of the cayes who said, “the hurricane messed up some reefs and everything on the island was destroyed. Some people wanted to fill a split in the island with cement, but you don’t put cement where things grow.”

The most prevalent themes included environmental change, conservation/mitigation and industry. Money River Village’s location as a coastal community adjacent to Monkey River makes it susceptible to all of the human activities exacerbating changes in the river, and climate change/global warming from the coast.

Erosion: During an interview with two fisherman in the village, they brought up what was happening with erosion in the community and on the coast. They said, “when sand erodes from our shores it deposits on the coast.” As a result, they installed geotubes as a mitigation technique.

Sand Dredging/Mining: One of the secondary school teachers in the village talked about her experience with sand activities in the river during her upbringing. She said, “there used to be huge sand bars on the river that people in the community would swim to. They would wash their clothes, cook and socialize there.” Now, because of the sand dredging and mining happening up river, the water levels have dropped and those activities can no longer continue.

Property Damage & Loss: One of the statements the village chairman made was, “there are 190 inhabitants of Monkey River Village. Of those 190, 8 homes were washed away.” This equates to roughly 4.2% of Monkey River’s inhabitants who have lost their homes due to erosion. 

The most prevalent themes were social change, environmental change and industry. Placencia is a part of a Garifuna settlement that stretches along the Placencia peninsula. Placencia itself has become a thriving coastal tourist town home to many hotels and resorts as well as restaurants and tourist oriented businesses such as craft shops and dive shops.

Social Change: The social dynamics of Placencia have been in flux as the peninsula has seen uneven development.

Environmental Change: The scope of environmental change was mostly in reference to the coast line and an increase in sargassum seaweed along the beach. One local added that, “I’ve never seen that much sea grass before, now we people get paid to remove it, even though it comes back. We never had that growing up."

Industry: Most opinions of tourism were in favor of the economic opportunities it creates for the locals but the theme of better management of development and maintenance of local areas was also present.

We received a lot of valuable data regarding people's sentiments towards their communities and environments in response to the interview question: what do you love most about your community?

We chose to exhibit this data in conjunction with aerial imagery to support the inclusion of community voices in the narratives of these places. Because this data collected was in response to one specific question, it was coded differently.

Through a participatory framework, our team utilized mixed method research practices in order to answer the overarching question: How can geospatial technologies and spatial storytelling be used to project the stories of people in coastal communities?

By flying several villages and cayes our team was able to further explore the shifting dynamics of coastal communities by analyzing the imagery along side interviews conducted. We were able to understand and contextualize what perceived socio-environmental change looks like in the different communities we visited.

Although this particular narrative could be found in all or a majority of Belizean coastal communities by conducting further research our findings are not meant to be generalized across Belize as a whole due to the community based nature of our work. 

We recognize that there are certain limitations associated with our work. For one, there is the opportunity for human error with handwritten field notes.

An additional aspect of our work that could be seen as a limitation is the way in which we conducted interviews. In order to get our interview data we used an opportunistic sampling method. Interviewers went out into the communities that we visited and spoke to anyone who was willing to provide their perspective.

As our research in Belize was made possible by an undergraduate research experience with limited time and funding there is an inherent limitation that came with the opportunity. We met time constraints due to the number of places we sought to map and hoped to encounter a wide variety of communities so that also meant that our time in each location was severely limited.

The DJI Phantom 4 Pro Ver 2.0 drone may not be seen as the most sophisticated drone choice when it came to the work that we were doing but it was the most realistic option for the citizen science framework we sought to follow. This is not necessarily a limitation that we would like to correct in the future as the drone was able to fulfill its purpose in obtaining the aerial footage and being a cost effective option for the communities that we worked in.

Lastly, it is important to note that our findings are not representative of coastal communities in Belize in general. This is because each location we visited was different.

in the future, we hope that Citizen Science GIS will continue to work with our many community partners in Belize conducting research and contributing to the larger body of open source data.

We hope that this data will be able to track changes in coastal communities and, by connecting the stories of the people of Belize with drone imagery, continue to help them be at the forefront of their own lived experiences.

Further, we hope that through community outreach and the maps, apps, and drones youth academy, Citizen Science GIS is able to continue to inspire the next generation of scientists in Belize by exposing them to career possibilities that they may not have considered otherwise. Lastly, we would like to see Citizen Science GIS go on to reach many more communities and collaborate with more people across Belize.

Disclaimer: This material is based upon work supported by the United States National Science Foundation Grant #1560015. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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