Presentation by Amy Moran Thomas, Ph.D. at the 2nd Belize National Research Conference, 2019

Abstract:

This paper explains how climate change is increasingly impacting food systems in areas of southern Belize, as in much of the world today. Revisiting ethnographic interviews about chronic health conditions such as diabetes that were conducted a decade ago, in 2009-2010, this paper explores the insights that people offered during interviews about diabetes in and around Dangriga. Reflecting on perceptions of global warming in relation to food systems, this paper’s discussion includes attention to issues such as how the rising price of fish impacts supplies of affordable local protein, as well as people’s discussions of other issues of health and environment -including local reactions to phenomenon such as global warming, land erosion, and Sargasso. The paper reflects on how these climate change processes interact with the specificities of existing food struggles in Belize. it concludes with a focus on community efforts to reinvigorate healthy garden projects and otherwise respond to shifting ecologies of nutrition.

Key words: Southern Belize, diabetes, climate change, diet, food consumption