Environmental Conflict Analysis and the Scholarship of Engagement | A Case Study of Southern Honduras | Central America

Abstract

Introduction

On any given Saturday, with tourists milling about King’s Parade, and Market Square abuzz with locals strolling about, Cambridge, unknowingly, is affected by Honduran aquaculture. At Marks and Spencer, one of Britain’s largest supermarket chains, one might find prawns and shrimp labeled unassumingly with the quiet demarcation: “These large prawns are farmed in the warm waters of the Gulf of Fonseca, Honduras.”  Indeed, Marks and Spencer is one of the largest buyers of Honduran King Prawns in the UK, and while the main concern of the average customer may well be whether or not to serve the shrimp with cous cous or salad, some might mindfully consider where the product originates, how it is produced, and what types of conflicts surround its production. Some customers might even begin to connect the socio-historical, political, economic, and environmental factors associated with the well-traveled crustacean that they may soon wash down with a bottle of wine. Inevitably, these queries connect causal Cambridge diners to concerned Hondurans who, for more than two decades, have endured myriad challenges surrounding the production of this agro-export product. Certainly Honduran citizens consider daily the significance of these challenges as they fight, resist, and contest the corporations and the governments that have supported extensive shrimp farming and inadequately managed natural resources.

As countries have adopted new methods of breeding mollusks, crustaceans, and fish during the last two to three decades, a global debate regarding aquaculture and the environment has emerged.  Known as the ‘Blue Revolution’, the global expansion of aquaculture has raised a number of important marine and costal resource management questions (The New Internationalist, August 1992; The Economist, 7 August, 2003). For example, what are the impacts of economic development on the environment and society, specifically, the impact on mangrove ecosystems and the livelihoods of people dependent on marine and coastal resources? Further, how can these impacts be effectively managed within the context of neoliberalism, globalization, and environmentalism? Considering conflict analysis and the scholarship of engagement; how can a poststructuralist political ecology framework assist natural resource managers in conflict scenarios? These questions are addressed in this chapter. Methods borrowed from event history and ecology practitioners, coupled with an actor-network approach to discourse analysis, led to the development of a more complete framework for the socio-historical analysis of environmental conflict in the GOF between 1973 and 2006 (see Methods and Literature Review).

Rapid expansion of global aquaculture has coincided with the utilization of progressive economic technologies to produce a wide variety of mollusks, crustaceans, and fish. Over the past three decades Africa, Latin America, Asia and numerous developed countries have experienced its side effects: global declines in fisheries’ stocks, increased demand for marine species, and the efforts of primarily developing countries to identify ways to increase foreign exchange earnings. The international political economy of aquaculture influences social and ecological outcomes that can emerge as conflict between the state, private sector, and civil society.

Shrimp farming has become central to the global aquaculture-environment debate, and nearly 99 percent of cultured shrimp are raised in the developing world; nearly 72 percent originate in Asia, while the rest come from Latin America (Stonich and Bailey, 2000: 24). Overall, the expansion of the industry has been particularly rapid during the past decade as 30 percent of the shrimp placed on the world market today comes from aquaculture (Boyd, 2001: 9). In 2003, 70 percent of the shrimp produced in Honduras was exported to the US and the majority of the remainder to Europe, a portion of which went to Marks and Spencer based in Britain.

The proliferation of the shrimp aquaculture industry throughout Latin America and worldwide can be directly attributed to the efforts of multilateral development banks, foreign governments, and private investors. These institutions have worked with countries to implement economic reforms that emphasize diversification of economic activities and the promotion of non-traditional agricultural exports (NTAX), such as aquaculture. Shrimp farming’s rapid expansion has fostered low level environmental conflicts as local people have contested the practices of the state and private interests.  The corresponding politicization of social and environmental issues surrounding the industry pose particular challenges in relation to the management of marine and coastal resources (Stonich and Bailey, 2000: 24).

The conflicts surrounding shrimp farming in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America are alike in some respects. In each case, the socio-political and environmental issues centre on the following discourses and claims: shrimp farming is associated with the destruction and subsequent loss of mangroves, poor water quality, salination of underground water supplies, displacement of local populations from coastal areas, enclosure of common pool resources, and loss of access to traditional fishing grounds (Boyd, 2001: 9). Some have even identified shrimp farming, and the neoliberal ideas behind it as the direct cause of violent conflict in a number of coastal areas (Stonich and Vandergeest, 1999: 261). These claims have also been attributed to industry practices in southern Honduras. This case study reveals their validity, and the underlying factors that have contributed to conflict in this context.

Neoliberal ideology, quite simply, is a set of doctrines or beliefs that can be linked to neoclassical economist Friedrich von Hayek, based at the University of Chicago in the 1960s. As an overarching concept neoliberalism “refers to an intellectual and political movement that espouses economic liberalism [libertarian] as a means of promoting economic development and securing political liberty” (Portes, 1997: 230). Although it is neither homogenously practiced nor a unified ideology, economic theory, or political philosophy, it has been discussed analytically (Portes, 1997; Peters, 2001; Peet, 2002; Demmers, 2004; Harvey, 2005; Perreault and Martin 2005; and Saad-Filho and Johnston, 2005). Further, neoliberalism has hegemonic tendencies, but it is not monolithic. The ideas that reinforce it have generated innumerable counter-discourses within civil society. These have sought to redefine institutional policies and practices, as well as the way lands ought to be used, managed, or conserved; often each come into conflict.

Neoliberalism has sought to reshape the state, civil society, and land use through the logic of the market and emphasises frequently heard discourses and concepts such as free trade, privatization, limited government intervention, and undistorted market prices. We ground these claims by showing how these very policies transformed the southern Honduran landscape between the 1980s and the present. The process that has followed neoliberal economic reform is often referred to as globalization, which some consider to be nefarious as it is often equated with the spread of global capitalism through government and military interventionism to secure the interests of transitional corporations (Robinson, 2003: 50-54).

The proponents of neoliberalism, however, view it as a means toward economic growth, human development, and even freedom and liberty – totalising concepts used to legitimate its propagation. The actors who translate neoliberal ideas into policy have used differing techniques of power to redefine the relationship between society and the natural environment. As an ideological framework, neoliberalism empowers the market and private interests over the state and civil society and it has underpinned the transformation of macro-economic and political structures worldwide, including Honduras.

Honduras has witnessed rapid expansion of the aquaculture industry, specifically shrimp farming, which has seen a 300 percent increase in farm-raised production between 1975 and 1985 and a 250 percent increase between 1985 and 1995, making it the fastest growing aquaculture sector world-wide over the last three decades (Stonich & Bailey, 2000: 24). This hasty industry growth has been contested by local artisan fishermen who claim aquaculture practices have diminished local access to traditional fishing grounds, degraded mangrove wetlands for the construction of shrimp ponds, and excluded local people from key decisions associated with the management of these resources. However, these claims are contested by a number of other social actors with differing political and economic goals.

Collectively, these differing interests pose challenges for natural resource managers, and consequently, reveal the importance of understanding analyzing environmental conflicts by focusing on the socio-historical trajectory and the historical role of the actors involved. Linking the field of conflict analysis and resolution with the practice of the scholarship of engagement has limitless potential in illuminating the socio-historically contingent nature of conflicts.

Socio-economic Context

It is estimated that there are over a million people living near the GOF, split between the three bordering countries, approximately 600,000 in Honduras; 240,000 in Nicaragua; and 160,000 in El Salvador. Thus, resource management efforts in the GOF are trans-boundary in nature, further complicating the management of marine and coastal resources. Southern Honduras is primarily rural, and has one of the highest indices of poverty in the country. In 1990, the rural population in Honduras was estimated to be 51.4 percent of the total Honduran population, 75.4 percent of which were considered below the poverty line (Thorpe, 2002: xiii and 137). Unemployment is also high, probably exceeding 40 percent, and no census data exists to date for this region. Regardless, socio-economic factors pose direct challenges to natural resource management in the GOF.

Most of the rural population is dependent on the Gulf’s natural resources for subsistence, especially those living in coastal communities. This generates rural communities that are diverse and heterogeneous in terms of the types of economic activities pursued. Management efforts are complicated as the mangrove wetlands are situated in the inter-tidal zone to which the local population has no legal right, de jure, since this zone is claimed by the state (technically, no one resides in the mangrove wetlands). In other words, it is treated as a common pool resource; an open access system governed more by informal institutional arrangements rather than formal ones.

The mangrove wetlands are also the site of numerous subsistence and small-scale economic activities. These include salt production, collection of mangrove wood for fuel and construction, fishing and collection of crustaceans and molluscs for local consumption, and small-scale agriculture (Wilburn et al., 2007).  However, since the 1960s, there has been a decline in self-sufficiency among coastal communities (30-50 percent unemployment), an increase in emigration (50 percent of the people born in the region leave), food insecurity, economic and political instability, and conflicts over land use (Vergne, et al., 1993: 120).

Due to its rich biodiversity, fertile soils, unique hydrology, and close proximity to the sea, a number of local, national, and international social actors are politically and economically interested in the mangrove ecosystem of the GOF. Since the southern Honduran economy relies on the area for critical sources of export revenue and foreign exchange, conflicts have arisen over access to and control of the natural resources as the Honduran government, supported by the US, International Financial Institutions (IFIs), and private investors, has embraced and enacted neoliberal economic reforms throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

The GOF, a shallow depression located on the Pacific side of the Central American isthmus, is shared by Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador, and covers approximately 3,200 km². The coastline of the Gulf extends for 261 km. This marine environment is an integral part of the ‘Pacific Central American Coastal Large Marine Ecosystem’ (LME), which extends along the Pacific Coast of Central America, from Cabo Corrientes in Mexico to the vicinity of the equator. The extensive mangrove wetlands of the GOF are one of the most important shrimp nurseries associated with this LME.

According to a study by Sherman and Tang, the GOF contains some 22 per cent of the entire mangrove area of the Pacific coasts of all the states of Central America, with the majority located within the territorial boundaries of Honduras (Sherman and Tang, 1997: 277). The region of the GOF is composed of estuaries, islands, and lagoons in the southern portion of the country that are important ecological features influencing the wetland ecosystem that characterises it (PROMANGLE, 1997: 9).  In 2001, it was estimated that the entire area around the GOF consisted of 78,000 ha of mangrove forests with approximately 49,500 ha located in the southern portion of Honduras. Six species of mangrove are found in the GOF and the largest densities, 150 trees per ha, can be found in the Bay of Chismuyo and the Bay of San Lorenzo (CODDEFFAGOLF, 2001: 14).

Shrimp farming on an industrial scale requires the presence of certain physical geographic features that exclude the possibility of producing shrimp in most locations. Locating appropriate sites for large-scale cultivation of shrimp was one of the objectives of the early industry, and the ecological characteristics of southern Honduras provided the ideal space. Essential to aquaculture development “was a large saltwater source, local seed stock, reliable electrical power, the ability to purchase earth-moving and refrigeration equipment and the absence of large-scale agricultural activity” (Luxner, 1992). Of the region’s biophysical or ecological characteristics, five were particularly attractive to those interested in aquaculture development.

1.     The prevalence of extensive salt flats, where mangroves are usually scarce and tend to be dwarfish due to high levels of salinity, made it fairly easy to clear the land for the construction of shrimp ponds.

2.     During the rainy season, the salt flats tend to be inundated due to their close proximity to the estuaries, acting as natural retention areas that could easily be converted into shrimp ponds.

3.     Not only do the wetlands serve as a source of habitat and food for a number of species of birds, they are also directly linked to the life cycles of various marine species, including the same shrimp postlarvae needed to stock the ponds.

4.     These areas were relatively isolated, unpopulated, and unsuitable for other types of agricultural activities because of the high levels of soil salinity.

5.     The salt flats in San Bernardo provided sufficient physical space for future industry expansion if the initial research and development proved successful in Punta Raton, a small coastal fishing village that lies on the south-western side of the Department of Choluteca, where the first pond was to be constructed, and which eventually became one of the sites of contention between locals and the commercial industry. Without these specific ecological characteristics it would have been unfeasible for the industry to commence or develop on the scale that it did in the region of the GOF.

The resulting policies promoting the introduction and expansion of the industry have transformed the southern Honduran landscape for the production of shrimp over the last three decades, redefining the use of the GOF’s wetlands. Furthermore, incongruent environment and development policies have often failed to take into consideration local-level knowledge, customs, and traditions. Consequently, the wetlands’ commercial value has been exploited as investors, governments, and IFIs have capitalized the land for the commodification of shrimp.

The ideas and actions underpinning the capitalist transformation of the coastal wetlands have generated conflicts within the artisan fishing community and between a segment of artisan fishermen, the government of Honduras, and the shrimp industry. In particular, conflict between one group of the fishermen, represented by the Committee for the Defense and Development of the Flora and Fauna of the Gulf of Fonseca (CODDEFFAGOLF est. 1988), and the shrimp industry, represented by the National Aquaculture Association of Honduras (ANDAH est. 1986), has become increasingly prominent since aquaculture commenced in the 1970s, and expanded throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

Linking Key Historical Events with Environmental Conflicts

An analysis of environmental conflict in the GOF required reconstructing an historical timeline of key events associated with it. The key events were identified through the archival research and the open-ended interviews. Key events were also identified by analysing the various documents and materials collected during the fact-finding visits and through subsequent research which was designed to “make use of historical and time-series data sets; which pays serious attention to inhabitants’ own experiences and opinions” since 1973 (Leach and Mearns, 1996: 30).

To complete this task, the research drew upon the archival sources, government and project documents. A number of methodological approaches borrowed from ‘event history’ and ‘events ecology’ practitioners proved beneficial to develop the timeline. These methods work towards the development of a causal historical analysis. Event history practitioners “compile databases from published accounts in the contemporary press on those events that they consider worthy of notice” and proceed by creating a “temporal map of incidents through which the… activities and interactions [of various actors] can be traced” and further considered (Tarrow, 1996: 875).

This approach was used to isolate key events associated with conflict in the GOF. Events ecology has been described as “the analytical methodology for evaluating causal links between historical events and integrating relevant biophysical and socio-economic information” and is guided by “open-ended questions about why specific environmental changes of interest (events) have occurred” (Walters, 2003: 295). Forsyth has stated that in this regard events ecology “adopts a partly phenomenological attitude by seeking to understand “events” as local changes of significance, rather than as “facts” that can be incorporated into preexisting theories, or “factors” that imply events have causal significance” (Forsyth, 2003: 223).

In order to formulate methods to qualify and quantify my case study, I conducted an extensive review to assimilate existing literature concerning environment and development challenges in the GOF, undergraduate students were included as appropriate. The literature review illuminated important characteristics of environmental conflicts and, thus, was used to develop an approach considering the socio-historical context in conflict scenarios.

Previous research in southern Honduras has significantly contributed to understanding current environment and development issues in the GOF, even highlighting specific aspects of the mangrove wetlands and related conflicts. The work of Susan Stonich (1991), Philippe Vergne et al. (1993), Denise Stanley (1996, 1998, 1999a, 1999b), and Sarah Gammage (2000) are particularly notable since all are experts in their respective fields.  However, this research also reveals scant knowledge of how conflicts surrounding aquaculture development have metamorphosed within this specific socio-historical setting (Stonich, 1991; Vergne, et al., 1993). Research focused on southern Honduras has generally analyzed a broader set of social, economic, environment, demographic, and political issues related to the region as a whole (Stonich, 1991; Vergne, et al., 1993; Stanley, 1996). As a consequence, there is no single, comprehensive socio-historical study that examines environmental conflict in the GOF over time.

Most non-academic publications about environmental conflicts in southern Honduras represent the varied, often biased positions of a number of actors central to the dispute. As a result, international organizations, government agencies, NGOs, and universities interested in the management of marine and coastal resources in the GOF have inadequate knowledge of the socio-historical factors associated with these types of conflicts. Due to this deficiency, appropriate institutional mechanisms for the governance of marine and costal resources are exceedingly difficult to design and maintain. Despite the aforementioned biases, existing non-academic documents, such as government reports or organizational pamphlets, are invaluable when analyzing social actors’ discourses and actions related to specific socio-historical events in conflict scenarios.

Literature Review

Johnston has suggested that analyses of conflicts tend to limit focus on superficial aspects manifested as outcomes, without appropriately developing a complete understanding of the socio-historical contexts in which these conflicts have emerged and evolved (Johnston et al., 2000: 106). Held likewise has argued that this form of analysis lacks sufficiently differentiated, concretely grounded, empirical scrutiny of the socio-historical trajectory of conflicts within the social sciences, and consequently results in cursory explanations of complicated processes of social change (Held, 1980: 389). Most approaches to contemporary conflicts have also failed to consider the effects of neoliberalization and globalization (Demmers, 2005: 331). Thus, I seek to demonstrate how a more thorough analysis can be conducted by contemplating these effects within a poststructuralist political ecology framework, while explicating the role of the scholarship of engagement throughout the case study.

Political ecology and poststructuralism lend considerable insights for environmental conflict analysts. Political ecology, as a discipline, integrates the concerns of ecology and a broadly defined political economy in a developing country context (Blaikie and Brookfield, 1987: 17). Poststructuralism is a line of inquiry in 20^th c. French philosophy concerned with “the relations between human beings, the world, and the process of making and reproducing meanings” (Turner, 2006: 461). As such, the approach is concerned with the role of discourse in the production of knowledge and truth, both of which are conceived of as effects of power in poststructuralist literature.

The poststructuralist turn in political ecology shifts inquiry from framing environmental debates only in terms of their material and biophysical attributes towards a focus on the struggles related to the social construction of knowledge and truth (Dove 2005: 231). Due to its focus on discourse, power, and the social construction of knowledge, all of which are key factors in a conflict scenario, poststructuralism is an ideal framework for analyzing conflict.

Although poststructuralist approaches to political ecology vary, the analysis of the current and historical discursive positions of social actors in relation to each other and their natural environment plays a role in most analyses. A poststructuralist approach accepts that discourses are a part of social processes embedded in institutions and organizational practices, and are thus closely associated with both power and knowledge (Foucault 1967, 1973a, 1977b in Nuijten, 1992: 205).

How actors behave based on their perceptions of social reality is important when studying a conflict over environmental resources as it “is typically a struggle over ideas as to what constitutes ‘appropriate’ environmental use and management” (Bryant and Bailey, 1997: 192). Environmental conflicts can thus be understood as struggle related to get access to and control over a physical geographic space, and a struggle over the control of discursive space – the realm where knowledge about the environment is socially produced (King, 2009).

Conflicts over access to and control of natural resources arise due to the complexity and uncertainty of actors’ claims to ‘truth’ in terms of how a space ought to be used, managed, and conserved. Claims can be divisive, and often become disputed as actors seek to achieve their political and economic interests for the physical space disputed (Roe, 1994: 13-14). Actors’ claims to ‘truth’ are often contested when the interests of other actors are affected, or potentially affected, because of those claims. This process is inherently political. In sum, how actors behave based on their perceptions of social reality is important when studying conflicts over environmental resources

How something gets to count as true is particularly important for current research within political ecology, which is presently lacking a clear articulation of the political, according to Paulson et al. in their article “Locating the Political in Political Ecology” (2003). Poststructuralist research views truths “as statements within socially produced discourses, rather than ‘facts’ about reality” (Peet and Watts, 1996: 228). The question of ‘truth’, or perceptions of what is true, are loci of competing discourses associated with any social reality. Furthermore, it is through competing ‘truths’ associated with various discursive practices that the environment becomes politicized and power exercised. Drawing on Foucault, Edkins states that “truth is linked in a circular relation with power: power and knowledge are mutually constitutive which means that the political question… is truth itself, and how something gets to count as true is a political process” (1999: 12).

The goal of a thorough analysis of environmental conflict is thus partially to understand “historically how effects of truth are produced within discourses which in themselves are neither true nor false” (Rabinow, 1984: 60). In other words, natural resource practitioners must focus on the genesis and establishment of ‘truth’ at various levels of the political process and determine how this process affects specific outcomes related to disputes over physical geographic space. The advantage of poststructuralist approaches is that “by definition, a description of discourse allows for a multiplicity of truths (interpretations) that can only be revealed through the description of peoples’ negotiations and accommodations as they are played out in an active context” (Long, 1992: 164).

To unravel the inconsistencies between incongruent and conflicting versions of ‘reality’, while attempting to determine the central issues associated with a conflict by going beneath the statements produced, an actor-network approach to discourse analysis is essential. This approach builds upon early actor-oriented approaches in anthropology and seeks to evaluate the discourses of specific actors in order to understand the complexity of the conflict under consideration, from their perspective and within the context of the actors’ network of relations. Methodologically, actor-network approaches have been used in political ecology to avoid interpretative closure, and to resist the creation of binary oppositions while treating institutions, practices, and actors as materially heterogeneous and the source of ‘agency’, consistent with a poststructuralist framework (Turner, 2006: 4).

Evolution of Actor-Network Approaches

Actor-oriented approaches are a useful means of assessing the socio-historical nature of conflicts, especially when coupled with discourse analysis, since they seek to understand environmental conflicts and cooperation as an outcome of the discursive interaction and actions of different social actors. However, by the 1980s, the early actor-oriented approaches were claimed to attribute too much ‘agency’ to individual actors while dismissing the collection of heterogeneous activities and networks within which people are embedded.

As a result, actor-network theory (ANT) extended ‘agency’ beyond the individual in earlier approaches, arguing that an actor is only one constituent element in a wider network that is not only comprised of people, institutions, and their practices but also of the technologies and materials located in the network (Turner, 2006: 4).   It is these “diverse ‘actor-networks’ that are the source of ‘agency’ in the world” (Johnston et al., 2000: 5).  In sum, ‘agency’ is conferred through the relational aspects of each entity situated within any given network. By focusing on the social actors involved, as well as their attendant discourses and actions, an actor-network approach to discourse analysis is a theoretical and methodological avenue that enables the understanding of the role of individual agents and processes of social change and conflict (Long, 1992: 271).

Effective actor-network approaches emphasize the actors, not only in terms of what they have done but also in terms of the ‘agency’ embedded in what they have said. This is consistent with poststructuralist approaches in political ecology. Agrawal has argued that academic analysis of human-environment relations often lacks consideration for actors’ direct experiences of environmental change and how new subject positions are created through the co-production of agency and structure (Agrawal, 2005). In order to address this duality, the roles of social actors must be assessed to uncover their evolving identities via their discursive positions in political struggles related to the natural environment (Forsyth, 2003: 140). Specific attention should be directed towards the discourses and actions of state, civil society, and private industry actors as incongruous perceptions are often frequent sources of conflict.

Discourse Analysis

Discourse analysis is central to poststructuralism and its application within political ecology since it highlights the co-construction, by various social actors, of discourses and narratives regarding environmental change (Forsyth, 2003: 9). Discourses are defined as “frameworks that embrace particular combinations of narratives, concepts, ideologies and signifying practices, each relevant to a particular realm of social action” (Peet and Watts, 1996: 14).

A discourse constitutes knowledge through communication, generating a distinctive way of understanding the world while competing in a given social context (Milton, 1996: 166). Discourses refer to systems of meaningful practices that form the identities of subjects, objects, and concrete systems of social relations and practices that are intrinsically political, always involve the exercise of power, and are contingent and historical constructions (Howarth et al., 2000: 3-4).

Poststructuralist accounts reveal that discourse is often used by social actors to actuate a specific way of understanding and acting towards what is regarded as important, which can lead to conflict between actors when they pursue diverse interests in environmental struggles (Harvey, 1996: 77).

The examination of discourse affords resource managers the possibility of developing a more comprehensive view of a conflict, and shifts attention away from strictly material issues, such as the surface-level focus on who gets what as an outcome of the conflict, or what biophysical changes have resulted from it. Such overemphasis can diminish the significance of the discursive issues central to explaining its historical nature.  Nevertheless, discursive practices “establish the conditions of possibility for thought and action [and are] an active intervention in the social and physical realms” that become the material issues researchers and natural resource practitioners must address (Duncan et al., 2004: 85).

Moreover, actors’ discursive strategies change depending on how they interpret the discourses and conduct of others. Assessing such strategies requires recognizing that they are not the result of external factors but arise instead from how actors interpret and handle the actions, which they are mutually constructing through social interactions (Blumer 1962: 183). In this regard, actions are also discursive in nature as they connote, symbolically, certain meanings to the actors that perceive them. An assessment of the discursive reactions and the actions taken, if taken, allows for the deduction of the interpretations of the actors.

The relationship between discourse and action can be incongruous. The inconsistencies between actors’ expressed intentions and their actions are a primary source of conflict as they are often contradictory. Analysis of environmental conflict, therefore, cannot rely exclusively on an analysis of discursive constructions nor of the actions associated with particular events. However, assessed conjointly they reveal indicative idiosyncrasies of an environmental conflict.

Event History and Events Ecology

Another element necessary to conduct a socio-historical analysis of environmental conflict is the identification of key events associated with it, since events denote important instances of social change. In other words, situated within social processes, events connote change resulting from specific actions. Thus, inherently bound up in discourse and action, events manifest from either.

Actions are events and therefore, like actions, events are discursive in nature as they also represent particular meanings to the actors that perceive any given social reality. Logically, construed as an event, each moment is a constituent element. However, events remain ambiguous until they acquire meaning within a specific socio-historical context. As actors derive meaning from specific events, the acquired meaning influences their stance in relation to other actors and future events negotiated and contested within the public arena. Assessing and selecting pertinent events requires a combination of methodological approaches.

Events ecology, which is similar to event history, has been described as “the analytical methodology for evaluating causal links between historical events and integrating relevant biophysical and socio-economic information”; this approach is guided by “open-ended questions about why specific environmental changes of interest (events) have occurred” (Walters, 2003: 295). Forsyth has stated that, as such, events ecology “adopts a partly phenomenological attitude by seeking to understand ‘events’ as local changes of significance, rather than as ‘facts’ that can be incorporated into preexisting theories, or ‘factors’ that imply events have causal significance” (2003: 223).

Event history is linked with events ecology since its practitioners methodologically “compile databases from published accounts in the contemporary press on events that they consider worthy of notice,” and proceed by creating a “temporal map of incidents through which the… activities and interactions [of various actors] can be traced” and further assessed (Tarrow, 1996: 875). Relevant events are isolated by assessing newspapers in conjunction with a broader set of official and unofficial documents (e.g. laws and project reports). Archival information can make a significant contribution towards the discursive analysis of a conflict and enable analysts to reconstruct a diachronic narrative. Historically, the assessment of these documents has pinpointed the changes in the actors’ discourses and their roles in given conflicts, at least as conveyed through the language intrinsic to these various sources.

Focusing on particular events without collecting and assessing data that emphasizes the actions of individuals as strategic agents rather than as occupants of particular statuses or structural locations fails to place events within their appropriate social context. When situated in terms of everyday social practices, situations, or events, an analysis of the actors’ discourses and actions are more meaningful (Long, 1992: 164). Employing these methods contributes towards a thick description of the key events, the actors involved, the rules associated with their actions, and the social contexts in which they emerged (Berg, 2001: 165). Furthermore, it is critical that each be considered in relation to their appropriate biophysical contexts.

I discuss general considerations associated with the fieldwork as well as how it was completed in various phases. It then turns towards a description of how the data were collected and organised. The primary methods for data collection were: archival research; interviews and a socio-economic assessment of the GOF region. Additional sources of information such as digital maps and photographs and grey literature were collected through other government, educational, non-profit and international institutions in the region and in Washington DC. The archival research is discussed within the context of the development of an historical timeline of the key events associated with the conflict. The appendix proceeds with a section describing the socioeconomic assessment that was conducted in 21 coastal communities utilising 368 household questionnaires. The use of semi-structured and open-ended interviews is then discussed in conjunction with how the key social actors were identified. Lastly, the role of participant observation is discussed.

A number of comparative qualitative analytic methods were chosen due to their compatibility with the theoretical structure of the research. The goal was to use a combination of theories and methods in order to consider a number of “interrelated ideas about various patterns, concepts, processes, relationships, or events” associated with conflicts having to do with access and control over the physical geographic space of the Gulf of Fonseca (GOF) (Berg, 2001: 15).

The methodological intent of this research was to develop a new set of propositions that explains the social phenomenon of environmental conflict whilst accepting that “the criteria set up to judge whether or not a particular explanation is reasonable and satisfying is highly subjective“ (Harvey, 1969: 15). The goal was to select variables that would assist with establishing a coherent explanation of environmental conflict, while recognising that “poststructuralist research [is inherently subjective since] the researcher interprets, activates, and transmutes meanings and their contexts“ through a subjective lens (Duncan et al., 2004: 89-90). The primary variables associated with this analysis are the discourses, characteristics, interests, and the actions of the various actors who have interests in the mangrove ecosystem of the GOF.

Phasing of Fieldwork | Methodological Considerations

I was first exposed to the GOF while employed as the Senior Program Manager for Latin American and Caribbean with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In this position, I was responsible for Sea Grant program development in the region, however, the conflicts surrounding marine and coastal resource use made this task extraordinarily complex. Subsequently, I made the decision to research these issues in more depth.  Due to the willingness on the part of a number of individuals and institutions within and outside Honduras, I was able to accomplish the goals of the research.

The selection of the GOF as a research site was based on the literature review and fact-finding visits conducted early in the research. Its geographic isolation and size naturally limited the number of variables while a relatively small and identifiable group of key actors associated with the conflict made it easier to consider the struggles between actors over the physical space associated with the marine and coastal environment, specifically the mangrove ecosystem. Another consideration was accessibility to the research site as well as prior knowledge of the area. The GOF is a relatively small area with easily identifiable communities and access to sample populations large enough to solicit the necessary information. In turn, there was sufficient access to local, national, and international documents and actors to complete the goals of the research. The research methods for this study were selected with the aim of reconstructing a timeline of events associated with the emergence and evolution of environmental conflict in the GOF. Furthermore, it was important to identify key actors at the local, national and international levels who have been involved in events that define the historical trajectory of conflict surrounding mangroves in southern Honduras. Lastly, appropriate local case study sites in the GOF had to be selected.

To assess conflicts surrounding natural resources within the context of globalization and capitalist transformation in Honduras, I extrapolated information from an extensive literature review and used a combination of methods to collect data. The text of newspapers, national laws, official and unofficial documents and the text of open-ended and semi-structured interviews were analysed in order to reconstruct an historical timeline of the conflict in southern Honduras and identify the multiplicity of local, national, and international actors. Discourse analysis was utilised to create an historical account of the conflict by turning towards the narratives of the social actors involved. These were analysed comparatively in relation to specific actions and events associated with the socio-historical trajectory of the conflict in order to understand their relationship to specific actors’ claims. Archival sources collected through government, educational, non-profit, and international institutions in the region and in Washington D.C. were utilised.

The archival research assisted with reconstructing an historical narrative of events surrounding the conflict between 1973 and 2006. Relevant newspaper articles elucidated the socio-historical context, the actors, their discursive positions, interests, and actions in relation to the issues surrounding the conflict. Legal and policy documents determined how the legal framework in relation to marine and coastal resources has changed since 1973 and, therefore, revealed the role of the state. The legal framework also assisted with identifying the characteristics and interests of the state as a key actor in the conflict. I conducted over 150 open-ended and 35 semi-structured interviews, completed with individuals involved in the conflict at local, national, and international levels. Interviews with the actors served as the basis for determining the ways in which their ideas compete or are congruent with those of other actors associated with the issues surrounding the conflict.

Archival Research

The point of the archival research was to begin reconstructing an accurate timeline of events during the conflict, acquire information on the changes in the socio-economic changes in the region, identify major issues that have affected southern Honduras and locate relevant information that could assist with explaining social and ecological changes from the discursive positions of various social actors. Information was collected from newspapers, legal documents and a number of other sources for these reasons. The archival information has made a significant contribution towards the discursive analysis of the conflict, given that newspapers and other sources often include quotations from various social actors. Analysing these documents allowed the use of these sources to trace changes in the actors’ discourses and their role in the conflict, at least as conveyed through the discourses drawn from these various media.

When assessing the discourses of actors it was important to keep in mind that quotations are often used out of their original context and efforts were made to substantiate information where possible, usually through interviews or through the reading of additional materials.  Furthermore, I recognize that politicians and government agencies often receive more press attention than the thoughts and programs of organizations within civil society.  For this reason, I sought out alternative archival sources including pamphlets, brochures, newsletters, and other forms of documentation to obtain greater access to the perspectives from within civil society organizations.

The majority of the archival research took place at the Hermeroteque (archives) at the Universidad Nacional Autonomous de Honduras (UNAH) which has the best archival collection of newspapers in the nation including El Cronista, La Tribuna and El Heraldo. Newspaper research focused on different periods depending on the circulation rates and prominence of the newspapers at different times. From 1970 to 1980 I focused on El Cronista as the most prominent daily newspaper of the time; between 1980 and 1995 I focused on La Tribuna, the most widely circulated paper at the time, and after 1995 the focus was on El Heraldo, which has the highest current circulation and is one of the most respected. Although it would have proven beneficial to review each newspaper circulated in Honduras since 1970 for information related to the southern part of the country and topics relevant to this research, it was decided that for the sake of time these three newspapers would be targeted for information during each period mentioned. Finally, the archives of the Direccion General del Medio Ambiente (DGA), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the archives of other institutions and organizations throughout the region were consulted and documents acquired.

Archival research was also conducted to acquire the complete text of relevant laws through their original publication in La Gaceta, the official national record of the law. Once a law is made public and printed in La Gaceta it goes into effect. Laws are important because they outline the key characteristics of state agencies and their responsibilities associated with the mangrove wetlands. Laws also establish the rules and/or regulations associated with state interventions in a specific physical geographic space and, therefore, are important not only as discursive interventions, but also as being the basis of state ‘legitimacy’ for intervening in a particular physical geographic space where the law permits.

Interviews: Open Ended and Semi-Structured

The scholarship of engagement must accept the inherent subjectivity that comes with ‘explanation’ as described by Harvey, while at the same time accepting that “the essence of explanation… lies in providing a network of connections between events” (Harvey, 1969: 14). Making the connections between events can be accomplished by conducting open-ended and semi-structured interviews with specific actors associated with the dominant events that have defined a conflict, as well as those events that local people have articulated as being relevant to explaining their perception of the local level ‘reality’.

A number of key informants working in municipal, regional, national, and international organizations were interviewed using both semi-structured and open-ended interviews. Through the open-ended and semi-structured interviews the research drew out the discursive positions of ‘experts’ affiliated with various organizations. The framework provides those practicing the scholarship of engagement with tools to work toward penetrating the major ideas behind specific decisions related to national and international interventions. In turn this makes it possible to identify the discursive formations that influence larger interests and decision-making processes. By linking conflict resolution and the scholarship of engagement we can begin unraveling how various actors are connected, and understand the influence exercised over each other throughout decision-making processes.

The secondary sources described in detail in the section on ‘data collection and organization’ were particularly important to consider comparatively with the statements of various actors against data compiled on the spatial and temporal impacts on the mangrove ecosystem of the GOF. Another goal was to consider the ways in which the legal and policy framework has changed in relation to the mangrove ecosystem of the GOF. Relevant officials were interviewed to determine how various policies have influenced or affected the ways in which the physical geographic space of the mangrove ecosystem in southern Honduras has been exploited, degraded, conserved or managed. The goal was to understand the ‘why’ behind specific legal and policy decisions. The goal was also to determine the bases upon which specific policies were developed and by whom, as well as their relationship to other actors.

Interviews were held at convenient locations for the participants, which in most cases were their places of employment or homes or in restaurants or hotels that were centrally located to minimize the travel distance for participants. Transcripts were developed using information recorded with a digital audio recorder. The transcriptions for recorded interviews included information on the date and location of the interview, the names of the participants involved, and their respective organizations, if appropriate. The transcripts of the interviews have also been hyperlinked to any field notes that were written as a result of observations made during the interviews (e.g. body language). All of the information resulting from the interviews and observations was thoroughly read, and annotated into coded topics, themes and issues to facilitate analysis of the data.

Identification of the Key Informants/Social Actors

The research began by targeting key informants within major organizations associated with activities in the GOF and in local communities. These informants, or opinion leaders, can be viewed as people who played a significant role in decision-making processes, influenced the opinions of other individuals within a community or organization, and were often seen by others as being very knowledgeable about topics relevant to the research. Interviews with informants are a rich source of information for those reasons. Selection of informants for interviews was accomplished through conversations with local inhabitants or individuals within larger organizations operating in the region.

The initial group of key informants was identified through conversations held during fact-finding trips with individuals at the University of Zamorano, US Embassy Honduras, USAID and a number of other institutions and organizations. This approach also provided an easy way to identify additional and appropriate respondent groups. Participant observation also provided the means to consider the actual visible behavior and actions of local people. This allowed me to contrast their observed actions and behaviors with their discourse during the semi-structured interview process. Time was spent interacting with each resource-user group, participating in their daily practices when possible, and asking open-ended questions in relation to their productive activities that directly or indirectly affected the mangrove ecosystem in southern Honduras. Attending meetings of various organizations representing various sectors in the south, as well as municipal, NGO or any other meetings relevant to the goals of this research provided the possibility to consider how groups of people interacted, and their relationship with other social actors.

Socioeconomic Assessment: Assessing the Interests and Actions of Local Coastal Resource Users

A socio-economic analysis of the area was conducted in order to obtain a snapshot of human activities in coastal communities throughout southern Honduras as well as perspectives related to the issues surrounding the conflict. It was also used to gather some baseline data on the coastal communities of southern Honduras. The information collected through the assessment was coupled with that obtained through semi-structured interviews, which were conducted separately from the questionnaires. Both were used to identify the discourses and interests of local people in relation to the mangrove ecosystem and, as a result, served as the basis for determining the extent to which they were congruent or incongruent with those of more dominant actors associated with the conflict. The socio-economic assessment was conducted in 21 coastal communities around the Gulf of Fonseca using through the use of household questionnaires (368 in the end).

The questionnaire used in the socio-economic assessment was designed employing methodological tools presented in a manual published by the University of Rhode Island Coastal Resources Center (URI/CRC) entitled “Assessing the Behavioral Aspects of Coastal Resource Use” and another manual published by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) entitled “Socioeconomic Manual for Coral Reef Management”. These two manuals were developed expressly for practitioners working in coastal communities and take into consideration the methodological issues associated with communities that lie on or near the marine and coastal environments, and both include research techniques relevant to this specific type of geographic setting. The variables adapted from both manuals and incorporated into the questionnaire are listed below (The questionnaire is located in Appendix II.)

(1)    socio-demographic information;

(2)    household characteristics;

(3)    characteristics associated with material style of life;

(4)    migration;

(5)    social/civil society participation;

(6)    use of coastal resources including the production of shrimp and salt, collection of crustaceans and mollusks, fishing, and mangrove use and replanting; and

(7)    perceptions and attitudes pertaining to mangrove degradation and conflicts surrounding marine and coastal resource use

The 21 coastal communities used in the socio-economic assessment were selected carefully to obtain a sample throughout the southern portion of the country that represented all of the variations in social and economic activities that occur in the region. Information gathered during interviews with key informants assisted in the selection of communities. During the initial phase of lengthier fieldwork the mangrove ecosystem of the GOF was investigated by vehicle. Each of the major estuaries, rivers, bays and islands in the GOF were explored to determine the location of local settlements, communities or towns that are directly dependent upon mangroves or where people use the space in or around mangroves for other social and economic activities. A map assisted with identifying the location of the places that were particularly relevant to the overall goals of the research. This was often completed with the assistance of local individuals and key informants based in the region.

The goal in the selection of these 21 coastal communities was to ensure that a diversity of perspectives in relation to the use, management and conservation associated with the mangrove wetlands was as diverse as possible. For example, the integrity of the research could have been compromised if all of the selected sites had been located in close proximity to large-scale private industrial shrimp farming vs. places that are not.

      Table A.1: The 21 Coastal Communities Selected

Data Analysis and Presentation

Claims of Corporate and State Violence

Theories that link violent conflict and the environment have recently come to the fore in academic debates (Peluso and Watts 2001).  These debates generally fall into two categories.  The first is the environmental security literature (Baechler 1998, Kaplan 1994, Homer-Dixon 1990, 1993) and concerns itself with violence resulting from the degradation of the natural environment.  This literature tends to focus on the relations between environmental scarcity and degradation and its contribution to large-scale violence and is often state-centric.  The second focuses on the relationships between local level violence and the socio-historical contexts where they occur, as well as macro level processes that affect power dynamics; this approach lies within the tradition of political ecology.

Political ecologists critique the former approach as being neo-Malthusian by directing its lens towards environmentally determinist explanations of violence while ignoring political and social variables (Hecht 1985, Peluso and Watts 2001). Political ecology of violence theory reverses the direction of the relationship between the environment and violence, broadly focusing on violence against people and the environment (Peluso and Watts 2003).  In the following sections, I demonstrate that the concept of violence has been politicized in this conflict scenario. My results reveal facets that need to be further explored when theorizing about violent conflict and the environment.

The discourse linking the shrimp industry and violence appeared more frequently after 2001 as CODDEFFAGOLF sought to politicize the industry as being in violation of human rights laws. The claims generated by CODDEFFAGOLF were disseminated broadly through a number of transnational environmental political networks that sought to create an image of the industry as the cause of violent conflict in southern Honduras. For example, Dina Morel, Assistant Director of CODDEFFAGOLF, began to link the history of industry development publicly to the murders of 12 artisan fishermen in the GOF and the destruction of their access to traditional fishing grounds (El Heraldo, 6 November 2002). The deaths that Morel linked to the industry have never been proven in court and all records associated to most of the cases were apparently washed away during Hurricane Mitch.

Later, in 2003 the EJF completed a report entitled Smash & Grab: Conflict Corruption and Human Rights Abuses in the Shrimp Farming Industry, which provided a list of fishermen who had purportedly been murdered by the industry in southern Honduras, and claimed that the industry had repeatedly threatened Varela’s life. In 2001, Stonich (2001) published Violence, Environment, and Industrial Shrimp Farming in which she claimed that the industry was the direct cause of violence in southern Honduras.

The EJF report, Stonich’s (2001) publication and issues raised in other publications were investigated in a BBC documentary entitled Price of Prawns, made by Jeremy Bristow (Senior Producer of the Natural History Unit), and shown in December 2004. The publications and reports linking the industry and violence do not mention the industry’s position in most cases. However, the BBC documentary did try to capture its views, albeit in 28 seconds:

09:48 Jeremy Bristow (Senior Producer BBC Natural History Unit)

Have you ever made any threats to Jorge Varela – to his life or to his property?

09:54 Hector Corrales (General Manager of Grupo Granjas Marinas San Bernardo (GGMSB))

No. No. That’s not the way we do business, Jeremy. Is there a benefit in threatening him – or, threatening his life or his property? No, absolutely not.

10:15 Jeremy Bristow

Jorge Varela does not produce any evidence of the threats against him. But there has been violence and crime on the farms. According to the police there’s been 500 cases of theft and 70 violent incidents in the last six years.[1]

The BBC’s investigation into the matter revealed that the industry had reported over 500 cases of theft that had led to violent confrontations in some instances. Subsequently, I made an enquiry into local perceptions of the industry, conflict and violence. Local respondents who participated were asked one question relevant to violence and the environment in southern Honduras: “Do you know of any conflicts (fights, arguments, disputes, or legal demands) in relation to the use, access, administration, conservation or control of the mangrove wetlands or the lands surrounding it?” The questionnaire intentionally excluded any reference to the actors in the south.

Of 364 respondents, 31.3 per cent (114/364) stated that they were aware of conflicts surrounding the mangrove wetlands. Of these, 38 per cent (43/114) associated the conflicts with the shrimp industry. Figure 15.1 shows the percentage of respondents that perceived any type of conflicts around the wetlands as very violent, somewhat violent, on occasions violent, not very violent, and not violent at all. Given that only 12 per cent of the 364 respondents perceived the industry as linked to conflict, the results contradicted claims made that the shrimp industry’s practices had been the direct cause of conflict and violence in southern Honduras, at least as perceived by the rural coastal poor.  Naturally, this finding raises serious questions in relation to Stonich’s claim.

Figure 15.1: Perceptions of the household respondents in relation to how violent they perceived the conflicts surrounding the mangrove wetlands

Source: Wilburn, Socioeconomic Analysis: July 2005

The Purported Roots of Violence

The statements produced are indicative of how events and their interpretations were used strategically by actors opposing aquaculture. Most of the publications produced in relation to violence and the environment fail to mention incidences of theft that the industry has had to address. ANDAH estimated that 20 per cent of the shrimp produced are stolen by organized groups of artisan fishermen, taken to Nicaragua and El Salvador and sold on the black-market, exacerbating disputes between the three countries at the national level. El Faro estimated that their company alone was losing shrimp valued at $1,650,000 annually as a result of theft (El Heraldo, 5 November 2004).

Shrimp theft has been a problem since the 1980s; consequently, ANDAH always aimed to ensure facility security. However, the purported scale and degree on which it was now occurring was having a significant impact on the industry. In the past, ANDAH had demanded that the government take measures to protect the industry. Due to the government’s inability to provide protection, the industry hired armed guards to protect the perimeter of their ponds. It was thought that clashes between those stealing the shrimp and the industry guards may have been a factor leading to the deaths, and why 70 violent incidents had been reported over the last six years in conjunction with 500 reported cases of theft (BBC, 2004). Despite the incongruence between the claims and local perceptions about violence the discourses suggesting the industry was the direct cause of violence and mangrove degradation succeeded in bringing further international attention to the situation in southern Honduras; and thus, to increase pressure on the government to acquiesce to CODDEFFAGOLF’s demands.

Concerning the conflict’s central biophysical aspects, my results revealed the complexity behind research associated with land use change, and also elucidated that the process of determining the area of mangrove forests was a political process, and one often associated with specific economic interests. Although I indicated that in 2001 there was an estimated 78,000 ha of mangrove forests around the entire GOF, with approximately 49,500 ha in southern Honduras, the precise area occupied by mangrove forests in the region has been highly contested.

Table 1. Direct Use of the Areas of the Mangrove Forests in the Gulf of Fonseca

Source: Adapted by CONGESA, in the database of AFE-COHDEFOR

Actors will generally use representations of mangrove deforestation that supports their interests for the various activates intended within a physical space. My case study elucidated that the amount lost and to whom that loss is attributed is highly contested . The methods and results detailed in mangrove deforestation studies spurred further conflict, posing significant resource management challenges due to the uncertainty surrounding the results. This point illustrates that competing definitions of a biophysical space in differing studies affect the outcomes in that space and how the resource should be managed: The politics of science matters. Resource management efforts must include a public participatory component that provides actors with an opportunity to contribute toward the design of research studies that may affect their livelihoods and the local environment.

Table 2. The Rate of Change in Coverage and Corresponding Area Between Three Dates

Source: Sánchez, 1999, p. 21.

Table 3.  Loss in Coverage of Mangrove Forest in the Gulf of Fonseca 1965–1999

Source: CONGESA, 2001: 136 Adapted by CONGESA from Forestry Inventory of 1965 and Annual Statistics of COHDEFOR, 1999.

Table 4. Distribution of Mangrove Loss in Hectares due to Shrimp Farming and Salt Production

Source: Sánchez 1999, p. 24.

The case study provides a cogent apperception of the socio-historical nature of conflict in the GOF. The case revealed that processes of macro-economic and political change were key events influencing the conditions that led to conflict. In particular, neoliberal economic policies and the policy actions that followed were critical toward understanding the biophysical and socio-economic changes in southern Honduras.

The emergence of conflict in the GOF was not initially associated with mangrove degradation, but was directly associated with the changing dynamics of the fisheries sector as aquaculture development influenced the socio-economic conditions and labor market in southern Honduras, consistent with Denise Stanley’s findings (1999a). The main opposition to future industry expansion emerged within factions of the local artisan fishing community. Although changes in the fisheries labor market were a significant source of conflict, the dominant mobilizing discourse articulated pertained to mangrove deforestation rather than the changing dynamics of the labor market.

Government-sponsored training programs for aquaculture development benefited some factions of the artisan fishing community as they were taught to catch the wild postlarvae and then sell them to the industry to stock the ponds. Some of these groups of fishermen were legally organized into cooperatives and federally recognized, making them eligible to receive aid and funds from international institutions. These actions represented the deployment of state power and the reordering of social relations in the south in pursuit of export-led growth. These actions also exemplified IFI’s and the state’s role creating social differentiation as the assignation of roles within the labor market were established.   

A number of people in the wider artisan fishing community were excluded from these efforts, often due to their lack of proximity to the sites where ponds were established or their inability to secure state concessions for the production of shrimp. However, those excluded continued to fish for other species, or for adult shrimp in the open sea. As industry expansion escalated, the latter group perceived that the capture of postlarvae was affecting the population of the fisheries as a whole due to extensive by-catch. They also became concerned that pond construction was reducing access to their traditional fishing grounds in the seasonal lagoons that formed on the salt flats. Each of these points became critical issues in the conflict.

Although the Honduran Ecological Association (AHE) played the most active role in regard to issues surrounding the degradation of the wetlands in the early-1980s, it was initially focused on threats to the natural system from local use of mangrove wood for fuel, construction, and salt production and the associated impacts. The AHE did not focus on the impacts of aquaculture development until 1985 when Jorge Varela, the future leader of CODDEFFAGOLF, began working for the organization. In 1988, he established CODDEFFAGOLF in conjunction with twelve fishermen who were opposed to the industry. The links between aquaculture expansion and mangrove degradation were eventually forged and used successfully to further politicize this group’s interests in relation to the fisheries sector and the wetlands from 1988.

Meanwhile, in the 1980s, the government focused on market expansion to increase foreign exchange revenue due to the negative effects of the ‘debt crisis’ (Walton, 1989). The conflicts that emerged were directly attributed to the Honduran government’s efforts to promote NTAX as it sought to pursue export-led growth in accord with neoliberal economic reform. The promotion of NTAX was an expression of the government’s intention to transform the physical-spatial reality of southern Honduras. New collective social imaginaries in relation to the wetlands emerged within the public arena as those affected by processes of capitalist transformation sought to redefine the physical-spatial reality around the GOF.

According to my research, two state discourses, also employed by IFIs and USAID, were perpetually used to justify expansion of the industry. Both economic development and food security were identified as being most prevalent, and both were used to establish state legitimacy to intervene in the coastal wetlands between 1973 and 2006. These discourses sought to create an image of rationality behind state actions and were thus a method of justifying what ought to be done within the physical space in which aquaculture development commenced.

The state capitalized on these discourses and actively translated neoliberal ideas into law, policy, and action. Ensuing techniques had a transformative effect on the coastal landscape of southern Honduras. Specifically, the Honduran government, USAID, and IFIs used six techniques of power to promote neoliberal reform in southern Honduras; incrementally throughout the 1980s and more assertively in the 1990s, especially after President Rafael Leonardo Callejas gained power in 1989:

1.     Knowledge acquisition for research and development including training and technical assistance;

2.     Provision of finances;

3.     Formation of cooperatives;

4.     Infrastructure development;

5.     Institution building to promote non-traditional agricultural exports; and

6.     The creation of international and domestic economic incentives for the promotion of aquaculture.

The effects of these techniques illustrate the state’s role in the arrangement and regularization of spaces as it sought to redefine use, management and conservation of the coastal wetlands (Radcliffe, 2001a: 236). Analysis of the legal framework revealed that the government’s interpretation of the legal language in various laws was aligned with its objectives to pursue economic development and food security. These discourses were actually written into law, and remained dominant until Hurricane Mitch devastated the region in 1998 (La Gaceta, Law on the Use of Marine Natural Resources; 13 June 1980).

Local resistance to government actions and those of international aquaculture promoters led to the formation of CODDEFFAGOLF in 1988. CODDEFFAGOLF contested the expansion of the shrimp industry on the premise that it was infringing on the rights of local people, who were being politically and economically marginalized from state decisions as the government promoted shrimp farming on the coastal wetlands of southern Honduras. The creation of CODDEFFAGOLF represented civil society’s emerging role for the management of coastal resources. The strengthening of civil society in the 1980s can be attributed to the perceived failure of the state and its deficient capacity to adequately address the issues, as well as the democratic transition.

CODDEFFAGOLF consistently made two claims against the state and the industry between 1988 and 2006: First, access to the seasonal lagoons where locals fished was diminished due to the introduction of aquaculture; second, the capture of wild postlarvae for the purpose of shrimp production was affecting the fisheries resources upon which a faction of the artisan fishing community depended for subsistence. However, the dominant narrative articulated by CODDEFFAGOLF, as it politicized the issues of enclosure of common pool resources and the impact of by-catch on fisheries resources, was mangrove degradation.  Consequently, environmental concerns were actively emphasized over livelihood issues due to the formers power to engage and build support internationally, and within the Honduran public.

In this example, contestation can be attributed to conflicts between social actors who represented deforestation in specific ways. For CODDEFFAGOLF, the more deforestation was attributed to shrimp farming, the more the organization could substantiate one of its claims that the shrimp industry caused it, and thereby mobilize local resistance.

Analysis of my open-ended interviews conducted throughout Central American revealed that mangrove loss due to shrimp farming had become the dominant explanation for the conflicts between CODDEFFAGOLF and ANDAH.  Conversely, my research also showed that local actors perceived themselves to be the most significant threat to mangrove resources, not the shrimp industry. In fact, over 65 percent of locals claimed they utilized mangrove forests for a variety of purposes. This information must be considered when studies are conducted and management plans developed as the politicization of the issues can conceal the reality beneath the statements produced.

Though the dominant narrative used by CODDEFFAGOLF was mobilizing, and mangrove degradation became a relevant issue due to industry expansion during the 1990’s, the blame placed on the industry departed from the initial discourse that attributed mangrove deforestation not to industry practices, but to local use of mangrove resources. CODDEFFAGOLF thus became a powerful social actor and performed a significant role encouraging the state and IFIs to consider new forms of environmental governance.

Only through an examination of the socio-historical context did the case reveal that the conflict was initially directly associated with the changing dynamics of the fisheries sector as aquaculture development influenced the socio-economic conditions and labor market conditions in the south. Subsequently, state intervention in the local fisheries sector was the direct cause of the divisions in the labor market that had led to conflict.

Implications for Conflict Analysis and the Scholarship of Engagement

The emergence of the Honduran environmental movement, local actors, and alternative discourses on the mangrove wetlands became prominent via the media as actors sought access within the public arena by politicizing land use in the south. The democratic transition in Honduras in the early-1980s allowed the emergence and strengthening of this movement. The formation of transnational environmental political networks opened the discursive terrain further throughout the 1990s as CODDEFFAGOLF forged links to ENGOs external to the country.

The rise of contestation to aquaculture in Honduras was also congruent with the emergence and strengthening of the global environmental movement and aquaculture development. Davis has argued that collective action results through movements such as CODDEFFAGOLF due to local actors’ lack of access to the state, which is often bureaucratically and territorially distant from the citizens it seeks to serve (Davis, 1999: 608 and 609). Consequently, actors within civil society, such as CODDEFFAGOLF, are important stakeholders that natural resource managers must engage.

Congruent to the expansion of aquaculture in the south, neoliberal reform in Honduras affected how local citizens use, manage, and conserve natural resources and, therefore, is critical for natural resource practitioners to consider. Although neoliberalism is often linked with anti-state rhetoric due to its libertarian tendencies (Harvey, 2005), the early actions of IFIs and the Honduran government illustrate how neoliberal policies actually “mobilized and created an activist role for the state in promoting the privatization of goods and services and in opening up market opportunities,” which subsequently led to the labor market changes that created the conditions for conflict (Perreault and Martin, 2005: 193).

In addition, local resistance to government actions revealed that neoliberal futures were not preordained, their political effects were undetermined, and both local actors and transitional environmental political networks influenced the trajectories of neoliberal state formation. Both were actively involved in the production, reproduction, and re-imagining of the state and human interventions in relation to the coastal wetlands of southern Honduras (Radcliffe, 2001b: 20).

My findings are partially consistent with those of Salman and Assies, who argue that globalization and capitalist transformations have revealed novel opportunities and facilitated a non-territorial democratization of social and environmental issues (Salman and Assies, 2000: 291). Although this may be the case for CODDEFFAGOLF, I assert that local actors, like those living in rural coastal communities in southern Honduras, remain on the periphery: they are often not merely physically and socially marginalized from their material environment, but are also discursively, and subsequently, politically marginalized by more dominant social actors.

In the context of neoliberal economic reform, this has serious implications for the conservation and development of the coastal wetlands and the strengthening of civil society; segments of capitalist society that lie outside of both the sphere of the state and production (Johnston et al., 2000: 85) Consequently, processes of decentralization will need to reach into the coastal communities of southern Honduras while directing adequate resources to strengthen their participation within newly emerging forums within civil society to rectify the effects of geographies of distance. Until this occurs, the rural poor will remain discursively and politically marginalized from the public arena, where the decisions regarding their livelihoods are made, often without their input.

The state took steps to address shared resource issues; however, territorial boundaries and overlapping legal jurisdictions continue to challenge ministries to regulate the harvest and trade in marine and coastal resources, including shrimp postlarvae, fish, mollusks and mangrove wood. Most of these resources have fallen under one or more systems of state de jure control, but in practice rules governing these extensive harvests have been difficult to enforce. In the end, due to deficient state capacity to regulate the industry, various organizations, the industry, and other actors have collectively prepared the way for changes to laws and industry practices.

To what extent contestation of the state’s actions has provided the legitimacy for government bureaucrats to change social and environmental policies in Honduras is left for future research. However, more recent research in political science and international relations has indicated that advocacy groups have been able to exercise power effectively, represent the interests of marginalized groups, and enable political changes at the level of the state, which undoubtedly has implications for natural resource managers who must increasingly consider the role of civil society (Radcliffe, 2001b: 26).

A number of actors allied with CODDEFFAGOLF continue to pressure the Honduran government to implement previously articulated goals in relation to the management of the marine and coastal environment of the GOF. After decades of protests, the area was finally designated as a part of the Meso-American Biological Corridor (MBC), a Wetland of International Importance (RAMSAR Site), and a protected area by 1999. The more recent attention to the socio-economic and environmental issues exemplifies the state’s efforts to redefine the coastal wetlands in accordance with a wider-set of political and economic interests.

Impediments still exist but the conjoining of environmental discourse into the neoliberal agenda is apparent. Currently, the state has made efforts to work collaboratively with the private sector and civil society to develop management plans for the region. Until these plans are completed and implemented, the state’s creation of multiple use areas and protected areas in the south will remain rhetorical.

In sum, the discourses and actions of the social actors’ involved in this conflict were important analytical variables. However, the social history of the region; patterns of human environmental interaction; human-induced and natural changes in the environment; and macro-economic and political changes were also important variables that conditioned the possibilities for conflict. Social actors’ interests were continuously affected by these factors, which influenced the socio-historical trajectory of the conflict. Resource managers should therefore consider these lessons that demonstrate the need to go beyond traditional biophysical considerations in the analysis of the causes of environmental conflict and the development of natural resource management plans.