In 2019, I began helping Ya’axché Conservation Trust in Punta Gorda, Belize to improve the IT infrastructure used to support all of their local conservation programs. I spent much of my first two months with them tediously recovering important data from a failed file server and disk drive. I also worked with them to develop a strategic plan for managing their IT resources.
The following year I began focusing on the development of a database and associated GIS applications to support the NGO’s Community Outreach and Livelihoods (COL) program, which assists local farmers in developing more sustainable agricultural practices in harmony with the rainforest and its wildlife. The GIS applications include a mobile device application for collecting data in the field, and a web application for interactive mapping and data visualization, built with a variety of open source software components.
The first version of the database system for the COL program was launched in early 2022. This allowed the collection, management and visualization of data on agroforestry plots of the approximately 150 farm families that Ya’axché assists. The second version extended the database to incorporate data on apiaries, and was released at the end of the same year. A third minor release was launched in mid-2024 to better handle the complexities of collective land ownership, land usage and tenure.
The publicly-accessible Integrated Forest Management web map displays a subset of the data collected on the farms enrolled in the COL program. This includes monitoring and production data on apiaries and plots dedicated to sustainable agroforestry practices. Additional data on farmers and farm boundaries is accessible through a separate web map for internal use only. The public map also displays the nature reserves in southern Belize that are managed under Ya’axché’s Protected Area Management (PAM) program.
