Did Belize have an eco-imperialist encounter?

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were forced to change their plan to visit Belize, in response to a protest at the village of Indian Creek.

While those in the UK may prefer to read the story as a refutation of the monarchy, it wasn't. Villagers were more upset by the lack of coordination of the visit with their community than the idea of royals being present. What the people of the village seem to have a problem with is actually the ongoing inconsiderate and imperialistic approach taken to their land in the name of conservation - an issue the international media and liberal greenwash ministers everywhere would prefer to sidestep.

A fine example of eco-imperialism

According to a local report, the prestigious Flora and Fauna International (FFI, of which the Duke of Cambridge is a patron), "barred the villagers from using the land surrounding Indian Creek for their subsistence".

Based on the same report, Oscar Requena, Area Representative for Toledo West, seems to have responded with a pragmatic call for the villagers and the international conservation organisation to "come together", and acknowledged villagers are "in need of additional land to be able to expand and I believe the only way to work it out is that the company or the private owners that own those lands have to take those things into account."

Weak or no government intervention

Consider the difference in power between a large international organisation, of which the Duke of Cambridge is a patron (he apparently intended to pass their village on that very visit, yet kept villagers in the dark about it, hence the protest), and the villagers, whose exact views or demands have not even been published clearly anywhere. Requena undoubtedly means well, but leaving villagers to fight it out with a large international organisation and its British patrons, perhaps in a court, is unfair and can only end unfavourably for the villagers.

What is most suitable in comparable situations is the intervention of a strong and independent national government, but is that what Belize has?