Shrimp Farming and the Environment - Library

Minimizing negative social repercussions and maximizing the positive ones will require governmentintervention and political will. As with environmental impacts, the solution to these problems cannot beapplied on a case-by-case basis. Rather, a planned approach to issues of resource access anddegradation must be developed, involving some form of land-use planning or zoning. Issues of equityand wealth distribution can only be tackled through interventions in the form of tax policies, grant aid,credit, and other economic instruments. But any such interventions must take account of the inherentrisks associated with aquaculture—risks that are greater for those with fewer financial resources, skills,and education.There are two main components to making shrimp aquaculture more socially and economicallydesirable:• Reducing the negative externalities of resource appropriation or degradation; and• Increasing participation of the poor in shrimp farming activities, or distributing the benefitsmore widely, or both.The first of these will require effective land and resource use planning. The second will requiregovernment intervention in the form of grant aid, credit, tax incentives, or some form of redistributivetaxation (e.g., taxing successful shrimp farmers to generate funding for services or developmentinitiatives for the poor). The risks associated with shrimp culture must be taken fully into account whenconsidering promoting shrimp farm development among poorer sectors of society. Ideally, measuresrelating to both of these strategies should form part of a local resource management or integratedcoastal management plan, although provisions regarding taxation and other economic instruments willdepend critically on compatibility with national policy and legislation. Given the rate of resourcedegradation in coastal areas of developing countries, and the significant levels of social conflictassociated with shrimp aquaculture in some countries, initiatives along these lines are urgentlyrequired. These approaches are difficult and costly but cannot be avoided if shrimp farming is to bemade more sustainable. They are analyzed more fully in Chapter 6.It is notable that neither of these issues can be addressed effectively through project-levelenvironmental impact assessment (EIA)—whether or not social impact assessment is included—exceptin the case of large isolated developments. The social problems associated with shrimp culture, as withthe environmental problems, are generally cumulative and incremental in nature, and therefore requirea broader resource use planning approach.Sector EIA, on the other hand, incorporating social impact assessment, may have an important role toplay in developing appropriate sector or natural resource development plans, which may serve as thebuilding blocks for broader-based integrated coastal management plans.Summary of measures to reduce social impactsAll those measures discussed in the previous chapter, insofar as they reduce environmental impact andresource degradation, are likely to help reduce social impacts, as well. In addition, specific measureswill be required to address issues of resource appropriation, income distribution, and equity. These arepolitical issues and will require political will and political solutions at the national and local levels.However, the following specific measures may be appropriate, depending on local circumstances:1. Sector EIA incorporating comprehensive and cumulative social impact assessments as well asparticipatory approaches to problem identification and solution;2. An aquaculture development plan, preferably developed as part of a wider natural resource orintegrated coastal management plan, drawing on the findings of the sector EIA. In addition tothose provisions discussed in the previous chapter, this plan should include:• Social and economic objectives of aquaculture development;• Measures to protect the interests and rights of existing resource users;• Measures for facilitating access of relatively poor local people to shrimp farming on suitablesites (conditional on the measures presented in the previous chapters for ensuring moresustainable production). Depending on local circumstances, these might include:• Preferential access to licenses, permits, use-rights, or ownership for local people;• Modest grants and limited credit for farm development and initial operations;• Tax exemptions or “holidays” during start-up;47