Trade, Rural Poverty & the Environment Project Profiles
India
In India, a team from the Delhi-based Institute of Economic Growth has examined the impacts of export-oriented shrimp production in the Sundarbans, a vast region of wetlands and mangrove swamps on the border of India and Bangladesh that is home to a large number of tigers, monkeys, birds, and many other species.As in Vietnam, shrimp farming expanded rapidly in the 1980s and 1990s to meet rising global demand. The state of West Bengal, which includes the Indian portion of the Sundarbans, aggressively promoted the development of this industry through incentives and policies. About 42,000 hectares of land are now devoted to shrimp farming, which generates nearly $1 billion annually in export revenues though it is subject to increasingly stringent non-tariff barriers. In addition to those directly involved in shrimp farming, about 400,000 people depend for their livelihoods on the collection and sale of wild shrimp seed to the farms.
In Vietnam, shrimp farms replaced thousands of acres of mangrove forest with important consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem services. In India, much of the land that was converted to shrimp farms was previously used for agriculture, though some areas were mangrove forests. However, there have been other important ecological consequences. In particular, the practice of collecting wild shrimp seed has led to an alarming increase in “by-catch impacts” on marine biodiversity in and around the core Sundarbans reserve, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Drawing on the research findings, WWF India is working with local partners to explore alternate livelihoods options in the place of wild prawn seed collection; and to promote the concept of seedbanks that can supply certified seeds from hatcheries to shrimp farms. A series of local consultations will be followed by state and national workshops later in 2006 to present the research and collaboratively develop recommendations.
