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 Table
of Contents
Chapter 6
Imam and mangrove: A Thai Muslim village elder
stares at mangroves on the Gulf coast that have been cleared to make
way for shrimp farms. |
Chapter 6examines coastal issues.
Small-scale fishing villages have been decimated by the loss of their mangrove
forests
to prawn farms and their fish stocks to trawlers. Happily, beginning in
the 1990s, many of these communities have engineered an economic and political
rebirth by mobilizing civil society and turning toward conservation. Mangrove
forests, on the other hand, continue to be destroyed by the invasion of
shrimp farms. Although aquaculture could be an important part of mankind’s
food security, at the moment it’s a desperately unsustainable industry.
The failure of governments to contain an epidemic of “shrimp fever” reveals
just how seriously corruption and negligence hamper environmental governance
in the developing world. Finally, there is a global component to marine
issues, and outrage over US trade sanctions aimed at protecting dolphins
and turtles has sparked a global debate over the relationship between trade
and the environment. |
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