"Social and Environmental Impacts of Shrimp Farming in Ecuador"

Eric Carter, guest lecturer

Geography 538 -- October 8, 2003

1. Identify and discuss the major social and environmental impacts of shrimp aquaculture, including, but not limited to, impacts on mangrove ecosystems. Be sure to discuss the varying geographical scales of these impacts.
2. Discuss the role of neo-liberal economics and globalization in promoting shrimp aquaculture.
3. How have traditional users of mangrove estuaries in Ecuador been affected by the development of the shrimp industry?
4. Discuss responses by state and non-state actors (such as environmental organizations) to the harmful impacts of shrimp farming. To what extent have they succeeded? What are some reasons for success and failure? What strategies can you think of to remedy the adverse impacts of the shrimp industry?
5. What are some of the ways that the "value" of mangroves over shrimp has been calculated by environmental groups and other actors? According to Martinez-Alier, what are the advantages and disadvantages of these approaches?
6. What does Martinez-Alier mean by the phrase "tragedy of enclosures" (p. 713, abstract), and how does this apply to resource conflicts in mangrove areas?
7. What role do consumers in the U.S. and other industrialized countries play in the destruction of mangrove ecosystems in the tropics? What strategies at the consumption end of the shrimp industry might help reduce these impacts?