Mangroves and Shrimp Farms
Comparing the Economic and Social Value of Mangroves and Shrimp Farms
In the 1980s, Thailand’s government, initially supported by the World Bank, focused on a single ecosystem service—aquaculture—to supply a growing frozen shrimp export industry.
A retrospective analysis of the conversion of mangroves to shrimp farms demonstrated that this decision was economically beneficial only if the analysis was limited to the values of the shrimp harvest and the mangrove’s marketable forest products. When the analysis was extended to cover the value of several nonmarketed ecosystem services, including coastline protection and a nursery for wild fish, maintaining intact mangroves became the sound economic development choice.
Text and the bar graph above are a direct copy of the World Resources Institute page on Comparing the Economic and Social Value of Mangroves and Shrimp Farms. Link below.Image Gallery - Mangroves and Shrimp Farms
Video Gallery
How important are mangroves?Why are shrimp farms destructive for the environment?
Are shrimp farms always bad?
Sources & Resources
Text and the bar graph on this page are a direct copy of the World Resources Institute page on Comparing the Economic and Social Value of Mangroves and Shrimp Farms.
Other images from WikiCommons and Flickr
