311-323 Lebel.p65

The expansion and transformation of shrimp aquaculture in Southeast Asia has occurred in the context of rapid industrialization. Between 1970 and 1993 the contribution by industry to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased from 25% to 40%, and industrial output increased 25 times during the same period. Energy and pollution intensities (per unit of economic activity) of most countries remain comparatively high compared to Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, especially in the centrally planned economies like Vietnam (1). Thailand with its much larger economy and industrial sectors already has a history of air and water pollution problems. As rapid as industrialization has been, the base remains comparatively small. Most of the investment in industrialization of Southeast Asia is still to come, and much of this will happen in coastal zones where urbanization also is a major process. With improved energy efficiency and material recycling, individual businesses and perhaps even sectors can reduce their burden on the environment. However, continuing expansion of economic and industrial activity in most countries in the region for at least the next several decades will mean that the cumulative effects on uses of energy, materials, and natural resources, and burdens on the waste-assimilation capacities of local and regional ecosystems, will continue to grow. A profound transformation in the way industry is developed, especially in coastal zones and along waterways, is required. The focus has to shift from abatement and “end-of-the-pipe” solutions to prevention, by focusing on reducing pollution and resource-use intensities, and finally toward new visions of society and its supporting systems or an “Industrial Transformation” (2). So far little attention in Southeast Asia has been paid to what such a transformation toward sustainability would entail for food production-consumption systems. This requires understanding of the environmental consequences of activities and linkages along the commodity chain from farmers, through agri-businesses and food industries, to consumers, as well as consideration of the networks of input and service suppliers. The most problematic of these are likely to be high-value export-oriented commodities that depend on natural resources and ecosystem services like shrimp aquaculture. Changes in production and organization of the shrimp industry have been very rapid with the growth of aquaculture. In a matter of just two decades or less systems have moved, in some places, from other land-uses or cooperative harvesting of mangroves and wetlands to being a part of a fully integrated industry more akin to manufacturing than traditional agriculture or capture fisheries. The industrialization of aquaculture has spread fairly easily among countries in Asia despite different economic and political structures and development histories. Industrial shrimp aquaculture first started and then collapsed in Taiwan (3), and from there it spread to other countries. Extensive production systems in Thailand are recorded from as early as 1957 in Nakhonsi-tammarat (4). But the industry only really began to intensify in the mid-1980s, when production from aquaculture started to increase rapidly (Fig. 1a) following the spread of successful hatcheries. The changes were facilitated by government policies on export-oriented agriculture. For example, the large Thai multinational Charoen Popkhand (CP) Group was active early, in 1986, forming a joint venture with Japanese giant company Industrial Transformation and Shrimp Aquaculture in Thailand and Vietnam: Pathways to Ecological, Social, and Economic Sustainability? Louis Lebel, Nguyen Hoang Tri, Amnuay Saengnoree, Suparb Pasong, Urasa Buatama and Le Kim Thoa