Abstract
More so than wealthier, less nature-dependent social groups, the poor in tropical coastal regions suffer from adverse environmental change and need new income options. With high levels of saltwater intrusion into coastal lands, innovative brackish water aquaculture (BWA) including integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) are crucial adaptation options to the expanding marine waters. This article examines how poor Bangladeshi coastal residents view BWA, and what is needed to make BWA a viable and sustainable livelihood for the coastal poor. In sites that are affected by major salinity intrusion, we used a semi-structured questionnaire to interview 120 households. We examine three questions: (1) What kind of aquaculture is currently being undertaken in brackish/saline/coastal waters? (2) Do poor coastal residents see BWA (and, by implication the hitherto fairly unknown IMTA) as a viable and sustainable livelihood? (3) What is needed to make BWA a feasible and promising livelihood in Bangladesh? Our results show both information and perception biases obstruct in particular coastal poor women and men from engaging with innovative BWA. Their knowledge on ecosystem-based aquaculture was scarce and their views of aquaculture were related mainly to previous experiences with shrimp monoculture and its polarizing socio-economic effects. We propose some strategic fields of action to develop innovative BWA that also benefits coastal Bangladesh’s poorest people.
Highlights
Poorer residents of tropical coastal regions are more dependent on nature and more vulnerable to environmental change than more affluent groups
Coastal Bangladesh is among the regions on earth that are most affected by salinity intrusion with oceanic and other sources
Where absolute poverty is high among large sections of the population and further impoverishment is under way, as in coastal Bangladesh, new production approaches such as integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) for newly wet and saline environments, need to be environmentally sound, economically profitable, well governed, and produce healthy products for which there is demand (Barrington et al, 2010)
Summary
Poorer residents of tropical coastal regions are more dependent on nature and more vulnerable to environmental change than more affluent groups. Coastal regions that are densely populated and heavily impacted by the expanding sea and related environmental changes require a transformation toward new socially and ecologically sustainable nature-dependent forms of production that ensure the livelihoods of the poorest (Berkhout, 2002; Chapin et al, 2009; O’Brien, 2011; Glavovic, 2013). Former agricultural lands transform to brackish or marine states while the millions of terrestrial livelihoods for the poor are lost. The expanding ocean boundary and its polarizing socio-economic effects makes relevant research more urgent
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