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Dept for International Development

Answer

Mr. Hope: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what funding her Department is providing for intensive shrimp production in Bangladesh. [93703] Clare Short: We have recently agreed to provide £9.76 million to support the Government of Bangladesh's Fourth Fisheries Project. The project will engage government, non-governmental and community based organisations in improving aquatic resource management of inland waters and coastal polders. Fourteen per cent. of the funding will support a component for improving the shrimp production system. Our contribution is 25 per cent. of the total project requirements, which will be parallel financed with the World bank and the Bangladesh Government over five years. As a major supporter of sustainable fisheries development in Bangladesh for many years, we share local concerns about the environmental and social impact of past development of the shrimp industry. We have been able to influence development partners in this sector, using our expertise to provide strong environmental and social analyses in the design of the new project. This helped to put poverty elimination and environmental sustainability objectives at the centre of project design. For the shrimp component, we also helped to modify the focus of the project to the creation of more diverse and stable livelihoods in areas where shrimp are produced. The project plans to promote the production of shrimp by smallholders, but this is conditional on the outcome of a feasibility study in the first year which will fully consider social and environmental dimensions in consultation with the communities concerned and NGOs. The project will also support a regional initiative to develop a Code of Conduct for responsible shrimp culture.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

93703; 336 c233-4W

Session

1998-99

Subjects

Development aid Fisheries Shellfish Bangladesh Shrimps

Contains statistics

Yes