ABSTRACT
The rapid growth of commercial shrimp farming in coastal zone, often described as blue revolution, has substantial contribution to socioeconomic development in Bangladesh. While available studies deal with various impacts of shrimp farming on coastal communities and the environment, there is a lack of analysis about the drivers of blue revolution. To fill this gap, this chapter examines sociopolitical and economic drivers of blue revolution in coastal Bangladesh. It particularly focuses on how state policies have provided a significant impetus to the rise in production and export of shrimp in global markets. We also synthesize scholarly literature on the social and environmental effects of shrimp aquaculture on vulnerable coastal communities. Our analysis reveals that the rise in revenue from shrimp farming has resulted in exploitation, injustice, and degradation of the coastal environment that have intensified the existing vulnerability of many disaster-stressed coastal population. Given these far-reaching effects, we call for building an inclusive policy framework for the equitable and sustainable governance of shrimp aquaculture that will promote underlying principles of the blue economy.
