Information Technologies, Development, and Environmental Governance: Resistance and Backlash to Industrial Shrimp Farming

Susan C. Stonich

University of California, Santa Barbara, U.S.A.

While the overwhelming belief is that advanced information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as the Internet, the World Wide Web, and Geographic Information Systems, will profoundly influence society, experts differ significantly about whether these impacts will be positive or negative. Empirical evidence suggests that both positive and negative impacts occur - depending on diverse points of view, the potential for particular stakeholders or social interest groups to take advantage of the technologies, the scale or level of analysis at which impacts are evaluated, the political economic context, etc. This paper accepts this ambiguity. It uses the recent globalization of resistance to the human and environmental consequences of industrial shrimp farming in Asia, Latin America, and Africa and the associated industry response to empirically investigate the relationship between society and ICTs in the developing world. It examines both how society shapes technology and conversely how technology affects society. Based on ethnographic and survey research conducted among members of the contending resistance and industry coalitions. Especially of interest are the links between ICTs, political and public advocacy, local through global environmental governance, and the potential of ICTs to promote participatory development and democracy.




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