Strategic Market Analysis

Project: Since 2020, Acuamaya has been collaborating with the Coastal Solutions Fellows Program (CSF) through the work of Varinia Sagastume (’20 Fellow). After two years of research, they have jointly outlined a set of sustainable management practices (SMPs) that contribute to the conservation of migratory shorebirds and their habitats within these productive systems. The SGE Immersion team will develop recommendations on the types of mechanisms that could be used to incentivize the integration of SMPs with existing certification programs (e.g., ASC), sustainability strategies of buyers, or other market-based strategies. The collaboration between Aquamaya and CSF would greatly benefit from knowledge that will help define a path to incentivize or integrate the adoption of SMPs by other shrimp producers in Guatemala and Central America. The regional context of this work includes a high degree of interest from shrimp producers to meet the criteria of existing sustainability certifications that would allow them to access specialized shrimp markets at a much better price. However, the current definitions used to define sustainability rests largely on land-use level metrics, such as the percentage of protected or restored mangroves, and do not include any components of biodiversity are vague, even for credible programs such as ASC. Their broader objective would be to integrate birds as indicators of biodiversity of sustainability strategies, and thus link shrimp production with SMPs that benefit biodiversity as well as the conservation of migratory shorebirds. This project supports several goals and targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework (COP15) to protect and restore nature including: sustainably manage areas under agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries, and forestry, and substantially increase agroecology and other biodiversity-friendly practices.