Thank you, Ángel, for opening this debate. I will focus on aquaculture, which I consider the most neglected sector and the one that affects the largest number of sentient beings by individual count. In my view, it is the most illustrative example to frame the problem.
In Latin America, the challenge is not only to confront an already established industry, but also to act preventively against an expanding threat: shrimp farming in new countries across the region. Today, Ecuador is the world’s largest exporter of shrimp and one of its leading producers. In addition, Panama, Mexico, Brazil, Honduras, Guatemala, Colombia, and Cuba are also involved in production. At the same time, countries like Chile (the world’s second-largest salmon producer) are exploring the development of new shrimp farming initiatives through research and pilot programs, although no commercial industry has yet been established. Advocacy in this context is preventive: while general aquaculture frameworks exist, there are no specific welfare standards for shrimp, let alone operational bans.
From my perspective, the dilemma is not “established vs. preventive,” but rather “established + preventive vs. preventive.” Moreover, if we use coastline length as a proxy for aquaculture-suitable coast, Latin America and the Caribbean together account for approximately 72,000 km, compared to Africa’s 40,000 km. This provides an objective measure of the potential scale of the problem if we fail to act in time.
This is compounded by a severe underrepresentation of organizations working beyond companion animals. I speak from direct experience: I am Chilean, and 11 years ago I co-founded the legal organization Fundación Derecho y Defensa Animal, with a strong focus on legal advocacy. Based on that foundation, and through the work of LatinGroup for Animals, we can affirm that in key countries like Chile and Ecuador, there are only three or four professionalized organizations dedicated to legal animal advocacy, and in the Caribbean, there are virtually none. This is a field-based empirical observation that underscores the urgency of a coordinated regional strategy.
Africa’s coastline measures approximately 30,500 km, while the combined coastline of Latin America and the Caribbean is substantially shorter, at roughly 22,000 km.
Africa’s land area is about 30,365,000 km² (11,724,000 sq mi). Latin America and the Caribbean together have a total land area of approximately 20,139,378 km² (7,775,854 sq mi)
So i also think Africa would relatively be a best fit for implementation.
Thank you, Ángel, for opening this debate. I will focus on aquaculture, which I consider the most neglected sector and the one that affects the largest number of sentient beings by individual count. In my view, it is the most illustrative example to frame the problem.
In Latin America, the challenge is not only to confront an already established industry, but also to act preventively against an expanding threat: shrimp farming in new countries across the region. Today, Ecuador is the world’s largest exporter of shrimp and one of its leading producers. In addition, Panama, Mexico, Brazil, Honduras, Guatemala, Colombia, and Cuba are also involved in production. At the same time, countries like Chile (the world’s second-largest salmon producer) are exploring the development of new shrimp farming initiatives through research and pilot programs, although no commercial industry has yet been established. Advocacy in this context is preventive: while general aquaculture frameworks exist, there are no specific welfare standards for shrimp, let alone operational bans.
From my perspective, the dilemma is not “established vs. preventive,” but rather “established + preventive vs. preventive.” Moreover, if we use coastline length as a proxy for aquaculture-suitable coast, Latin America and the Caribbean together account for approximately 72,000 km, compared to Africa’s 40,000 km. This provides an objective measure of the potential scale of the problem if we fail to act in time.
This is compounded by a severe underrepresentation of organizations working beyond companion animals. I speak from direct experience: I am Chilean, and 11 years ago I co-founded the legal organization Fundación Derecho y Defensa Animal, with a strong focus on legal advocacy. Based on that foundation, and through the work of LatinGroup for Animals, we can affirm that in key countries like Chile and Ecuador, there are only three or four professionalized organizations dedicated to legal animal advocacy, and in the Caribbean, there are virtually none. This is a field-based empirical observation that underscores the urgency of a coordinated regional strategy.
Do you have a guess for what % of each coastline is already used for aquaculture?
Africa’s coastline measures approximately 30,500 km, while the combined coastline of Latin America and the Caribbean is substantially shorter, at roughly 22,000 km.
Africa’s land area is about 30,365,000 km² (11,724,000 sq mi). Latin America and the Caribbean together have a total land area of approximately 20,139,378 km² (7,775,854 sq mi)
So i also think Africa would relatively be a best fit for implementation.