A United Nations-backed partnership that has made the first attempt ever to provide a framework for responsible shrimp farm management has won the World Bank’s 2006 Green Award.

With shrimp farming often criticized for its negative effects on the environment, the Consortium on Shrimp Farming and the Environment produced the International Principles for Responsible Shrimp Farming to address issues including the design and location of farms, the use of feed, and the social impacts of aquaculture on local communities, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said.

The consortium, composed of FAO, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Bank, the World Wildlife Fund, and the Network for Aquaculture Centres for Asia Pacific, was formed in 1999 to investigate key issues, encourage policy debate, and make recommendations on better management practices.

Shrimp is the most valuable fish product traded internationally, with over $11 billion of exports annually, and represents a major source of jobs, tax revenues and foreign interest earnings for developing countries, which produce 99 per cent of the world’s farmed shrimp.

The World Bank has presented the annual Green Award since 2001 to projects that help developing countries green up their economic development programmes and guide the bank’s efforts to fund development that is environmentally sustainable.