It’s Day 2 of Economist Impact’s World Ocean Summit! I moderated a plenary panel discussion on high hopes for seaweed. I was joined by Caroline Slootweg, co-founder of Kelp Blue; Bill Collins, chairman of Cascadia Seaweed; and Dodon Yamin, managing director of MARI Oceans Indonesia.
Seaweed has significant benefits for ocean health, human health and the economy. It is a climate-friendly source of food and feed, is highly efficient at storing carbon and requires no fresh water or fertilisers to thrive. The potential of ocean farming to be regenerative is often overlooked. Although seaweed is fast-growing and nutrient-intense, this crop doesn’t interfere with land-based systems.
Seaweed has a number of end-uses, such as carbon-dioxide removal via bio-sequestration. The global industry has grown considerably over the past years and there are high hopes for continued growth. Globally, seaweed delivers up to US$3.5bn in nutrient bio-mitigation services.
Despite all these benefits, seaweed is widely regarded as under-explored, and underfinanced. This panel discussion will explore what steps should be taken to develop its potential, and how to harness opportunities to innovate and create positive change for ocean health and local communities through this sustainable crop.
Watch the summary video of day 2, narrated by me:
You can still register to watch all session on demand 👉https://bit.ly/3GT1GV