How the seaweed revolution offers a green solution to end hunger, fight climate change

As India overtakes China to become the world’s most populous nation, it stands at the crossroads, seeking to strike a balance between meeting the needs of its burgeoning populace and safeguarding the environment. Grappling with the pressures of urban sprawl and the demands of additional food production, the country must navigate the path of development by embracing innovation, sustainability, and social responsibility.

“Almost 200 million people in India suffer from hunger and 43% of children suffer from chronic nutritional deficiency,” writes Vincent Doumeizel, senior adviser on oceans for the United Nations Global Compact, in his book The Seaweed Revolution: How Seaweed Has Shaped Our Past and Can Save Our Future (Penguin Random House), which was released recently. Doumeizel, also the director of the Food Programme at the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, an NGO based in the UK, has devoted himself to promoting a food revolution and environmental solutions based on sea resources, especially seaweed or macro algae — a diverse group of aquatic plants found in the coastal waters.

“With its staggering population of nearly 1.5 billion people (and rising) and a coastline stretching over 7,500 km, India produces only half as much seaweed as the tiny island of Zanzibar, inhabited by a mere million people in the same Indian Ocean,” says Doumeizel, whose book was originally published in French, and has been translated into English by award-winning British translator Charlotte Coombe. Under such circumstances, the potential of seaweed farming emerges as a beacon of hope in India; it holds the promise of providing food security, economic opportunities, as well as environmental conservation.

There are various kinds of seaweed that thrive in the Indian waters, including red seaweed (such as Gracilaria and Gelidium), brown seaweed (such as Sargassum and Padina), and green seaweed (such as Ulva Intestinalis and Enteromorpha). Seaweed beds are found along the coasts of Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Lakshadweep, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Seaweeds not only contribute to the marine ecosystem, but also hold immense potential for various sectors, including food, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and biofuels.

According to Doumeizel, it is only North Asia that actually cultivates and consumes seaweed, with Westerners remaining ‘gatherers at sea’. In Asia, 99% of seaweed is cultivated; 97.3% of the world’s seaweed production comes from cultivation. While its cultivation began in Asia in the early 20th century, it has really developed over the past 30 years — from 4 million tonnes in 1990 to 35 million tonnes (worth 16.5 billion dollars) today, employing millions of people and helping feed almost two billion. China remains the world’s largest producer of seaweed, accounting for more than half of the total global production. Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, South Korea and North Korea cultivate and consume large quantities of seaweed.

India has the potential to produce 10 million tonnes of seaweed annually. However, our current production stands at about 35,000 tonnes; under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana, the target is to reach 1.1 million tonnes annually. With a shift in both perception and practice in recent years, the country is waking up to the marine wonder, slowly but steadily. Entrepreneurs, marine conservationists, and activists have joined hands, determined to harness its full potential. As the seaweed revolution unfolds, research institutes, government bodies, and private enterprises are beginning to collaborate to unlock new dimensions of this marine resource.

Doumeizel argues that if grown sustainably, seaweed could address a myriad of challenges, including food scarcity, plastic pollution, decarbonizing the economy, mitigating climate change, cleaning up the oceans, rebuilding marine ecosystems, and reducing social injustice by creating jobs and income for coastal communities. Outside of Asia, there is no tradition of eating seaweed, says Doumeizel. In Japan, seaweed comprises up to 10% of the food eaten each day, and appears to be linked to long life expectancy and the low occurrence of obesity, diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular problems.

How can the rest of the world effectively promote the cultivation and utilization of a wider range of seaweed varieties? “First, we need to educate our population. Public perceptions of seaweed need to be altered. Our politicians need to understand that seaweed is good for our bodies and our planet and is delicious too. We need it to become mainstream, like it is in Asia where people realise its health benefits — it’s as good a food as you can get. It’s a nutritional bomb, with no fat and no sugar, but packed with iodine, zinc, vitamins, fibers, long chain fatty acids and much more. This is an excellent source of food for vegetarian or vegan people as some seaweed contain up to 40% protein, one of the only vegetables that contains vitamin B12,” he says.

“We need to educate the next generation so they don’t see seaweed as something that’s smelly, slimy and disgusting, but instead consider it as something that’s really modern and nice. Chefs have a great role to play in order to popularize seaweed around the world. And some of them have already started,” adds Doumeizel.

With the escalating climate emergency and population growth, this could prove to be a boon for a country like India. Besides maintaining marine ecosystems, seaweeds play a crucial role in combating climate change. They absorb carbon dioxide (CO2), contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Seaweed cultivation can also help mitigate the effects of ocean acidification. “It helps a great deal in carbon sequestration, alleviating ocean acidification, coastal protection, and habitat provision. By afforesting 9 percent of the ocean with seaweed, it is possible to sequester 53 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide annually,” says Prachi Hatkar, a marine biologist, who studied at the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, and is currently working on dugong conservation in India at the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun.

“Seaweed can also be utilized as a renewable source of biofuel and bioplastics. They are important because of the production of polysaccharides, lipids, pigments, proteins, and other compounds for pharmaceutical and nutritional applications. They can also be used as raw materials for biofuel production. Moreover, they are useful for wastewater treatment,” Hatkar adds. Due to their low production costs and substantial characteristics — low density, corrosion resistance, and durability — plastic products are indispensable in modern life. “Of late, the use of seaweed extracts in synthesizing biodegradable bioplastics has gained popularity. This natural bioplastic could reduce global plastic pollution by more than 300 gigatonnes per year. Several industries have shown interest in using seaweed for safe, recyclable, and hygienic packaging, not only for healthy foods and supplements but also for eco-friendly and sustainable packaging that preserves food and maintains food characteristics,” says Hatkar, adding that innovators are developing seaweed-based alternative solution to plastic food wrappers, which can also help solve the plastic pollution problem.

Recently, Neha Jain, the founder and CEO of Zerocircle, a deep-tech material science brand, won the prestigious Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize for Zerocircle’s for offering an alternative to traditional plastic packaging. The material made out of seaweeds is biodegradable, heat-sealable, and food-safe; it breaks down into soil-friendly compounds, leaving no trace of harm behind. The eco-friendly packaging solutions developed by companies like Zerocircle have found many takers across industries, replacing single-use plastics with ocean-safe alternatives.

Besides innovation, there is a sea of other opportunities for India in the face of the demographic challenge, says Doumeizel, as it’s the second most promising region after Africa, where seaweed production can develop strongly in the coming years. “India, despite having 800 endemic species of seaweed, has never really considered this resource other than for traditional medicine,” he says. Things started changing in the 2000s. In 2006, PepsiCo financed in the south of the country, just across from Sri Lanka, the first large-scale production of Kappaphycus, a species of red algae which varies in size, weight, and age. The US multinational hoped to show its support for the country’s development as well as to create a new source of supply to meet its needs and those of its client, Mars, Inc.

The venture seemed promising, but after five years of operation, local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) accused PepsiCo’s facilities of causing damage to the precious coral reefs. Faced with such a sensitive issue, the US company chose to withdraw, avoiding further friction. “The local buyers, denying any damage to the coral ecosystems, continued their activity, somehow surviving a tsunami that destroyed all production in 2017. The company now employs more than 600 people, mostly women, and remains the only real structure for seaweed cultivation in India,” says Doumeizel, adding that PepsiCo’s experience shows the difficulty faced by private investors when trying to finance innovative projects in the absence of international standards and regulations defined on a scientific basis.

In 2020, the Centre announced funding of around 8 million dollars to promote the development of seaweed farming, marking a step in the right direction. In the same year, neighbouring Bangladesh, which had banned fishing since 2017 on the Myanmar border to allow fish stocks to replenish, announced the launch of a plan to train former fishermen how to grow seaweed. In a significant move to promote seaweed cultivation and harness its potential, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the establishment of a Multipurpose Seaweed Park in Tamil Nadu with an investment of Rs 100 crore; the park aims to become a comprehensive hub that encompasses the entire seaweed value chain. It will facilitate activities ranging from pre- and post-harvest infrastructure, logistics, marketing, export promotion, innovation, and technology incubation.

According to reports, India, with its expansive Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) area of 2.2 million sq. km and a continental shelf of 0.53 sq km, is a fertile ground for seaweed cultivation. Developing indigenous seaweed-based industries has the power to provide alternative livelihood opportunities for approximately 1.5 crore people, particularly coastal fisherwomen. By encouraging sustainable practices like this and empowering coastal communities, India hopes to embrace the world’s ‘blue economy’; the global seaweed market is projected to be worth nearly $25 billion by 2028 — up from $14 billion in 2020 — as businesses turn to the sea for less carbon-intensive sources of food and materials.

Doumeizel’s book takes us on a journey through the origins of seaweed and its pivotal role in the evolution of life on Earth. Algae, the first form of life on the planet, emerged through the process of photosynthesis 3.5 billion years ago. From these single-cell microalgae, more complex multicellular organisms evolved, eventually giving rise to macroalgae over a billion years ago. These macroalgae have nourished humanity for thousands of years and played a significant role in shaping Homo Sapiens. With more than 12,000 species of macroalgae in the oceans, the diversity and adaptability of seaweed are awe-inspiring.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations), in 2019, the 34.7 million tonnes of world seaweed cultivation production for various food and non-food uses generated USD 14.7 billion first-sale values and the seaweed market continues to grow at a rapid rate. Cultivating these marine plants is easy: they need only salt water and sunlight to grow. “Spreading the cultivation of seaweed throughout the world while taking care not to cause imbalance to ecosystems and recognizing the value of their compounds would offer us infinite potential for innovation and vastly increase the limits of our resources. A systemic approach that links the seas with our land-based societies could allow us to create truly regenerative agriculture. Together, we could enter a new era, the result of a change as pivotal as the advent of agriculture in the Neolithic period. It’s an almost epoch-defining revolution,” says Doumeizel.

In India, the journey towards harnessing the potential for seaweed is arduous, as private investors grapple with challenges and the government seeks to establish effective regulations. Yet, within these challenges lies the opportunity to unlock the vast potential of seaweed cultivation, offering a sustainable pathway towards nourishing a nation and safeguarding its precious ecosystems.