Challenges of Turning the Sargassum Crisis into Gold: Current Constraints and Implications for the Caribbean

Abstract

Over the last decade, the Caribbean has seen massive, episodic influxes of pelagic sargassum negatively impacting coastal ecosystems, people’s livelihoods and climate-sensitive sectors. Addressing this issue solely as a hazard has proven extremely costly and attention is slowly turning towards the potential opportunities for sargassum reuse and valorization. However, turning the ‘sargassum crisis into gold’ is not easy. In this study we use a multi-method approach to learn from sargassum stakeholders (researchers, entrepreneurs and established businesses) across the Caribbean about the constraints and challenges they are facing. These can be grouped into five broad categories: (1) unpredictable supply of sargassum; (2) issues related with the chemical composition of the seaweed; (3) harvest, transport and storage; (4) governance; and (5) funding. Specific issues and potential solutions associated with each of these categories are reviewed in detail and recommended actions are mapped to five entry points along a generalized value chain to demonstrate how these actions can contribute to the development of sustainable sargassum value chains that promote economic opportunities and could help alleviate impacts of massive influxes. This paper offers guidance to policy makers and funding agencies on existing gaps and challenges that need to be addressed in order to scale-up successful and sustainable solutions to the sargassum crisis.