Editor’s observe: World wide, modern companies are serving to to resolve a number of the greatest environmental challenges of our time. Conservation Worldwide’s funding fund, CI Ventures, supplies funding and assist for early-stage corporations which are benefiting folks and nature. On this occasional sequence, startup founders be a part of CI Ventures funding consultants to share their origin tales.
Prior to now decade, seaweed manufacturing has boomed as researchers and traders eye its potential: It’s been heralded as a sustainable superfood, a biodegradable alternative for plastic packaging and a feed complement to chop cows’ methane emissions.
But alongside seaweed’s promise, there are pitfalls. The provision chain is riddled with unsustainable and exploitative practices that may degrade the setting and harm farmers’ livelihoods.
CI Ventures investee Coast 4C, a seaweed buying and selling firm within the Philippines, needs to vary that by shifting farmers to practices that improve the availability of top of the range, sustainable seaweed — and making certain they’re pretty compensated for his or her work.
Conservation Information sat down with Coast 4C CEO Nick Hill and Gracie White, who leads CI Ventures’ ocean investments, to find out how they’re constructing a extra clear and environmentally-sound seaweed provide chain.
Seaweed rising on a Coast 4C farm within the Philippines. © Gracie White
Let’s begin with what sparked your curiosity in seaweed and Coast 4C?
Gracie White: I labored in seaweed aquaculture for years — first for a kelp farm, then with a kind of seaweed referred to as Asparagopsis, which, when used as cow feed, has been proven to scale back the quantity of methane they produce. Seaweed farming has monumental potential to profit folks and ecosystems — from constructing resilience to local weather change to enhancing livelihoods — however there are nonetheless challenges to farming it in an environmentally and socially accountable manner.
Asia produces 97 p.c of the world’s seaweed, predominantly in China, Indonesia and the Philippines — and nearly all is grown by small household farms. The remainder of the world is simply starting to catch on. Whereas seaweed is in nearly every thing, it’s not effectively regulated and there is not any set requirements for the way tropical seaweeds are grown and bought. Similar to large-scale agriculture on land, seaweed farming could cause environmental points — together with habitat destruction and plastic air pollution.
Then, relating to promoting their product, seaweed farmers in Southeast Asia typically have entry to just one native dealer, which leaves them susceptible to pricing monopolies. To achieve the worldwide market, which might present the next value, farmers should be capable of present high quality and consistency of their product — however at present, there are only a few assist programs in place to assist them achieve this.
How is Coast 4C working to vary this?
Nick Hill: One of many greatest points within the seaweed market is that folks don’t know the place their seaweed comes from as a result of the availability chain is lengthy and sophisticated. We join small-scale farmers on to international manufacturers that worth environmental and social accountability. Presently, we’re working with 500 farmers within the Philippines — 85 p.c of whom are ladies. Our farmers should observe environmental and social requirements, for instance, by eliminating single-use plastics — just like the rope seaweed grows on — which are accountable for about half of all plastic air pollution in coastal communities. In return, we assure farmers a premium value for his or her seaweed, which will increase their incomes and reduces their dependence on fishing.
This issues as a result of greater than 95 p.c of tropical seaweed is grown within the western Pacific’s Coral Triangle, a biodiversity hotspot that spans 6 million sq. kilometers (2.3 million sq. miles) and is called the “Amazon of the Seas” due to the wildlife it helps. We’re serving to communities arrange marine protected areas that combine seaweed farms inside them. This creates a secure and wholesome place for seaweed farming, alongside serving to to revive fish populations and mangrove and coral habitat. It additionally incentivizes neighborhood enforcement of the protected areas as a result of they’re economically depending on the seaweed.
Coast 4C repurposes plastic bottles destined for landfills or the ocean as floats on seaweed farms. © Gracie White
There are additionally social points. Many seaweed farmers battle to make a livable wage.
NH: Sure, and when farmers can’t make a residing wage by rising seaweed, they typically flip to fishing — at occasions utilizing extraordinarily harmful practices like dynamite, poison or backside trawling, which may destroy coral reefs and entangle or maim marine mammals, resembling endangered sea turtles. By elevating the worth of seaweed, we’re supporting farmers’ livelihoods and serving to to guard the setting.
We will additionally assist enhance manufacturing. Seaweed manufacturing on farms is low in lots of locations due to outdated farming practices. This may be exacerbated by local weather change and an absence of genetic variety in seaweed, which makes it susceptible to illness. Coast 4C is combining farmers’ information of their ecosystems with the most recent scientific advances to enhance rising practices and develop new, extra local weather resilient strains of seaweed. And we assist farmers with entry to capital to implement these practices.
In December 2021, tremendous storm Odette struck the Philippines. How have the farmers and Coast 4C recovered?
GW: The storm struck simply as we had been finalizing our funding deal. It destroyed 90 p.c of Coast 4C’s infrastructure, and all of the seaweed farms they had been working with. Realizing the corporate — and the farmers they work with — would wish our funding greater than ever, we had been capable of restructure the deal to provide them time to get well, rebuild and pay again the mortgage over an extended interval.
NH: CI Ventures caught with us, permitting us to offer monetary support packages that helped farmers get again on their toes. After the storm, there was nothing left — and for 3 weeks, all communications had been minimize off. That have has led us to consider how we put together for future typhoons — from growing local weather resilient strains of seaweed, to constructing a community of storm resilient seaweed nurseries and catastrophe threat discount plans that enables us to guard a number of the crop, so when the following storm hits, we’ve got one thing to rebuild from.
Amongst so many challenges, what makes you hopeful about this work?
NH: After shedding a lot to Odette, a lot of our power has gone towards serving to farmers restore their crops. Now, we’re centered on progress. Throughout the subsequent two years, we’re planning to broaden our work to Indonesia. There’s a lot curiosity and pleasure round seaweed proper now — new markets and applied sciences are shaping the best way we use this historic plant. However the bottleneck is a provide of high quality, traceable seaweed that grows in concord with nature. That’s the place we can assist.
Extra tales from CI Ventures investees:
Mary Kate McCoy is a employees author at Conservation Worldwide. Wish to learn extra tales like this? Join e-mail updates. Additionally, please take into account supporting our important work.
