KRVN 880

A University of Queensland-led study in Australia has shown that expanding global seaweed farming could go a long way to addressing the planet’s food security, biodiversity loss and climate change challenges.

Researchers said seaweed offered a sustainable alternative to land-based agricultural expansion to meet the world’s growing need for food and materials. They also said it served as a potential nutritious food and a building block for commercial products including animal feed, plastics, fibers, diesel and ethanol.

“Our study found that expanding seaweed farming could help reduce demand for terrestrial crops and reduce global agricultural greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by up to 2.6 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent per year.”

Researchers mapped the potential of farming more of the 34 commercially important seaweed species using the Global Biosphere Management Model.

They estimated the environmental benefits of a range of scenarios based on land-use changes, GHG emissions, water and fertiliser use, and projected changes in species presence by 2050.