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Seaweed/algae

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Seaweed floating in the sea. Credit: Lachlan Ross via Pexels.
News and resources
Investors tout seaweed as climate and food solution
Seaweed is an overlooked, but highly versatile climate solution, says Forbes in its coverage of a new study by investors. The article highlights the numerous co-benefits of seaweed; it’s a low-carbon food crop that requires few inputs, it has the potential to replace fossil fuel-derived plastics, and, the article even touts the crop as “the largest carbon sinks in the world”, although research disputes this claim. 
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Green algae in water. Photo by Laker via Pexels.
Journal articles
Algae as a source of protein in the sustainable food and gastronomy industry
This paper gives an overview of the prospects for algae production as a source of protein as well as other nutrients including vitamins, beta-carotene and polyunsaturated fatty acids in Europe. The authors examine algae as a source of protein, the current European protein market and challenges and opportunities for production in Europe.
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The seaweed platform near the Climate Foundation’s headquarters on Cebu Island, the Philippines. Photo by Fabian Weiss via The Guardian
News and resources
Are seaweed farms the future of sustainable food?
Seaweed farming is being championed as a magic bullet for food systems and the environment, promising to capture carbon, rehabilitate ecosystems and feed the world. Recent reporting from the Guardian investigates one seaweed enterprise, the Climate Foundation, and its mission to win Elon Musk’s $100m Xprize. 
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Image: NoName_13, Salad chuka wakame, Pixabay, Pixabay Licence
Journal articles
Reducing global land-use pressures with seaweed farming
This paper maps the global potential for producing 34 varieties of seaweed and uses five scenarios to model the impacts of expanding the use of seaweed for human food (10% of diets), animal feed (10% of intake), transport fuels (50%), all three of the previous uses, or supplementing ruminant feed (0.5% of feed) to reduce enteric methane production and increase feed conversion efficiency.
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Sahil
Podcast episode
Ep4: Sahil Shah on Scaling Seaweed
What role can seaweed and different technologies play in building a resilient food system? What are the tradeoffs when scaling?
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Image: AlanDavidRobb, Kelp Wave Atlantic, Pixabay, Pixabay Licence
News and resources
The possibilities and challenges of kelp
This article by FoodPrint discusses the tension between the purported environmental benefits of kelp farming and consumers’ lack of familiarity with kelp as a food, and describes “regenerative” kelp farming systems that also produce oysters, clams and mussels. It sets out several ways in which kelp can be used, including in foods such as pesto or lasagne, as well as other uses such as bioplastics, fertiliser, biofuel and animal feed.
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Books
Bloom: Algae, from food to fuel
This book by Ruth Kassinger uses case studies to explore how algae could be used to produce food, fuel and packaging materials.
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Reports
Catalysing investment in sustainable aquaculture
This report from US charity The Nature Conservancy explores how private investors can help to meet the demand for sustainable seafood by investing in new forms of aquaculture that have lower negative environmental impacts than conventional aquaculture.
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Photo credit: Chris Booth, Flickr, Creative Commons License 2.0
Resource
Seaweed aquaculture for food security, income generation and environmental health in Tropical Developing Countries
The World Bank has released a short working paper arguing that the expansion of seaweed farming in tropical developing countries could have large positive impacts on local poverty, ecosystem management and climate change mitigation. The report goes through different benefits and uses of seaweed production and briefly discusses current and potential markets for the crop.
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