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A seaweed aquaculture imperative to meet global sustainability targets

Nature Sustainability volume 5, pages 185–193 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Seaweed aquaculture accounts for 51.3% of global mariculture production and grows at 6.2% yr−1 (2000–2018). It delivers a broad range of ecosystem services, providing a source of food and natural products across a range of industries. It also offers a versatile, nature-based solution for climate change mitigation and adaptation and for counteracting eutrophication and biodiversity crisis. Here we offer the perspective that scaling up seaweed aquaculture as an emission capture and utilization technology, one supporting a circular bioeconomy, is an imperative to accommodate more than 9 billion people in 2050 while advancing across many of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

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Fig. 1: Seaweed production.
Fig. 2: Projected seaweed yield.
Fig. 3: Seaweed production and utilization contributes to advancing a number of UN SDGs, which provide integrative benefits contributing to additional SDGs.
Fig. 4: Resource flow for different scenarios.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology through baseline funding to C.M.D. A.B. was supported by the Danish Center for Environment and Energy (DCE), the Velux Foundations (Tang.nu, contract no. 13744) and the Innovation Fund Denmark (ClimateFeed). D.K.-J. was funded by DCE and by EU H2020 (FutureMARES, contract no. 869300). We thank T. Christensen, Aarhus University, for producing the manuscript figures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Red Sea Research Center (RSRC) and Computational Bioscience Research Center (CBRC), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

    Carlos M. Duarte

  2. Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Carlos M. Duarte & Dorte Krause-Jensen

  3. Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Silkeborg, Denmark

    Annette Bruhn & Dorte Krause-Jensen

  4. Centre for Circular Bioeconomy, Aarhus University, Silkeborg, Denmark

    Annette Bruhn

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C.M.D. and D.K.-J. conceived this research, and all three authors wrote the first draft, improved the text and approved the submission.

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Correspondence to Carlos M. Duarte.

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Duarte, C.M., Bruhn, A. & Krause-Jensen, D. A seaweed aquaculture imperative to meet global sustainability targets. Nat Sustain 5, 185–193 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00773-9

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