International team begins mission to save global seaweed stocks

The GlobalSeaweed SUPERSTAR project, funded by the UK’s Global Centre on Biodiversity for Climate (GCBC), involves some of the world’s most prominent seaweed scientists, non-governmental actors and industry leaders. It aims to produce a global strategy, or ‘2030 Seaweed Breakthrough’, which will have a significant consultation phase, that will be launched next week at the UN Oceans Conference, Nice in the Blue Zone, Room 4 (13 June 2025) to urgently protect wild seaweed stocks.

Breakthrough Vision: By 2030, global, regional and national finance is mobilised to halt the loss, support the protection and restoration of at least 30% of wild seaweed habitats and the sustainable growth of an industry that provides livelihoods for over 6 million seaweed farmers, their families, local communities and Indigenous peoples, particularly in island and mainland coastal areas most at risk from climate change.

Rationale: Global seaweed production has tripled in size and doubled its value in the last two decades, reaching 38 million tonnes (wet weight) in 2022. Currently, it was worth an estimated $17 billion USD and represents over 50% of marine and coastal aquaculture production worldwide. The industry directly employs over 6M farmers, primarily in low to middle income countries, and with significant recent growth in Europe and North America, this number will rise. Seaweeds also provide essential ecosystem services (e.g., carbon cycling, coastal protection, biodiversity enhancement). The industry and the wider environment relies on the wild seaweed stocks to provide seed stocks, climate-resilient strains for the future and a healthy ecosystem. Wild seaweeds, however, face devasting impacts from human activities and the climate crisis, compounded by minimal protection globally from overharvesting and other direct human impacts.

2030 Seaweed Breakthrough: The Seaweed Breakthrough initiative aims to catalyse global action to conserve, restore, and sustainably manage seaweed ecosystems. Targets for (i) halting loss, (ii) protection, (iii) restoration and (iv) sustainable finance, that are aligned with key global commitments, including the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the Paris Agreement, and the UN Decades on Ecosystem Restoration and Ocean Science, will be developed. By securing the Seaweed Breakthrough within these internationally recognised commitments, the initiative will enable greater environmental and climate action for seaweeds at the local, national and international level.

By aligning the Seaweed Breakthrough with Breakthroughs for other marine ecosystems, including coral reefs, seagrass and mangroves and aquatic food systems, the Breakthrough initiative aims to create a cohesive framework for protecting and restoring seaweed habitats and sustainably growing the industry globally. This framework will assist countries to enhance their resilience to climate change, safeguard biodiversity and unlock the full potential of their wild and cultivated seaweed stocks, as nature-based solutions to addressing the pressing environmental and socio-economic challenges we face.

The Seaweed Breakthrough will be composed of FOUR key areas:

(1) State of the World’s Seaweed Report 2025: This report is the first of its kind to bring together the most up-to-date scientific evidence on global seaweed diversity and distribution, the importance of seaweeds for human and planetary health, the threats seaweeds are facing and the current protection and restoration efforts that are underway to save them.

State of the World’s Seaweed Report 2025 – Full Version

State of the World’s Seaweed Report 2025 – Summary

(2) Guiding Principles: Used for implementing the Seaweed Breakthrough, these principles will be aimed at protecting seaweeds and their wider habitats in an ethical way. The guiding principles provide a Code of Conduct for all parties, including civil society organizations, governments, and the private sector who commit to endorsing the Breakthrough, and to reaching the targets in a fair and equitable way.

(3) Key Targets: Will include targets for (i) halting loss, (ii) protecting habitats, (iii) restoring lost or degraded habitats and (iv) financing the protection/restoration measures by 2030.

PLEASE NOTE: We have recently launched a call for experts to join us in developing these targets. If you think you have the expertise in one or more of the four target areas, please send your CV and short motivation statement (250 words max.) to seaweedprotect@nhm.ac.uk by Friday 25 July 2025. Call for Experts – Full details

(4) Pledges: Stakeholders from all aspects of society (e.g., governments, philanthropists, industry, academia) will be encouraged to pledge either financial or in-kind support for the Seaweed Breakthrough Targets.

Timeline:

1. Call for volunteers to apply to join a panel of experts to set targets for a Seaweed Breakthrough – Fri 13 June – UN Ocean Conference, Blue Zone, Nice, France (0845 – 1000 CET)
2. Extensive consultation with stakeholders (Jan – Aug 26)
3. Launch of Seaweed Breakthrough COP31 (Nov 2026)

Potential draft text to UN General Assembly for inclusion into the 2025 UN Nice Ocean Action Plan

Recognising the important role seaweeds play in ecosystem functioning, biodiversity provisioning, carbon cycling and in food security, trade and economic diversification, environmental sustainability, and local livelihoods of coastal communities, small-scale producers, traders, and other stakeholders, particularly in developing countries, Least Developed Countries (LDCs), and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Requests that ‘seaweeds’ are given as high a conservation status as coral reefs, mangroves and seagrasses due to their critical role in carbon cycling, biodiversity enhancement and sustaining island and coastal livelihoods.

Additional Notes:

Project leader Prof Elizabeth Cottier-Cook of SAMS, a partner of UHI, said: “Despite their significant ecological and economic importance, wild seaweeds receive minimal or no protection through policies or legislation globally.

“We’re not just looking at a looming biodiversity crisis; there is an entire economy that supports millions of families in developing nations. Women, who are integral to seaweed cultivation, are also able to be economically active in this industry, in areas where few opportunities exist.

“By establishing our ‘Seaweed Breakthrough’ based on robust scientific research, we hope to set out policies that can be adopted at the highest intergovernmental level to help safeguard wild stocks and, ultimately, safeguard the global seaweed farming industry.”

GlobalSeaweed SUPERSTAR involves a core research team of Prof Juliet Brodie of the UK’s Natural History Museum and Prof Lim Phaik Eem of Malaysia’s University of Malaya, as well contributions from the United Nations University Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS). This work is funded by the Global Centre on Biodiversity for Climate (GCBC) – a UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) programme that funds research into nature-based solutions to climate change and poverty reduction.

The project is one of 13 successful applicants selected from a total of 155. According to the World Economic Forum, nearly half of the global gross domestic product depends on nature, and yet biodiversity is disappearing quicker than at any time throughout history. A 2019 IPBES report found that around one million plant and animal species are currently threatened with extinction.

In the official grant announcement shared on the GCBC website, Professor Gideon Henderson, Chief Scientific Adviser, UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said: “We are very excited to announce the first round of grant award recipients through the Global Centre on Biodiversity for Climate (GCBC) in partnership with RBG Kew and DAI Global UK. This is a significant milestone and the first step towards delivering climate solutions for vulnerable populations by working in partnership with organizations across the Global South to harness nature’s potential to enhance climate resilience and improve livelihoods.”