The veggie that links ocean and land

Seaweed specialist Vincent Doumeizel says seaweed will make agriculture healthier, sustainable AEROUS IN Nitin 

- Sreedhar

Seaweed is known in India largely as a superfood bringing flavour and health to fine dining, but seaweed specialist Vincent Doumeizel describes the algae as a nature-based solution to all sizes of global challenges. Seaweed's potential uses are limitless, he has us believe: It is capable of replacing plastic, rebuilding marine ecosystems and cleaning up the oceans. It could even create jobs and income for coastal populations where fishing is no longer an option.

Doumeizel, senior adviser on oceans to the UN Global Compact, an initiative that supports companies committed to responsible business practices, says a deeper understanding of the oceans is key to our survival, and that seaweed will have to be a big part of that future.

Having worked closely with the food industry, Doumeizel, who is also food programme director at the UK-based charity Lloyd's Register Foundation, realised that the solution to the world's hunger problems was not going to be found on land. According to data from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, between 691-783 million people faced hunger in 2022.

The solution is growing in the ocean. "If we want to feed the world of tomorrow, while repairing our planet, we must start to farm the ocean because that's the source of life on the planet. When you want to rebuild your house, you don't start with the roof; you start with the foundation," Doumeizel says in a video interview from Dubai.

His book, The Seaweed Revolution: How Seaweed Has Shaped Our Past And Can Save Our Future, which released earlier this year, charts the evolution of seaweed, its relevance and its uses, the complexities of cultivating these sea vegetables and the impact of climate change on seaweed. It is an almanac of algae, which Doumeizel calls the "base of the pyramid".