Planting seaweed into a forest under the ocean can combat climate change

Scientists believe that seaweed culture, then releasing mature trees to the ocean floor, could be an effective way to combat global warming. So why don't we do that?

When the forest on land was destroyed and burned

As the world's green lungs of the Amazon forest burn, more and more people are interested in how to plant forests that absorb carbon emissions to warm the planet, but not to burn. These could only be forests in the water.

One study is recognizing the potential of seaweed farming to combat climate change as tropical deforestation and terrestrial 'green lungs' are on the rise. The rapidly growing ocean forests of kelp and large algae are highly effective in carbon storage. Seaweed also improves acidification, oxygenation and other marine impacts on global warming and it is also a food and livelihood source for hundreds of millions of people.

Halley Froehlich, a marine scientist at the University of California, is the lead author of a new study that first quantifies the global capacity of large-scale seaweed farming to offset ground-carbon emissions. and mapping areas of the ocean suitable for large-scale seaweed farming.

According to an article in the journal Current Biology, seaweed farms account for only 3.8% of US waters, located off the coast of California, equivalent to 0.065% of the global ocean, suitable for algae farming enough to neutralize gas. $ 50 billion of the state's agricultural waste.

A mixture of kelp, Irish moss and sea lettuce is harvested off the coast of Maine.

Seaweed is currently grown on a small scale for use in food, medicine and beauty products. However, the scientists propose to set up industrial scale farms to grow seaweed until it matures, harvests and then sinks into the deep ocean, where carbon dioxide is stored for hundreds of to thousands of years.

They found that simply culturing algae in 0.001% of the water surface area of ​​the seaweed cultivated worldwide and then transplanting it into the sea could offset the entire carbon footprint of the entire aquaculture industry. bridge. In total, there are 18.5 million square miles of ocean suitable for seaweed farming, the study concludes.

How to enforce?

However, Froehlich noted, this is only a research and the fact has not implemented seaweed farming on the ocean floor. The scientist hopes this paper will encourage engineers and economists to dialogue with each other to implement the idea.

Carlos Duarte, a leading seaweed scientist at the Red Sea Research Center in Saudi Arabia, attended a presentation on the findings of the study in April.

The new research adds to previous studies to make a global estimate and points to seaweed farming as a major way to mitigate climate change. However, he disagreed with the seaweed sinking.

Seaweed is a very valuable material and has many better uses of this material, while contributing to climate change mitigation, rather than submerging it in the deep sea, he said.

Froelhich and other marine ecologists argue that cultivating seaweed to attract carbon will solve many environmental diseases including in the ocean and on land.

In addition to its potential to counteract acidification and dehydration, absorb excess nutrients and provide habitat for marine life in at least 77 countries, seaweeds can be processed into biofuel. learn. And research has shown that adding seaweed to animal feed can reduce up to 70% of metal emissions from cows and other grazing animals, as a source of gas. global greenhouse. Seaweed can also be used as a soil supplement for agriculture, replacing petroleum-based fertilizers.

Expert Scotty Schmidt, CEO of Primary Ocean Company in Los Angeles, is implementing a technology development funding project to deploy large-scale seaweed farms of the US Government."According to calculations, seaweed may be a very effective tool against climate change, but it must be confirmed by the market."

'Seaweed farming just for carbon sequestration is not a viable business way at the moment because virtually no carbon market is willing to accept offsetting credits for seaweed farming,' he said.

Schmidt said that the strategy of Primary Ocean is to exploit raw materials from seaweed for sale in agriculture. If that carbon and sales credits could be profitable, the company could dispose of seaweed waste.

Forcing international carbon credit counters to accept seaweed as a legal source of greenhouse gas emissions is one of the bigger challenges.

Science and needs are available. The bottleneck is that the catalyst makes production meet demand, Mr. Duarte said. In particular, carbon credit protocols should be used to claim carbon credits from seaweed farming, and the preferential conditions and licenses for seaweed farming need to be included in the legislation.

Despite the long coastline suitable for seaweed culture, the US has almost no offshore aquaculture activities. China and other Asian countries that produce the most cultivated seaweeds around the world are expected to take the lead in enforcing turning algae into a green carbon source.