Diverse Roles of Seaweed in the Blue Carbon Economy and Sustainable Development: A Comprehensive Review

Abstract

The imperative to replace fossil fuels with renewable fuels, such as marine ecosystem-derived fuel and food, has spurred the development of a blue carbon economic model. Seaweed emerges as a pivotal element in this framework, demonstrating potential as a substantial carbon sink. Seaweed serves multiple purposes, encompassing climate change adaptation and mitigation and contributing to advancing a bioeconomy by reducing dependence on fossil fuels. Seaweed also holds promise as a source of human food, cattle feed, biofuels, renewable feedstocks, and other versatile applications. Numerous contemporary scientific publications, reputable organizations, and business resources offer illuminating insights and fresh perspectives on how seaweed can effectively contribute to the growing blue carbon economy, providing innovative tools for combating long-term climate change. This comprehensive review delves into the multifaceted potential of seaweed, concentrating on its contributions to carbon sequestration, its role as a blue carbon precursor, and the carbon-neutralization capabilities of both wild seaweeds and seaweed farming. Moreover, it explores the specific role of seaweed in the blue carbon economy, mainly as cattle feed in ruminant diets. In addition, seaweed cultivation has the potential to mitigate global climate change, promote economic development, and support sustainable livelihoods, offering a versatile solution to address pressing environmental and socioeconomic challenges.

Received: 13 September 2023 | Revised: 5 November 2023 | Accepted: 2 December 2023

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to this work.

Data Availability Statement

Data available on request from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Author Contribution Statement

Prakash Saravanan: Conceptualization, Methodology, Resources, Data curation, Writing - original draft, Visualization. Antara Chatterjee: Conceptualization, Methodology, Resources, Data curation, Writing - review & editing, Visualization. Gourav Dhar Bhowmick: Conceptualization, Data curation, Writing - review & editing, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition.