An Ocean of Opportunities: The Potential of Seaweed to Advance Food, Environmental and Gender Dimensions of the SDGs Geneva, 2024 © 2024, United Nations All rights reserved worldwide Requests to reproduce excerpts or to photocopy should be addressed to the Copyright Clearance Center at copyright.com. All other queries on rights and licences, including subsidiary rights, should be addressed to: United Nations Publications 405 East 42nd Street New York, New York 10017 United States of America Email: publications@un.org Website: https://shop.un.org/ The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. The designations employed and the presentation of material on any map in this work do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Mention of any firm or licensed process does not imply the endorsement of the United Nations. This publication has not been formally edited. United Nations publication issued by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNCTAD/DITC/TED/2024/1 Advance copy ISBN: 978-92-1-003065-6 eISBN: 978-92-1-358834-5 Sales No. E.24.II.D.7 ii An ocean of opportunities: The potential of seaweed to advance food, environmental and gender dimensions of the SDGs Contents Acronyms.................................................................................................................................v Acknowledgements..................................................................................................................v Executive summary.................................................................................................................vii 1. Introduction...................................................................................................................................1 2. What is seaweed and why does it represent a new sustainable ocean economic opportunity? .............................................................................................................................2 3. Outlook of the seaweed industry and its potential for food security and environmental dimensions of sustainable development................................................................................4 3.1 Economic and trade outlook of the seaweed industry.......................................................4 3.2. The role of seaweed in global food chains.........................................................................8 3.3. Seaweed farming as a tool for climate mitigation and environmental sustainability...........10 4. The seaweed value chain through a gender lens: a gender inclusive value chain?.............18 4.1 Horizontal factors affecting women participation in the seaweed value chains...................18 a) Scarce data availability along the value chain...............................................................18 b) Limited women participation in decision making along the value chain.........................19 4.2 Towards a gender inclusive value chain?...........................................................................21 a) Production (cultivation or wild collection)......................................................................21 b) Processing...................................................................................................................22 c) Commercialization.......................................................................................................24 d) Consumption...............................................................................................................25 e) Science and research..................................................................................................25 4.3. Lessons learnt from the United Republic of Tanzania, Portugal, and Kenya......................26 a) Women empowerment in Africa’s largest seaweed producer and exporter..................26 b) Portugal’s innovative women led land-based system to farm seaweed........................28 c) Women’s leading role in removing plastic in seaweed farming practices in Kenya........29 5. Conclusions.............................................................................