Introduction:

Seaweeds are highly productive resources and hold vast potential for contributing to development aspirations in Africa, and particularly to the development of Africa’s Blue Economy. Globally, seaweed is one of the fastest growing food production sectors in the world today. Seaweed has the potential to improve livelihoods, food security, preserve marine biodiversity, and empower value chains actors including some of the most vulnerable sectors of the population. Seaweeds also play a significant role in climate change adaptation. In East Africa, the majority of people working in the seaweed sector are women.

The seaweed sector has been identified as a priority for development by the AUDA-NEPAD and the World Bank. Together with the World Bank, the AUDA-NEPAD are working to maximize the value of Africa’s Blue Economy through implementation of key objectives of the Agency’s Blue Economy Program and the World Bank Group’s AquaInvest Platform and Blue Economy for Resilient Africa Program (BE4RAP). While the seaweed sector in Africa is considered nascent in many respects, it offers significant opportunities for livelihood diversification and is one to watch for blue economy expansion in Africa.

Some of the key challenges maximising the potential of seaweed for the continent are the large knowledge gaps in the diversity of seaweeds on the continent, the extent of their occurrence, status, value, and feasibility for use and value addition. In addition, the number and diversity of stakeholders requires an inclusive and collaborative approach.

Rationale:

On this journey the AUDA-NEPAD and World Bank have collaborated with a range of partners notably with South Korea and African governments and embarked on a journey to develop a broad African Seaweed initiative to strengthen the community of practice and raise the profile of Africa’s seaweed value chains. The initiative will involve support for the coordination of efforts and stakeholders involved in the industry by strengthening the community of practice and facilitating dialogue among key stakeholders on improved seaweed production, processing and marketing while moving towards women’s empowerment.

This seaweed session is expected to contribute to the awareness of the importance and potential of seaweed in Africa, the development of a broader seaweed community of practice for Africa. The session is also aligned to AFRAQ24 Conference theme and objectives on “Blue Farming: New Horizons for Economic Growth”.

Objectives & Intended Outcome:

The overall goal of this session is to serve as a platform to share information, lessons and best practices on the status and development of seaweed aquaculture on the continent. The objectives of the session are to:

1. Showcase innovative approaches to seaweed aquaculture in Africa
2. Engage and consult with the sector on current experiences and proposed models for supporting seaweed aquaculture to attract finance and investment in the industry,
3. Receive feedback and energize the sector towards taking coordinated action, and
4. Agree on next steps to AFRAQ25.

The Seaweed session at AFRAQ24 will seek to further the ongoing innovative mechanisms in which respective stakeholders can engage with and support industry development over the medium - long term.