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Seaweed develops in water everywhere, from the eternal glaciers to lagoons heated by the sun, from seas saturated with salt to the fresh water of our rivers. Yet we only know how to cultivate a few dozen varieties, at most. Incredibly diverse, seaweed could help to bring back balance in our ecosystems through a wide range of applications. It could allow us to better feed human beings and animals, replace plastic and fertilizers, boost medical innovations, mitigate global warming, repair biodiversity and support economies in coastal communities where fish stocks are declining.
Although seaweed has supported our development for millions of years, we have lost our connection with it and focused our efforts purely on land cultivation. Today a fast-growing global population, combined with climate, social and environmental crises, gives us compelling reasons to reconsider this forgotten treasure.
Vincent Doumeizel is Senior Adviser on the oceans to the United Nations Global Compact as well as director of the Food Programme at the Lloyd’s Register Foundation. A self-described optimist and global citizen, Vincent has in recent years devoted himself to promoting a food revolution and environmental solutions based on sea resources, especially seaweed. Vincent leads the charitable objectives of the Foundation through the funding of innovative projects to drive safety in the food supply chain. Partnering with the UN, FAO, World Bank, WWF, universities, NGOs and large brands, Vincent released the “Seaweed Manifesto” and now co-leads the Global Seaweed Coalition with the objective to scale up the seaweed industry safely in order to address some of the world’s most important challenges, such as hunger, global warming, pollution and poverty.
Charlotte Coombe is an award-winning British translator working from French and Spanish into English since 2008 across a variety of genres including literary fiction and non-fiction. She has translated more than a dozen books by authors including Marvel Moreno, Margarita García Robayo, Ricardo Romero, Eduardo Berti and Abnousse Shalmani. Her translations of short stories and poetry have appeared in literary journals such as The Southern Review, Modern Poetry in Translation, World Literature Today and Words Without Borders. She is also the co-founder of Translators Aloud, a YouTube project that shines a light on translators reading from their work.
"The potential of seaweed, or marine algae, to transform our world is huge [...] excellent book"
– New Scientist
"This book is a must-read for anyone who cares about our planet's future"
– Mark Lynas, journalist and author of Our Final Warning: Six Degrees of Climate Emergency
"An essential read for anyone who is curious about the extraordinary powers of seaweed to change the world"
– Alexandra Cousteau, Head of Oceans 2050, and Jacques Cousteau's granddaughter
"Seaweeds and algae have an essential role to play in the solutions available to us and Vincent Doumeizel's The Seaweed Revolution shows us how"
– Ambassador Peter Thomson, UNSG's Special Envoy for the Ocean and former President of the UN General Assembly
"Seaweed holds the key to help solve many of the crises the world is facing"
– Carlos M. Duarte, Executive Director of the Coral Research and Development Accelerator Platform
