Since 2011, Caribbean islands and few countries in Central America, notably Mexico and Belize, have grappled with massive accumulations of sargassum seaweed on their coastlines, causing significant disruptions on the environment, on local economies and raising serious concerns on public health. When stranded on the coastline, sargassum seaweed erodes coastal ecosystems, including mangroves, coral reefs, and seagrass beds, through several mechanisms: hindering the photosynthesis process and causing overmortality of pelagic biodiversity through suffocation or poisoning due to the release of heavy metals as they decompose. The methods of collecting sargassum seaweed on beaches, using heavy machinery, also contribute to coastal erosion.

The decomposition of sargassum seaweed on beaches emits hydrogen sulphide, degrading the quality of life of coastal populations and posing a potential threat to human health – still under study. Moreover, the seaweed influxes cause several disturbances on key sectors of Caribbean economies: tourism due to reduced beach access, potential health risks, and loss of attractiveness. Many Caribbean countries have experienced a sharp decline in tourism, with significant consequences for their overall economy, as tourism constitutes an essential pillar, representing approximately 18% of GDP in several countries in the region. The fishing industry is also affected by sargassum seaweed banks, as they provoke the corrosion of boats and ship engines and a decrease in fish population.

In this context, AFD is crafting a new programme which aimed at providing a regional response to the phenomenon of sargassum seaweed and commissioned Expertise France to conduct the feasibility study. The project seeks to provide a regional response to the issue of sargassum blooms in the Caribbean by strengthening regional coordination among affected countries, supporting both public and private actors in the integrated management of this biomass to create an environment conducive to the development of sargassum value chains. At this stage of development, the intervention logic of the programme is articulated into three components and one cross-cutting component:

OS1. Support the regional coordination by establishing or strengthening a network of expertise, to facilitate public decision-making through knowledge sharing, experience capitalization in sargassum management, and exchange of best practices among sargassum managers 

OS2. Support an enabling framework for value chain structuring in three or four Caribbean states to facilitate the development of an environment conducive to scaling up sargassum valorisation chains with high replicability potential.

OS3. Strengthen regional scientific cooperation to enrich knowledge on sargassum and produce data and capitalization materials to better assist the policy-makers and affected communities.

OS.4 Mainstream gender in the sargassum management and valorisation activities by public and private actors. The scope of this cross-cutting component is to be defined through this consultancy. 

Women are particularly vulnerable to sargassum influxes on different levels. The differentiated impacts on human health could vary between gender and are still under investigation. For instance, a 2022 study has suggested that pregnant women are at higher risk of developing complications during pregnancy when exposed to gases emitted from decomposing sargassum. More gender-specific data and information are needed to support the development of effective public response policies and risk reduction measures. The project envisages to contribute to the production of knowledge on gender aspects to ensure the sensitization of affected communities and develop resilience mechanisms for coastal communities with full consideration of women’s roles. 

On the economic aspect, women are potentially more prone to lose part of their activity, notably in tourism and fisheries sector when sargassum strandings occur, as a majority of women in the Caribbean islands are engaged in informal, low paid activities and occupy the least stable and skilled segment of the workforce. The project aims at reducing gender inequalities in access to income generating activities. To meet this objective, a specific support to women’s entrepreneurship and innovation in the sargassum value chains is envisaged, once all the preliminary steps for valorisation and environmental and social impact studies have been completed.