From ‘seaweed emergency’ to sustainable solutions

There’s a problem piling up on the shores of Mexico’s famous Yucatan Peninsula. Since 2011, a brown seaweed called sargassum has been drifting onto the popular beaches of Quintana Roo. In 2019, it got so bad that local officials declared a ‘seaweed emergency’.   

The unprecedented recent influx of Sargassum seaweed on coastal shores demonstrates the strain human activity has been putting on nature. Deforestation, agricultural expansion, and urbanization increase soil erosion and agricultural runoff, channeling micronutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers and wastewater into the Ocean. Combined with warming ocean temperatures from climate change, this creates conditions that fuel massive Sargassum blooms.

https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/video/seaweed-emergency-sustainable-solutions