Leveraging the blue economy to transform marine forest restoration

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

  • Karen Filbee-Dexter
  • Thomas Wernberg
  • Rodolfo Barreiro
  • Melinda A. Coleman
  • Thibaut de Bettignies
  • Colette J. Feehan
  • Joao N. Franco
  • Hasler, Berit
  • Ines Louro
  • Kjell M. Norderhaug
  • Peter A.U. Staehr
  • Fernando Tuya
  • Jan Verbeek

The UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration is a response to the urgent need to substantially accelerate and upscale ecological restoration to secure Earth’s sustainable future. Globally, restoration commitments have focused overwhelmingly on terrestrial forests. In contrast, despite a strong value proposition, efforts to restore seaweed forests lag far behind other major ecosystems and continue to be dominated by small-scale, short-term academic experiments. However, seaweed forest restoration can match the scale of damage and threat if moved from academia into the hands of community groups, industry, and restoration practitioners. Connecting two rapidly growing sectors in the Blue Economy—seaweed cultivation and the restoration industry—can transform marine forest restoration into a commercial-scale enterprise that can make a significant contribution to global restoration efforts.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Phycology
Volume58
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)198-207
Number of pages10
ISSN0022-3646
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2022
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Phycological Society of America.

    Research areas

  • coastal habitat, cultivation, industry, macroalgae, seaweed, upscaling

ID: 324690471