Sargassum — unique opportunity for economic output, Grenada PM tells regional conference

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada (CMC) — Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell Tuesday said the Caribbean provides a unique opportunity to turn what is viewed as a sargassum problem into a solution that can have ripple effects to all of the stakeholders who have been negatively impacted.

Mitchell told delegates from the Caribbean, Central and South America, attending the two-day Second European Union-Caribbean Global Gateway conference on sargassum that the idea to host this conference bloomed out of the fourth small islands developing states (SIDS) conference held in Antigua earlier this year.

“I’m happy that we have been able to pull it off in relatively a short period of time, despite the intervening challenges that occurred,” Mitchell said in an obvious reference to the damage caused by Hurricane Beryl when it hit several Caribbean countries, including Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, in July.

He said the conference is an attempt to address the sargassum challenge, adding, “we believe that we have a unique opportunity in Grenada and in the Caribbean Basin to turn the tide on what is viewed as a problem into a solution and into a solution that can have ripple effects to all of the stakeholders that it has thus far negatively impacted.

“The lessons we are learning can help nations facing their own climate crisis, from wildfires in Canada to flooding in Europe,” Mitchell said, noting the devastation and death in the United States caused by Hurricane Helene.

“It is our actions that have led to hurricanes that are on steroids. It is our actions that have led to the blooming of sargassum that are on steroids. And so, it is all collective actions that will, in fact, change the course and turn the tide on this.

“And so, I think this is a unique opportunity for us to show that through partnership, we can find the solutions that can be sustainable and that can lead to changing problems into solutions.”

Mitchell, who is also chairman of CARICOM, said that sargassum had taken over as much as 70% of the east coast of Grenada, “blanketed with sagassum, both on land and in the ocean.

“… in some instances, the sargassum are walls of sargassum. I’m not a big man, but sometimes the walls are tall enough that you can stand on the walls and not sink,” Mitchell said.

He added that there’s a photo of him standing on a wall of sargassum that is strong enough to at least take his weight, “and I suspect perhaps the weight of several other persons here in the room.

“Now you may see this as a problem, or you may see it as a solution. So it clearly tells me that sargassum has properties that, even when dried, perhaps could be used in construction, perhaps could be used in see defences. “

Mitchell, an attorney, reminded the conference being held under the theme “Turning the Tide: Sustainable Practices and Economic Opportunities for Sargassum in the Caribbean Basin”, that while he is neither a scientist nor researcher, perspective matters, “and so it’s important for us to make sure that our perspective is that we will find the solutions”.

He said he hoped the conference will end with “ very concrete solutions and action points that we can share with the world and with the region.

“This is a regional challenge, and we must pursue a regional approach to it. We may all get there at different points in that march, but it is absolutely important that we come out of this two-day conference with a regional consensus as to the approaches that we will take to treat with this challenge and this opportunity.”

He said the conference has brought together some of the brightest minds on the subject with experts, scholars, practitioners from diverse backgrounds, from just about 30 different countries, both in person and virtual participants.

“Our collective diversity is going to be key to challenging conventional wisdom and generating bold new ideas. And I want to emphasise that we are not here to maintain the status quo.

“So, we should not be afraid to be disruptive. We should not be afraid to be innovative in championing some of the solutions that we may think is appropriate for addressing this issue.

“We expect, not, that we hope, we expect that this conference will create sustained partnerships that will allow participants to share resources, knowledge and best practices to foster a stronger and more collaborative future,” Mitchell said, adding “we must allow the science to inform the policy”.

Mitchell said he was sure there will have some scientific consensus that sargassum will remain a significant opportunity in the region’s coastal ecosystems due to environmental changes for a sustained and foreseeable future.

“The causes are complex, and we are not here to complain so I will not lament. I will accept that objectively, we have the sargassum. It will keep coming, and if it presents us with an opportunity.

“So, I expect that everyone has something to contribute. Hence the whole-of-society approach to tackling this issue. I believe we have students who should be here if they’re not here, we expect them throughout the day, and therefore, we want to emphasize that we should not discount the value of youthful input into this exercise.

“We should not be afraid to be frank, open and transparent in our discourse with each other. This is the second time this conference is happening, so it is a wonderful opportunity for us to relook, rethink, regard our thoughts and be very clear with each other.”

Mitchell said that the clearer delegates are, the better the communication, the more likely the conference will reach consensus on any given issue.

“We expect that strong partnerships that are already in place will continue to grow and blossom and will all blossom the sargassum bloom and when we all return to a respective familiar places that we call home, our roles as ambassadors in continuing to champion, speak about and foster the partnership would be even more critical. “

He said it is is clear from just taking a cursory look at the boots outside of this door that there are significant opportunities already for exploiting this resource.

“What we need to ensure is that we can scale this up, we can fund it, and we can make it sustainable, and importantly, we can empower the communities that have been negatively impacted by this. It is critical because there are lots of communities who’ve suffered as a result of our inability thus far to treat with this issue.”

Mitchell acknowledged that if there is going to be a regional approach, there will be points of friction, there will be differences of perspectives.

“There will be laws, rules, regulations that we are going to have to address. We are dealing with the sea, and the sea just like land has boundaries, has limits, has jurisdictional issues. “But again, I would urge us, and particularly for the policy makers who are in the room and who have the ability to treat with those issues that the sargassum doesn’t respect any jurisdiction.

“It does not respect any boundary delimitation. It doesn’t miraculously, say, I’m going to spare Grenada and I’m going to go to Venezuela, I’m going to spare St. Lucia and I’m going to go to Dominica. And so we would urge that we not use conventional borders and barriers to prevent us from finding global or regional solutions to the challenges that we face,” Mitchell said.

The conference is an initiative under Global Gateway, the European Union’s strategy to boost investments that generate smart, clean and secure value chains across the world.

The Barbados-based Delegation of the European Union said that since 2011, countries within the wider Caribbean basin have wrestled with the growing inundations of sargassum on their coasts.

It said that this phenomenon has a substantial economic impact in sectors like tourism and fisheries, and poses public health risks and the event  will provide the estimated 250 delegates an opportunity “to drive dialogue, action and investment in Sargassum.

In her address to the conference, head of the European Union Delegation of the European Union to Barbados, the Eastern Caribbean States, the OECS and CARICOM/CARIFORUM, Małgorzata Wasilewska, said the EU is “absolutely committed to making this conference not another talk shop that we come out with commitment and clear understanding what we’re going to do when we leave here.

“The momentum is definitely there,” she said, urging delegates to imagine the beach covered with “brownish, smelly, stinky seaweed that would not allow you to walk on that beach or swim on that beach, and that affects local community.

“We mustn’t allow that to happen. In preparing for this conference, we were actually amazed ourselves to find out how much is going and how much is being done in various parts of the world.

“..the research is out there. We just need to make sure that we find ways of using that research in order to address the problem. But there are also a lot of smaller, some bigger, but most very small initiatives that are already producing various products from sargassum.”

The EU diplomat said that the conference will also look at funding, saying that is why European Investment Bank as well as other international financial institutions are in attendance.

“The funding can be available, but we need to be creative…we need to find a creative way of transforming the problem into economic benefit that will free up tourism, that will create jobs, and they will basically earn money, both for the region, as well as for the investors,” she added.