Presentation short abstract

Global seaweed aquaculture's rise as a flagship NbS is marked by a strategic concentration of industrial production in China/Indonesia. We interrogate the justice implications of this model, asking if it marginalizes community-centered, ecologically diverse pathways to coastal futures.

Presentation long abstract

Global seaweed aquaculture has surged, rising from 6.58 million tonnes in 1992 to 35.14 million tonnes in 2022, and is increasingly framed as a flagship Nature-Based Solution (NbS) for food security and climate mitigation. Drawing on a three-decade analysis of FAO data, this presentation critically interrogates this dominant “blue growth” narrative through a political ecology lens.

Our analysis reveals a profound socio-ecological transformation: a marked shift from diverse, often food-oriented species to industrial monocultures of red seaweeds cultivated for global commodity chains. This shift is geographically concentrated, with China and Indonesia now dominating 86% of global production. While representing a strategic harnessing of marine potential, this concentration of power raises critical questions about value capture and ecological distributive justice.

We argue the prevailing NbS narrative obscures the model's asymmetrical burdens. The expansion of large-scale, export-oriented production can reinforce socio-spatial inequalities, marginalize small-scale fishers, and prioritize commodity extraction over local food sovereignty and ecological resilience. Through this case, we explore the tensions between techno-managerial NbS frameworks and the principles of “nature-inspired justice.” We ask: Can seaweed aquaculture be re-imagined through decolonial, feminist, and redistributional principles to foster genuinely equitable and ecologically attuned coastal futures? This research grounds critiques of NbS in the political economy of a rapidly globalizing marine resource, contributing to debates on just transitions.