Researchers warn that restoring seaweed forests does not combat climate change and may generate CO2 emissions

Restoring and cultivating seaweed forests is not a major solution to combating climate change and could, under certain conditions, contribute to carbon dioxide emissions, according to a new study cited by AFP. Researchers emphasize that warming oceans are already affecting these ecosystems.

Like terrestrial forests, seaweed absorbs billions of tonnes of carbon annually through photosynthesis. However, the global decline of seaweed forests, caused primarily by rising ocean temperatures, reduces their capacity to sequester carbon and may release CO2 into the atmosphere.

According to the authors, the scale of losses caused by climate change is 1,000 to 10,000 times greater than the gains achieved through restoring, planting or cultivating seaweed. Researcher Karen Filbee-Dexter says the priority should be preventing the disappearance of existing forests, not merely expanding them.

Experts are calling for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, protection of coastal waters, limits on overfishing and a reduction in other pressures on marine ecosystems.