Grenada is expected to host the second European Union-Caribbean Global Gateway conference in early October of this year.
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. It will be held under the theme: ‘Turning the Tide: Sustainable Practices and Economic Opportunities for Sargassum in the Caribbean Basin’.
The Barbados-based Delegation of the European Union said that since 2011, countries within the wider Caribbean basin have struggled with the growing inundations of sargassum on their coasts.
They added that sargassum has a substantial economic impact in sectors like tourism and fisheries, and poses public health risks, adding that the event in October will provide the estimated 250 delegates an opportunity “to drive dialogue, action and investment in Sargassum valorisation and the development of value chains at scale to meet the magnitude of the challenge”.
Sargassum is a group of brown algae that provides food, refuge and breeding ground for many marine animals such as turtles, crabs, shrimps, fish and sea birds. They can be found in tropical and temperate oceans, in shallow water, coral reefs and the open ocean.
