Coast4C

Area of Focus:

Protect and Regenerate Nature

Geography:

Philippines

Coast 4C is on a mission to build the world’s largest value chain for regenerative seaweed, while strengthening the economic resilience of vulnerable small-scale farmers.

Seaweed, along with other marine plants, plays a key role in oxygen production, contributing to the ocean’s role in generating over half of the oxygen we breathe. Seaweed is also a rich source of colloids, a substance used across cosmetic, pharmaceutical and food products as a gelling or thickening agent and stabiliser. This makes it a valuable resource for which there is a growing demand. In fact, the carrageenan market, a natural food additive derived from red seaweed, is currently valued at US$1 billion and expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8%.

The vast majority of seaweed supply is produced by small-scale farmers in the Philippines and Indonesia living at or below the poverty line. For these individuals, seaweed farming constitutes a crucial income stream. Yet, tropical seaweed farming has largely remained unchanged for decades, contributing to marine plastic pollution as well as the overall decline of coral reefs. Coupled with convoluted value chains, productivity in the sector is waning and leaving many farmers trapped in poverty.

By providing high quality equipment and seedlings, alongside on-farm management support and technologies, Coast 4C aims to restore productivity in seaweed farming while delivering positive social and environmental outcomes. It is on a mission to build the world’s largest value chain for regenerative seaweed.

With TRANSFORM’s support, it will test its GROW programme and new technologies to increase efficiencies for scaling production. Through sustainable farming and post-harvest processes, the programme will improve both the farmers’ yields and crop value. Therefore, allowing more seaweed to be sold at a higher price point and boosting the livelihoods of farmers – many of whom are women.

Funding will also go towards research to build a strong business case for future impact investors. By hiring a monitoring team and working with a local university partner, TRANSFORM will help Coast 4C to validate the social and environmental impact of regenerative seaweed farming on improved Marine Protect Areas (iMPA).

Coast 4C expects to positively impact at least 20,000 people through its work with TRANSFORM and hopes to see its model replicated throughout the global tropics to eventually benefit an estimated 400 million small-scale fishers.