The UWI Regional
Headquarters, Jamaica, W.I. Friday, August 16, 2019—
For almost 10 years, the Caribbean region has been experiencing
massive influxes of the sargassum seaweed which negatively impacts
key social and economic sectors such as fisheries and tourism. The
University of the West Indies (The UWI) in its strategic mission to
develop a culture of resilience planning for the Caribbean, has
invested significant resources over the years in tackling the
sargassum challenge. In its most recent initiatives, last month, The
UWI, through its new Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management
Centre (GTRCM) led a forum to facilitate collaboration, knowledge
sharing and best practices to tackle the threat with Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) and also held discussions with the
United Nations (UN).

The forum held on
Friday, July 26, specifically addressed the type of sargassum which
originates from the coast of Brazil. Outcomes from the discussions
identified gaps and initiatives to foster synergies towards a
solution. Presentations were made by Professor Mona Webber, Director
of The UWI’s Centre for Marine Sciences and Discovery Bay Marine
Laboratory; Andres Bisono Leon and Luke Grey from MIT; Precision
Engineering Research Group; and Marion Sutton, Oceanographer and
Project Manager from Collecte Localisation Satellites in France.

Discussions with
the UN were held on July 30. The UN team, represented by the Head of
the Caribbean Sub-Regional Office of the United Nations Environment
Programme and the Sub-Regional Coordinator for the Caribbean of the
Food & Agriculture Organisation, agreed to collaborate in a
number of areas to manage the scourge of the sargassum seaweed
impact. The meeting led to agreement to focus on improving monitoring
to predict sargassum landing and development of monitoring system
available via a mobile app, which would allow the general public,
including affected groups such as fisher folk, to be able to better
prepare for any landings of this seaweed.

Commenting on the
various initiatives, The UWI’s Pro Vice-Chancellor, Graduate
Studies and Research, Professor, Stephan Gift said, “Our regional
University has been and continues to be actively involved in
sargassum research and is committed to collaborate with international
institutions on this issue.”

Across its
campuses, The UWI has been at the forefront of investigating,
applying science and technology to address problems and take
advantage of opportunities related to sargassum. In 2015 and 2018,
the Cave Hill campus hosted two regional sargassum symposia, which
brought together scientists, members of the public and private
sectors along with stakeholders across the fishing and tourism
industries. Following these meetings, extensive applied research
projects and development programmes have been ongoing with regional
and international partners. Some of these include sea turtle
conservation, management plans and removal, practical guides for
fishermen, early warning and tracking of the sargassum, as well as
turning it into useful products such as fuel.

At St Augustine,
researchers have been investigating the commercialization of novel
substances derived from sargassum seaweed for sustainable agriculture
and pesticide reduction. So far, the findings from its use have
indicated significant decrease in plant disease and marked increase
in crop yield. Another major investigative project involves the
application of an extract from sargassum as a biodegradeable
alternative in the reduction of solid waste as well as for the
treatment of polluted water for domestic use.

In addition to the
recent collaboration in Jamaica through the GTRCM, researchers at the
Mona campus established a ‘Sargassum Group’ to explore the
commercial uses of the seaweed. This has led to experiments involving
its use as compost fertilizers for agricultural crops and mangrove
seedlings and as an extract on breast cancer cell lines and
antimicrobial applications. As the work of this group continues, it
will join forces with the Centre to research and monitor risks
associated with sargassum and tourism resilience and crisis
management.

The issue of
saragassum is also expected to be featured during the Global Tourism
Resilience and Crisis Management Centre’s upcoming Summit of the
Americas carded for October 9-10, 2019 at the Mona campus. The Summit
themed, Tourism Resilience for
Sustainable Developments isaimed at further examining and
showcasing the experience, best practices, and lessons learnt from
tourism climatic resilience initiatives around the world.

About
The UWI

For
over 70 years The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has
provided service and leadership to the Caribbean region and wider
world. The UWI has evolved from a university college of London in
Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948 to an internationally
respected, regional university with near 50,000 students and four
campuses: Mona
in Jamaica, St.
Augustine
in Trinidad and Tobago, Cave
Hill in
Barbados, and an Open campus. As part of its robust globalization
agenda, The UWI has established partnering centres with universities
in North America, Latin America, Asia, and Africa including the State
University of New York (SUNY)-UWI Center for Leadership and
Sustainable Development;
the Canada-Caribbean Studies Institute with Brock University; the
Strategic Alliance for Hemispheric Development with Universidad de
los Andes (UNIANDES); the UWI-China Institute of Information
Technology, the University of Lagos (UNILAG)-UWI Institute of African
and Diaspora Studies and the
Institute for Global African Affairs with the University of
Johannesburg (UJ).
The UWI offers over 800 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and
postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering,
Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science &
Technology, Social Sciences and Sport. 

As the
region’s premier research academy, The UWI’s foremost objective
is driving the growth and development of the regional economy. Times
Higher Education
ranked The UWI among the top 1,258 universities in world for 2019,
and the 40 best universities in its Latin America Rankings for 2018.
The UWI was the only Caribbean-based university to make the
prestigious lists. For more, visit www.uwi.edu.

(Please
note that the proper name of the university is The University of the
West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)