Santo Domingo (EFE).- The Caribbean region raised the need for the highest international organizations to offer their support in the face of the sargassum crisis, given the forecasts that 70 million tons of these algae will arrive this year in the area with the consequent damage to the economy and the environment.
This was stated by representatives of Caribbean countries and the European Union (EU) during a conference held in Santo Domingo, in which it was agreed to intensify joint research efforts to stop the arrival of sargassum in Caribbean countries, many of which their main source of foreign currency is tourism.
“Our efforts cannot be generated in an isolated way, so we will not achieve it,” said Dominican Foreign Minister Roberto Álvarez, who reiterated his country’s proposal that the issue of sargassum should be included in the work plans of the United Nations Program For the enviroment.
In this sense, he urged the approval of a resolution on sargassum in the General Assembly of the United Nations.
“We must face this crisis through the exchange of knowledge and technologies, the coordination of efforts, the financing of projects and the awareness and education of the population,” added the diplomat.
Need for concentrated action against sargassum
Meanwhile, the executive vice-president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, highlighted the importance of concerted action by all the actors who can help identify solutions to this problem.
For his part, the director of the European Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Félix Fernández, indicated that a structured, political and practical approach is needed such as that provided by the European Union’s Global Gateway Investment Agenda.
Fernández suggested starting by investing in research to find out what can be done to mitigate the effects and take advantage of the opportunities offered by these macroalgae, while expressing the interest of the EU in including sargassum in its roadmap and advocated carrying out public-private efforts to ensure that it does not reach the beaches.
For his part, the Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation, Sustainable Development and Culture of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Carlos James, said that the influence of sargassum is a threat to economies that can be “devastating” due to climate change, Therefore, he recommended that the countries work on this issue from a technical point of view to find solutions.
Threats to the environment, the economy and health
More than 70 million tons of sargassum will arrive in the Caribbean this year, according to data offered at the conference by the Minister of the Environment of the Dominican Republic, Miguel Ceara Hatton, who estimated between three and four million tons received by his country. .
“Sargassum -he stressed- represents a threat to the environment, the economy, and public health, generating increasingly higher costs for coastal communities in our region.”
During the meeting, in which representatives of 35 countries participated, the Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), Rodolfo Sabonge, recalled that at the fourth summit of that organization, held in May in Guatemala, the organization stressed in his statement the need to declare the sargassum situation as an emergency associated with the climate crisis.
“This crisis represents a significant threat to our economic and social development,” Sabonge warned in his speech.
Sargassum (Sargassum spp.) is a floating macroalgae that forms colonies which cover large areas and move according to ocean currents.