EU promises help to tackle sargassum seaweed

The European Union has signalled its intention to work with the Caribbean to deal with the annual influx of sargassum seaweed.
Visiting European Commission Vice President for the European Green Deal Frans Timmermans told the media on Tuesday afternoon that with ocean temperatures rising, it is anticipated that even more seaweed will wash up on coastlines in the future, and steps must be taken to make the situation more manageable.
“I think we can put our minds to this and look for ways in which we can come up with solutions that turn sargassum from a problem into perhaps an opportunity. In some places, they are building bricks with it; in other places, they are looking at whether it can be used in the energy mix. We have to look into these solutions, but even if we don’t find these solutions to use it in a positive way, we have to find solutions to reduce its impact,” he said.
“And that is, I repeat, a global responsibility. This cannot be left only on the shoulders of those countries like Barbados which are experiencing the primary effects of it. So here is an offer from the European Union to work together on this and to also use the next CELAC [Community of Latin American and Caribbean States] Summit to make this a very topical issue for the Caribbean, and I believe that could help us foster this bond even stronger.”
Speaking at the Hillcrest Community Centre in Bathsheba, St Joseph after touring the Bridgetown Fisheries Complex, the HOPE housing project at Lancaster, St James, Six Men’s Bay Fishing Village, St Peter and Walkers Reserve, St Andrew, with Prime Minister Mia Mottley, Senior Minister Kerrie Symmonds, Minister of the Environment Adrian Forde and several other government officials, Timmermans agreed that massive amounts of private sector money would be needed to address the climate crisis.
“If we need massive amounts of investment, it can never be only public money. We will have to unleash the potential of trillions of private investment. But to do that, we need to take a hard look at how the international financial architecture is functioning. It is based on the world of 1946; it should be brought into the 21st century and PM Mottley’s proposals are exactly going in that direction,” he stated.
Timmermans insisted that the world must act swiftly to address the climate crisis, saying that “the longer you take, the more difficult it becomes and the more money it will cost to face the challenges”.
(JB)