For over a decade, extensive sargassum seaweed blooms have affected Caribbean coasts, disrupting fisheries, tourism and local communities and causing multi-million damage. Through the European Union’s (EU) Global Gateway Investment Agenda, the EU, Team Europe and Caribbean partners are working to turn this challenge into cleaner coastlines, new opportunities for employment, and a boost for local business ventures.

Governments, the private sector, academia, and international financiers came together to explore practical solutions for turning sargassum into economic opportunities and supporting its collection and management.

Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jozef Síkela, said: The sargassum crisis has been a persistent challenge for Caribbean communities, harming local livelihoods and causing costly damage to tourism, one of the region’s key economic sectors. But together, we are proving that this crisis can be turned into an opportunity – a source of jobs, innovation, and even clean energy across the region – by building value chains from sargassum

At the conference, Grenada, the Dominican Republic and Mexico pledged to collect and process at least 660,000 tonnes of sargassum between 2026 and 2027:

• Grenada: 10,000 tonnes
• Dominican Republic: 150,000 tonnes
• Mexico: 500,000 tonnes

This announcement is the first step towards a regional market for sargassum-based products, backed by EU support to mobilise investment and ensure the right policy frameworks are in place. The conference closed with the announcement of the fourth EU-Caribbean Global Gateway Conference on Sargassum in Mexico, ensuring the momentum and scaling operations continue across the region.