future sustainable seaweed industries in europe social aspects … · future sustainable seaweed...
TRANSCRIPT
11
Future Sustainable Seaweed Industries in Europe –Social Aspects and the Need for Public Dialogues
Rita Clancy, EURIDA Research Management‘MacroFuels’ Communication and Public Engagement
9th Nordic Seaweed Conference, 9th Oct 2019, Grenaa/DK
2
Social Impacts
“Social impacts can be understood as events that can lead to changes in human wellbeing.” Weidema, Dreyer et al., Jørgensen et al., Social Life Cycle Assessment
Aspects
Indicators for “wellbeing”
Affected groups
Perceived vs. objectively measurable
Benchmarking
Acceptable levels of change
To build sustainable industries social aspects that can result in social impacts have to be understood and considered as early as possible.
3
Social Aspects and Social Facts
A social fact consists of collective thoughts and shared expectations that influence individual actions. Examples of social facts include social roles, norms, laws,
values, beliefs, rituals, and customs. (Emile Durkheim)
Perceptions, values and customs have to be understood (might differ with region, education, occupation, age etc.)
Participatory concepts to assess social aspects and impacts –Citizen Panels, Focus Groups
4
Public perception - “Everybody loves seaweed”
5
“Everybody loves seaweed”
6
So let us grow and use seaweed, teach everyone how healthy and climate friendly it is
and help to save the planet!
The End
7
So let us grow and use seaweed, teach everyone how healthy and climate friendly it is
and help to save the planet!
The End
Not Quite
8
The Challenges (Alert! Europe-centric view)
9
Mechanised wild harvest Small-scale cultivation
Select applications Growing demand
Seaweed industry in Europe today
Strong ecosystem impact Supply issues
Lack of market pull Opportunity & challenge
10
Visions for the future of seaweed in Europe
Large-scale seaweed farmsAutomated processes
Diversified usage for- Food- Feed
- Pharma- Bioenergy
- Biomaterials
Biorefinery
Bioremediation
11
Assessing Social Impacts
Social Life Cycle Assessment (s-LCA)Assess the social aspects of productsand their potential positive andnegative impacts along their lifecycle:Production of feedstock;Pre-treatment & conversionProductionDistributionUse, re-use; maintenance; recycling;and final disposal.
12
The MacroFuels Case
Develop technologies to produce advanced liquid biofuels from seaweed for transportation i.e. aviation, cargo and truck fuels.
13
CultivationHarvesting, pre-treatment
& storage
Conversion Fuel & transport
Sustainability and social aspects along the value chain
14
General approach and findings
Combined literature analysis, Social Hotspots Database and participatory formats – Citizen Panel ‘Coastal Community’, online questionnaire
Valuable insights gained from local communities Different perspectives on ‘wellbeing’, public perceptions and support
strongly depend on Scale of operations Environmental performance Local economic opportunities Co-use opportunities Previous knowledge
15
Cultivation
Sustainability and social aspects along the value chain
Work places
Economic development of coastal regions
Environmental state of coastal
communities
Protection of shorelines in vulnerable
areas Revival of rural areas
Regional empowerment
Influx of non-local workforce
Other ocean uses
Climate change
mitigation
16
Harvesting, pre-treatment
& storage
Sustainability and social aspects along the value chain
Work places
Settling of further seaweed-based industries in rather remote
areas
Regional development & empowerment
Influx of non-local workforce
Automatisation of processes
17
Conversion
Sustainability and social aspects along the value chain
Influx of non-local workforce
Work places
Settling of further seaweed-based industries in rather remote
areas
Regional development & empowerment
18
Fuel & transport
Sustainability and social aspects along the value chain
Work places
Climate change
mitigation Decarbonise Transport
Health & Safety
Counter ILUCSupport
market pull
19
Social Risks vs Opportunities
Work places
Influx of non-local workforce
Other ocean uses
Economic development of coastal regions
CultivationLow income jobs
Seasonal work
Community cohesion
Cultural changePotential revival
Competitionvs.
Co-use
Industrialisation of rural areas
Economic growth
Most can be avoided or mitigated by sound practice and standards
Automated processes
Economy vs. labour displacement
Environmentalconcerns
Negative perception
20
CultivationLow income jobs
Seasonal work
Community cohesion
Cultural changePotential revival
Competitionvs.
Co-use
Include social standards in European
and international standards
(equal to MSC-ASC)
Involve communities and local authorities/
politicians in planning
Engage in dialogues with other ocean users,
e.g. offshore wind parks, ocean energy,
fishermen, other aquaculture
Standardise
Involve
Engage
Dialogues to maximise positive impacts and minimise risks
21
Industrialisation of coastal often
remote regions
Mechanisation/automatisation of
processes, esp. harvesting
EnvironmentalChange
Involve communities in planning,
be willing to listen and adjust concepts
Build consensus and develop standards
Assess environmental impacts,
Share and discuss results
Select appropriate sites
Agree on acceptable levels of change
Involve / Change
Accept?
Assess, share, agree
Remaining Risks
22
Visual impact of seaweed farm
Seaweed farms might cause entanglement of marine mammals
Large-scale seaweed farms could be a competition to existing fisheries and other aquaculture
Noise and dirt pollution by mechanised harvesting
Habitat extraction could harm marine fauna
Loss of cultivation equipment might pollute coastlines and beaches
Local Concerns towards large-scale Cultivation
Seaweed farms could lower the recreational value of the sea and coastal areas
Property value might decrease
Cultivated seaweed could be a threat to other native species
23
Take Home Messages
Assess and understand social aspects as part of overall sustainability
Engage closely with local/regional stakeholders, including civil society, to include local knowledge and give locals a share in the endeavour
Share your knowledge with wide groups so risks can be avoided and benefits maximised (incl. policy makers at national, regional, EU levels)
Do not rely on current positive perception of seaweed…opinions change quickly!
24
This presentation is part of the MacroFuels project. This project has
received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and
innovation programme under grant agreement No 654010