The Safe Seaweed Coalition (SSC) is calling for proposals to support the safety and sustainability of the seaweed industry as it scales up and to unite a fragmented market through a unified vision and goals.
It is designed as a bottom-up organization covering the entire seaweed value chain to raise the voice of its members – from smallholder farmers to multinational businesses, specialized research institutes to intergovernmental organizations – working together to realize the full potential of the seaweed industry and to ensure its safety for consumers, for workers and for the environment. Together, they strive to help the seaweed sector develop into an industry that will make a significant contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through improving public health and food security, alleviating poverty, reviving marine ecosystems, and mitigating climate change.
They will support foresight workshops, task forces, working groups, training events, staff exchanges, technology platforms, pilot demonstration, prototypes, capacity building, educational programmes. Collaboration and co-funding with other projects and networks supporting similar actions is welcome.
The funding schemes of the Safe Seaweed Coalition are expected to facilitate the organization of working groups, workshops, knowledge platforms and innovations to provide best-practice operations to build and improve global standards and regulations for both the safety of seaweed (food and environmental safety) and the occupational safety of those producing it. Pilots, prototypes, and demonstrators will provide the required specifications, techno-economic models for the potential of replication at a larger scale or in other regions. The Coalition will support innovative platform technologies to accelerate the development of integrated systems of cultivation and processing of seaweed. It will help to identify and secure test bed areas, initiate taskforces on safety issues, and promote integrated activities both on-shore and off-shore through proof-of-concept and safety testing.
Objectives
The core objectives of the SSC are three aspects of safety:
Consumer safety - Defining commonly agreed safety standards for seaweed products used by consumers.
Environmental safety - Ensuring scaled-up production and processing of seaweed is sustainable and restores ecosystems.
Operational safety - Ensuring the welfare of workers is protected at every stage of the seaweed value chain.
Topics: Food and Consumer Safety, Environmental Safety, Biosecurity, Certification, Traceability, Technology and Innovation Safety, Occupational Health
Funding Information
Grants will be allocated up to a maximum of EUR 50,000. These grants will help the development of food, environmental, and occupational safety in the sector as it grows (rather than the scaling-up of the sector per se).
Safe Seaweed Coalition funding will be made available during the first 18 months of a project.
Type of Activities
Workshops, task forces, working groups, training events, staff exchanges, technology platforms, pilot demonstration, prototypes, capacity building, educational programmes. Collaboration and co-funding with other projects and networks supporting similar actions is welcome.
SSC Funding can be used to
Drive thought leadership and convene key, influential stakeholders
Build and improve global standards and regulations for:
Food and feed safety
Food packaging safety
Biodiversity safety
Occupational safety
Organize technical working groups and industry taskforces on safety issues
Promote, test, pilot and disseminate academic research on safe seaweed production; support further funding and sector investments
Support education in safety for seaweed production
Eligibility Criteria
The SSC will take into consideration a suitable geographical balance in its selection of projects across all continents.
Grant Size: $10,000 to $100,000
Category: Grant
For more information, visit Safe Seaweed Coalition.
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