Sargassum challenges, responses, and collaboration in West Africa

Pelagic Sargassum is a free-floating brown seaweed that blossoms naturally in the warm waters of the Sargasso Sea of the Northern Atlantic Ocean. The unprecedented recent invasion of Sargassum seaweed on coastal shores in West Africa and the Caribbean Sea is being attributed to factors that include warming of the ocean due to global climate change, discharge of macronutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus forms) from agricultural run-off and wastewater originating from point sources and from major river basins such as the Congo and Amazon Rivers, and the deposition of iron and nutrient-rich Saharan dust on the ocean.

The third webinar will take place on  22 September 2020 with focus on the West Africa region, where Sargassum is becoming a regional phenomenon, negatively impacting aquatic resources, fisheries, waterway, and shorelines. This webinar will feature leading experts from affected countries in the region (Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo) local and international organizations working on marine and coastal biodiversity management to share information, build knowledge on the phenomenon, promote best practice and develop ocean governance arrangement in combating the Sargassum phenomenon in West Africa.

The event will take place on Tuesday, 22 September 2020; 1600-1800 hours; East African time (UTC+3).

Please register here. 

Watch the recording of the webinar here.