Climate Challenges and Adaptive Futures for Women Seaweed Farmers in the Global South

Summary

Seaweed aquaculture has expanded rapidly since the 1990s, celebrated for its ecological services, livelihood benefits, and potential to support inclusive and sustainable community prosperity. Women often dominate production in shallow coastal zones, yet their contributions remain undervalued in research and policy. While seaweed farming is frequently framed as empowering, emerging literature highlights how environmental pressures—driven by climate change and local anthropogenic stressors—can deepen intersectional marginalisation, especially for women constrained by limited marine access and resources. This paper examines environmental and ecological marginalisation in women’s seaweed aquaculture through a Feminist Political Ecology (FPE) lens. An analysis of the relevant scholarship reveals that low-income women producers, in particular, are disproportionately exposed to ecological stresses because they farm in shallow inshore sites most vulnerable to heat stress, disease outbreaks, seasonal temperature fluctuations, storms, and irregular rainfall, as well as pollution. These dynamics undermine yields, income, and health while intensifying resource precarity. Women nevertheless innovate adaptive practices, from deepwater farming to value addition, though their capacity is constrained by structural and intersectional inequalities in access to knowledge, finance, and mobility. The paper argues that addressing environmental marginalisation requires context-specific research, stronger peer exchange, and South–South collaboration.