Addressing Sargassum Challenge and Opportunity VCC
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Sargassum poses a challenge to many coastal communities in the great sargassum belt. It also impact coastal ecosystems and the marine biosphere. With explosive growth by anthropogenic processes including nutrient-rich runoff and ocean warming, sargassum is often only seen as a threat. But it also is an opportunity. Collecting sargassum and processing it on land could establish a reverse flow of nutrients from the ocean to the land. Sargassum could be a source for fertilizers needed in agriculture. It could also be a source for other useful materials. The Community of Practice in this VCC aims at addressing the sargassum challenge and the opportunity sargassum opens up. We aim to develop a concept for a value chain from sargassum in the ocean to end users of products created out of sargassum and to facilitate pilot projects in different locations as a proof of concept. We aim at providing comprehensive information on sargassum and an assessment of the risks for the marine biosphere and humanity associated with the repeated blooms of sargassum. The risk assessment can inform risk governance and facilitate the development of interventions to adapt and mitigate the impacts of the blooms. The Sargassum VCC aims to support governmental and private economic activities to mitigate the sargassum risk and to explore opportunities and benefits.

Sargassum VCC Billboard

[Oct 27, 2026] AirCentre's Networking Fridays focus on Sargassum across the Atlantic: On October 16, 2026, the AirCentre focused on the health impacts of decomposing sargassum. For more information and a link to the recording and the slides see the AirCentre event Webpage. On October 30, 2026, the next session will focus on “Governing the Tide: regional policy, coordination, and international frameworks.” More information is available here. On November 20, 2026, the session will discuss “Sargassum as Resource: circular economy, valorisation, and value chains”. For more information, see here.

News

Platform News

[Nov 03, 2026] AI is in all Google Searches but not on Place4Us: As Johana Bhuiyan reports in the article “Google says there’s no way to use Search without using artificial intelligence”, Google has made clear that all Google searches use AI. Anybody who uses Google search therefore supports the uncontrolled development of AI. The article unfortunately does not point to alternatives. DuckDuckgo.com, for example, allows switching of AI totally for all searches. It should be made mandatory that users can switch off AI in whatever service they utilize. Importantly, we working on Place4Us make every effort to keep AI away from the platform.

[Sep 26, 2026] “Digital Technology should be governed by people for people”: Joseph Gorden-Levit, the UN Global Advocate for Human-centric Digital Governance, in his opening remarks (starting at about 20:00 in the recordings) at the Digital Cooperation Day 2026 emphasized that “the decision we make in this moment are going to have a massive impact on everyone's life, on the whole future of humanity.” He underlined that how “digital technology is designed and developed and deployed should be governed by people for people.” The challenge is that some believe digital technology should be governed by the market. Place4Us is designed and governed by people and for people with no role to play for the market.

[Sep 26, 2026] “In the absence of truth, trust deteriorates”: This is what Mia Amor Mottley made very clear in her amazing speech at the 81st United Nations General Assembly. She said: “When we luck truth and we luck trust law becomes theater, News become spectacle, and science becomes just another opinion.” With respect to the ongoing ecocide in Gaza she quoted the Roman historian Tacitus who reported a statement of a Scottish chieftain about the Roman soldiers: “They make it desert and they call it Peace.”

[Sep 21, 2026] End Times Fascism: The book “End Times Fascism and the Fight for the Living World” by Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor underlines that the End Times Fascist have given up on humanity and this world. They are not only building the arks for themselves, they also accelerate the coming of the flood.

[Sep 21, 2026] Meta and Instagram ban ads with “social topics”: Stephen Burgen reports in the Guardian article “Meta bans ads for Virginia Woolf play in Spain because they relate to feminism” that Meta explained that “any mention of civil rights, feminism or social reform are usually classified as ‘social topics’ by our automatic system” and are filtered out. These topics are central to Woolf’s work. As reported, Meta recommended removing “key words” so that the text doesn’t appear to encourage activism. This underlines the importance of Place4Us, where social topics are at the forefront and activism is encouraged.

[Sep 13, 2026] "They are traitors to creation, to the wonders of here": Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor in their article “The end times fascists are plotting their escape from our world. Our mission is clear” make clear that the unholy alliance of the billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, Elon Musk and others, who suffer from an absence of awe in the face of the unique beauty of our home planet, is working toward an apocalyptic future from which only they as the chosen few will emerge unscathed. The authors claim that it is becoming clear how we stop them.