Algae ‘could survive nuclear war and avoid starvation,’ says new study

Imagine a catastrophic event that blocks the sun, such as the eruption of a large volcano, or even a nuclear war.

An international team of researchers says resilient food sources are needed to save humanity from starvation in the event of such an event – ​​and that algae could be the solution.

Seaweed is rich in nutrients and provides livelihoods to coastal communities in many low-income countries.

“Investing in building algae farms could prevent a global famine in scenarios of abrupt reduction in sunlight, thereby avoiding a significant number of starvation deaths,” said David Denkenberger, associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Canterbury, United Kingdom.

The research, published in the journal The future of the Earthdiscovered that algae is a versatile commodity, which can serve as an essential source of food and fuel when everything else becomes scarce following a widespread disaster.

It is resilient enough to survive and thrive in tropical oceans even after full-scale nuclear war, according to researchers at the Alliance to Feed the Earth in Disaster, Louisiana State University, USA. United, University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute (UP-MSI) and the University of Canterbury.

The researchers built a model based on the algae Gracilaria tikvahiae, commonly known as graceful redwood. Using available winter nuclear climate data, they simulated algae growth after an adverse global event.

Nuclear winter

According to the authors, if a nuclear war broke out and thousands of nuclear warheads were exchanged between nuclear powers, an estimated 150 teragrams (Tg) of soot emissions could be released into the atmosphere, blocking sunlight. for years.

But they found that there would still be enough sunlight for the algae to photosynthesize and grow, even with black carbon in the atmosphere.

Michael Roleda, professor at UP-MSI and co-author of the study, told SciDev.Net: “The light requirements of some algal species to saturate photosynthesis could be as low as 50 to 100 µmol of photons.”

He explained that sunlight in the tropics at midday on a cloudless day can reach nearly 2,000 µmol photons.

With optimal surface area for production and preparation, seaweed could meet the equivalent of 45% of global food demand after just nine months of scaled-up production, the study found. However, researchers also noted that algae could only provide 15% of the human diet due to its high iodine content.

Beyond an all-out nuclear war scenario, they said algae could be a viable addition to global food security now, as well as in smaller nuclear exchanges and volcanic eruptions.

Nutritional value

Seaweed, often eaten in salads or in dried food packages, is rich in proteins, minerals, vitamins, essential amino acids and fatty acids.

When asked if algae would be suitable for human consumption after a nuclear war, Roleda responded that it would naturally absorb contaminants from the environment, but that toxic substances bound and concentrated in algae could be reduced to safe levels.

“For example, post-harvest processing and pre-consumption preparation, such as washing and drying, enzymatic reaction and blanching or cooking, among others, have been found to significantly reduce the concentration of iodine and heavy metals in algae,” he said.

Seaweed production is a lifeline for many families living in poor coastal communities in low-income countries. The organism is largely protected underwater and can grow faster than any other known agricultural crop.

According to a 2021 Food and Agriculture Organization report, the production of cultivated algae in Asia contributed to 97% of the 34.7 million tonnes produced worldwide. In addition to being consumed as food, it is used in animal feed additives and cosmetics.

China currently produces more than 50% of the world’s supply, followed by Indonesia. Other notable producers are South Korea and the Philippines.

Another recent study, however, offers a different perspective on the impact of nuclear war and its disastrous consequences for all life in the world, including the decimation of marine life.

The authors simulated the climate impacts of nuclear wars between the United States, Russia and India and Pakistan and said the result would be global cooling, with sea ice expanding in coastal communities.

Ocean recovery, according to this study, would be very slow: decades at the surface and hundreds of years at depth, with thousands of years in colder waters like the Arctic. He said marine ecosystems would not only be deeply disrupted by the initial impact of a nuclear war, but would deteriorate further with the new state of the oceans, impacting the global ecosystem.

Ravi Rebbapragada, president of Mines, Minerals & PEOPLE, an emerging alliance of environmental advocates in India, stressed that nuclear war must be avoided at all costs, whatever the findings.

“On a fundamental level, nuclear war is not only dangerous, but it will have a lasting effect on the global climate to the point of no return,” he said.