INTEC attends the first meeting to create the Sargassum value chain in the Dominican Republic.

During this first meeting, organized by the European Union and the Ministry of Economy, Planning, and Development (MEPyD), they seek to structure the value chain for the sale and marketing of sargassum in the country as a means of harnessing this resource.

SANTO DOMINGO. - The research professor of the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC), Ulises Jauregui, was part of the first meeting of the working group for the structuring of a sargassum value chain in the country, created with the objective of accompanying the call process to identify the best proposals that allow taking advantage of this resource after its massive entry to the coasts of the Caribe.

To the meeting, organized by the European Union and the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (MEPyD), attended by government representatives, members of the Academy, representatives of the National Bank, financial institutions, cooperation agencies, technicians, and environmental specialists, who will work to propose a structure that will allow the exploitation of sargassum and reduce its negative impact on the country.

jauregui He participated as project coordinator ResAgro-Sargasso, "Franco-Dominican Cooperation on Sargassum and Agricultural Waste Management," an initiative that seeks to transform the approach to these issues and is funded by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and implemented by its embassy in the Dominican Republic.

As part of the working session presentations, Charlotte Gully, coordinator of the circular economy unit of the Agency for Ecological Transition (ADEME) in Martinique, presented the SARGCOOP project, which seeks to implement technologies for the collection, storage, pretreatment, and recovery of sargassum. This initiative is led by the Guadeloupe Regional Council, with which INTEC collaborates through the ResAgro-Sargassum project.

Félix Fernández Shaw, Director of Relations with Latin America, the Caribbean, and Overseas Countries and Territories at the European Commission's Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA), expressed that sargassum could be an opportunity that guarantees economic value and highlighted the country's leadership in the region in finding solutions to the problem. He also praised the importance of the Dominican government's involvement in the process.

"It's important that all elements of the supply and demand chain, banking and politics, coastal residents, municipalities, hotels, and the people who suffer daily from sargassum and its massive arrival on the Caribbean coasts—that we all work together and do so methodically," he said.

In an effort to bring together financial representatives and environmental specialists, he explained that the meeting aims to build a value chain structure, with the aim of presenting the results at the third Regional Conference on Sargassum, to be held in Brussels, Belgium, as well as at the subsequent fourth CELAC-EU summit, to be held from November 9 to 10, 2025, in Santa Marta, Colombia.

Katja Afheldt, the European Union ambassador to the Dominican Republic, acknowledged that significant challenges remain, such as unpredictable supply, the development of collection and storage capacities, access to funding for research, and permanent mechanisms to coordinate a common response among the various stakeholders.

“The specific causes of the disproportionate growth of sargassum are still unknown. What is clear is that before we can address its causes, we must manage the enormous quantities that arrive each year in Caribbean waters. And the only efficient way to do this is to create value chains for the use of this resource,” he stated.

Alexis Cruz, the highest authority of the Ministry of Public Education (MEPyD), emphasized the need to coordinate short-, medium-, and long-term responses to address the economic impact of this problem. “This phenomenon severely affects key sectors such as tourism, fishing, marine biodiversity, and the quality of life of coastal communities. The loss of tourist income, the increased costs of beach cleanups, and the deterioration of marine ecosystems are jeopardizing the progress made in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” he stated.

Cruz believed that the value chain, from harvesting to productive use, would contribute to technological innovation and the creation of sustainable jobs. "We must keep in mind that this is a regional problem and therefore requires regional responses," he added.

Armando Paíno, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, believed it was time to act, promote scientific research, and develop safe recovery solutions. “Sargassum is not a natural phenomenon or a simple brown tide approaching our coasts; it is a symptom of a deeper environmental crisis, linked to climate change, the warming of our oceans, the impact and overload of nutrients from land-based runoff, and a complex interaction of human and ecological imbalances,” he explained.

José Reyes, Deputy Minister of Coastal and Marine Resources at the Ministry of the Environment, presented an overview of the sargassum situation in the country, including its legal and structural framework. He also shared current strategies to address sargassum and the limitations to sargassum valorization in the Dominican Republic, including weak coordination between government and the private sector, as well as legal and technical barriers to addressing the issue with the government.

The working group was divided into four sessions: prediction and monitoring; collection, storage, and logistics; processing and valorization; and the technical and financial challenges in the country's sargassum value chain. The meeting concluded with the working group's next steps in preparation for the third Regional Conference on Sargassum, to be held in Brussels, Belgium.

The Call for Expressions of Interest was also officially launched by the Minister of the Environment.