00:00For years, fortune seekers flocked to Luderitz on the Namibian coast to dip for diamonds.
00:06But there's another tiny treasure to be found here, not under the soil but beneath the ocean's surface.
00:13It's contained in these seeds that grow into giant kelp, the largest of these species of seaweed.
00:22To find out what is so special about kelp, we visited a project that's trying to unlock its value.
00:29For commercial reasons and to combat climate change.
00:35This is what we are farming here in the Shawara Bay.
00:38And as you can see, this is a beautiful kelp.
00:40This kelp grows very fast. It can grow up to 30 cm per day and up to 60 m in
00:48height.
00:48So it's really beautiful. It's rich in a lot of compounds like alginate, fucoiden, fucoxanthins
00:56and really a lot of polyphenols, which is what we want in our biostimulant,
01:00which is the product that we make when you harvest it from the farm.
01:03The harvested kelp is used as a biostimulant in agriculture and in cosmetics.
01:08And it also captures carbon dioxide as it grows.
01:16The seedlings are hatched under laboratory conditions, with each baby plant attached to a line wrapped around a spool.
01:25Each line holds nearly 80 such plants that are wrapped around growing structures in the underwater farm.
01:34The Namibian coast is a kelp hotspot thanks to the Benguela current that brings cold and nutrient-rich water from
01:41the southern Atlantic
01:42and provides all the ingredients necessary for this giant algae to thrive.
01:48Within months, the seedlings reach the surface and produce a canopy like a land forest.
02:01We are creating so much life in this forest and it's taking up a lot of carbon every day, contributing
02:07to carbon sequestration.
02:09So, I mean, it's just a beautiful place to be at and I can see it also on the faces
02:16of our divers.
02:18Almost all the staff are from Namibia.
02:21Zacharias Malyenge grew up far from the sea, but says he has grown to appreciate the project.
02:27It means a lot really, apart from the fact that I am able to support some of my family members,
02:34like my younger brother who just recently started university.
02:37Also just that pride of doing something which was not common to our community.
02:43By pioneering professions that speak directly to the blue economy, I think it will also show people out there that
02:52yes, it's possible
02:53and we are able to find people within the community who are able to do the job just as well.
03:04The diving team harvests over 12 tons of kelp from the canopy per day by hand, leaving the lower parts
03:11untouched.
03:12The collected kelp is transported to this factory, where it is processed into a range of commercial items.
03:18The main product is a seaweed extract for boosting crop yields on land.
03:24The kelp can regrow a harvestable canopy every three months.
03:29When it dies, the carbon captured in its structures is buried in the marine sediment.
03:34Kelp Blue estimates that their farm could eventually remove one megaton of carbon from the atmosphere per year,
03:41equivalent to the annual emission of 200,000 cars.
03:48Figures like that remain projections, however.
03:51The company says it's still tracking the farm's carbon sequestration performance.
03:55The effect of the non-native kelp on the biosphere is also closely monitored,
04:00but the project has had some upside already beyond the creation of jobs on land.
04:05The new underwater forest has rapidly become colonised by many other forms of life.
04:17What is quite unique about kelp is that, like, it's not one species.
04:22They are this ecosystem forming species.
04:26So, like, you can't imagine kelp without everything else that exists with kelp.
04:30So, looking at that, when we grow more kelp,
04:34and ensuring that the natural kelp is safeguarded and left alone to thrive even longer,
04:40combined, we have a much, much greater chance of fighting climate change.
04:47While kelp aquaculture alone is no carbon capture silver bullet,
04:52it could be another tool to reduce climate warming gases.
04:56And projects like this one, off the coast of Namibia,
04:59can show the world the potential of this amazing algae.
05:02So, go good to see you on secondgestellt sfx.
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