Rumput Laut

The cultivation of seaweed (in Indonesian: Rumput Laut) is traditionally an important source of income on the small island of Nusa Lembongan, which is located in the south of Bali. Tourism has pushed that branch of the economy further and further back in recent decades. Unfortunately – because seaweed is a useful product in many ways: It is super healthy as food (iodine, iron, vitamins), serves as a stabilizer for food, as a colorant for cosmetics and as a raw material for many medicines and on top of that it grows so fast that it can bind a lot of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in a short time and thus has a particularly positive effect on climate change. Recently, I read in the newspaper that the Covid 19 pandemic has revived some of the region’s former kelp farms. Perhaps Indonesians are beginning to realize that there are far more reliable and ecologically sound sources of income than tourism.

Nusa Lembongan (Indonesia), August 2015