‘Sea forest’ would be better name than seaweed, says UN food adviser

All of the approximately 12,000 known varieties of seaweed are edible. Photograph: Tim Gainey/Alamy

Seaweed could help feed the world and reduce the impact of the climate emergency, a UN adviser on food has suggested.

Speaking at the Hay festival in Wales, Vincent Doumeizel suggested that the term “sea forest”, which is how seaweed is referred to in Norway, would be more appropriate, “because we would understand that we need to protect and preserve them as we do with all the land forests”.