Chile's Essential Underwater Forests Are Under Threat from Mining and Rising Sea Temperatures

In the chilly waters off the arid northern coast of Chile, towering beds of red and green seaweed emerge from the ocean floor. They feed fish, earn cash for coastal folks, and grab carbon while releasing oxygen. Researchers who visit these underwater forests dream of even bigger gifts. They hope the kelp might turn into new, gentle foods and other long-lasting tools. But warming water and human waste keep hurting the plants.


Along cool, rocky northern Chile, one such forest still buzzes with life. Tall beds of red and green seaweed rise from the sea floor. They feed fish, earn cash for coastal folks, and grab carbon while releasing oxygen. Researchers who visit these underwater forests dream of even bigger gifts. They hope the kelp might turn into new, gentle foods and other long-lasting tools.


But warming water and human waste keep hurting the plants. "They sit at the shore like a caretaking line of life for everyone," says Alejandra Gonzalez. An expert on ocean helpers, she knows them firsthand. Gonzalez notes that seaweed pumps out oxygen and swallows carbon dioxide, forming important underwater sinks. "The way of the future is seaweed," she adds with clear certainty.


Around the globe, underwater forests are in big trouble. A May report from a leading British museum showed kelp beds shrink each year faster than coral reefs or rain forests. Maria Jose Espinoza, head of the local Changa people, reminded us, Earlier, this stretch was thick with seaweed, seafood, and fish we all depend on.


The Changa have gathered seaweed for generations, yet now worry as the forest shrinks week by week. Espinoza blames mud and metals from nearby copper and lithium mines that flow onto the shore. She adds that the seawater scrubbers the companies built to clean their waste may also sicken crabs, fish, and tiny plankton.


Chile supplies most of the world's copper and is the second-largest lithium producer, and almost all the work sits in the northern desert. Roberto Carlos Chango, a diver, put it plainly while teaching his son to gather clams: Seaweed feeds everything. No seaweed, no fish, no shellfish. Sergio Gutierrez, another Changa who gets seaweeds, dries them, and packs them to sell, said the seaweeds are key to their group.