Seaweeds: A promising source for sustainable development

Macroscopic marine algae, popularly known as seaweeds, form one of the important living resources of the ocean. Seaweeds form an important renewable resource in the marine environment and have been a part of human civilization from time immemorial. Reports on the uses of seaweeds have been cited as early as 2,500 years ago. Seaweed utilization for a variety of purposes has led to the gradual realization that some of their constituents are more superior and valuable in comparison to their counterparts on land. Seaweeds synthesize a wide range of chemicals, some of which are the only natural resources of agar, carrageenan, and alginate. These have been used as food for human beings, feed for animals, natural biofertilizers for plants and source of various chemicals like pharmaceutical values without any side effects, production of biodiesel and wastewater management, etc. In this chapter, utilization of seaweeds has been obviously discussed which are proving and playing a crucial role in sustainable development to became a promising source for human welfare.