Examining the Social and Economic Impacts of Seaweed Farming on Communities in Southeast Asia

For her capstone project, Sarah Saboorian examined the livelihood of Southeast Asian seaweed farming and fishing communities and their relationship to trade. Through a systems-thinking approach, her research paper evaluated the international legal context these communities operate under, as these have become detrimental to the farming communities while benefiting international corporations. Furthermore, her analysis took a deeper look at community organizations and the various structures under which they operate to see how other aspects of systems thinking (i.e. having the human capital to undergo negotiations with the buyers or the working capital to store materials past the season and take control of pricing, etc.) can impact the long-term viability of these communities. 

Student project deposited by department for archival purposes. Original work unavailable for public download due to permission restriction preferences of the author.