Changing tides: How women seaweed farmers in Indonesia are adapting to climate change

Author: Trisha Albay

Before sunrise, Fatmawati Palele is already by the sea.

Growing up in Sulamu, a coastal community in East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, the ocean has always shaped her life. As a child, she accompanied her father, a small-scale fisher, as he set out to sea each day to earn a living. From him, she learned to read the tides, the winds and the changing moods of the ocean. Today, she makes her own living as a seaweed farmer.

Like many women in Sulamu, Fatmawati depends on seaweed farming to support her family. In this coastal community, seaweed is a vital source of income for women, who play a central role in cultivating, harvesting and processing it.

Seaweed farming depends on calm seas and stable weather. Now, changing wind patterns are making it harder to tend the seaweed. Stronger winds can loosen seaweed from the cultivation lines before it is ready to harvest, while sudden rains can interrupt the drying process, increasing the risk of losses.

For Fatmawati, climate change is not a distant threat. It shapes every stage of her work.

Through the EmPower: Women for Climate-Resilient Societies programme, UN Women and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) brought together partners to address this challenge and develop practical, climate-smart solutions for women seaweed farmers. KUMPUL, a national innovation and entrepreneurship organization, worked alongside Trinity Academia, an East Nusa Tenggara-based education and entrepreneurship organization, to pilot a prototype solar dryer developed by Universitas Cendana, which also trained more than 150 women seaweed farmers to use the technology. The result is a practical solution that helps farmers protect the quality of their harvests and earn more from their work.

The solar dryer allows harvested seaweed to dry in a protected environment, even when the weather is unpredictable. It shields the seaweed from rain, dust and other contaminants, producing a cleaner, higher-quality product that commands a much higher price.

“If I sell wet seaweed, I earn about 2,500 Indonesian Rupiah (around USD 0.14) per kilogram. But if it’s dry, I can sell it for 19,000 Rupiah (around USD 1.06) per kilogram. That’s when I can make a profit,” Fatmawati said.

Alongside the solar dryer, women in the community have strengthened their financial and business management skills, helping them better manage their finances, plan their businesses and make informed decisions for the future.

For Fatmawati, these changes mean greater confidence. Not only does today’s harvest have a better chance of reaching the market, but her family can also better navigate an uncertain future.

For many women in Sulamu, however, access to finance remains a barrier.

According to community leader Yasinta De Rosari, women often need their husbands’ permission to obtain bank loans: “If we can get access to loans for investment, we can invite women to work together to build this tool, because it is very helpful compared to drying seaweed on traditional racks.”

To help more women benefit from climate-smart technologies, UN Women and UNEP have partnered with Permodalan Nasional Madani, a State-owned financial institution, to expand women’s access to finance.

“This partnership will help us reach more women with the financing they need to invest in climate-smart technologies,” said Dwi Yuliawati, Head of Programmes at UN Women Indonesia.

The sea that shaped Fatmawati’s childhood is also changing. With new skills, practical technologies and strong partnerships, she is finding new ways to adapt and protect her livelihood. Her story, captured in the short film Changing Tides, reflects the resilience of women across coastal Indonesia as they adapt to climate change while strengthening their families’ futures.