Application of Social Life Cycle Assessment on Seaweed Farming Blue Economy in Zanzibar-Tanzania by

Social life cycle assessment (SCLA) is an emerging framework for sustainability impact assessment of processes, companies and products throughout their life cycle that is popularly known in the Global North. Seaweed farming is one of emerging blue economy with significant contribution to sustainable development in Zanzibar, Tanzania. This study examines the social impact dimension of seaweed farming with an application of social life cycle assessment (SLCA) framework. The S-LCA to Seaweed farming in Zanzibar adopts the UNEP Social Life Cycle Assessment guidelines with the objective to assess the potential social impact other than economic and environmental impact that are over-studied in seaweed farming literature.The system boundaries of the study include all phases from cradle-to-gate, i.e. from on-farm to production of seaweed products. Two stakeholder groups were considered (workers and local communities) as those that better represent seaweed farming. The analysis carried out on the functional unit of the study allowed assessing social impact of the process and product. The study identifies stakeholder categories and sub-categories whose positive impact is more pronounced on community stakeholders. The study results indicate positive social impact on community stakeholders.The study results contribute to scholarly work on social impact as a methodological tool to inform business and policy decisions when assessing social impact of products or companies on stakeholders. This study informs that seaweed farming is an important strategic productive sector as it contributes to increased farming production that observes sustainability social dimension. One of the methods for assessing sustainability of production is the Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) technique, which assesses the potential social, economic and environmental impact which is valuable to inform policy decisions. This study contributes to new production system that ought to observe sustainability questions as it becomes a novel methodology to sustainable development African region.