Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), found in waterways worldwide, is known as one of the most invasive alien aquatic species (IAAS), presenting ecological and socioeconomic challenges across diverse ecosystems.
These plants grow rapidly and have the adaptive capacity to deplete dissolved oxygen levels, obstruct sunlight needed for benthic (layer at the bottom of a body of water) plants to photosynthesise, displace native species and concurrently deplete water quality and biodiversity, thereby causing grave harm to aquatic habitats.
However, as an alternative to this species clogging up waterways and its fast-growing nature, water hyacinth can be used as a natural resource to develop products such as furniture, brake pads, fertilizer, bioenergy, animal feed, phytoremediation agents, bioplastics, and adsorbents.
To understand more about the communities working with water hyacinth and how circular economic solutions can be developed around this species, we have awarded a grant to Foundation for a Good Life, an innovation and development catalyst geared to build a new wave of life-enhancing initiatives in South Asia to catalyse a regenerative future by partnering with an extensive local and global network.
With funding mobilised through a partnership with Scott Dunn, a luxury travel operator based in London, FLG intends to undertake a scoping study to conduct a comprehensive research study to identify existing businesses and local vendors working with water hyacinth, assess their challenges, and develop a structured accelerator program to support them. Thereafter, an accelerator program for capacity development, mentorship and business development will be run with vendors to provide the support needed for market connectivity and sustainability.
The project has been broken up into two phases: the scoping study and the accelerator program. During the scoping phase, a comprehensive research study will be conducted to identify existing businesses and local vendors working with water hyacinth, assess their challenges and develop a structured accelerator program to support and scale innovative solutions for water hyacinth utilisation. The second phase, the accelerator programme, will focus on facilitating capacity building, mentorship, and market access for selected enterprises and provide hands-on business development support to foster long-term sustainability.
Through this grant, we want to understand the process of converting water hyacinth into marketable goods, which we hope will help to create sustainable economic opportunities for local communities and, in the process, help restore habitats that are facing imminent threats due to the rapid growth of water hyacinth.
Cover Image: Omer Faruq Khan
