Brigitta Gunawan is a member of Generation17, a Samsung and United Nations Growth Programme (UNDP) partnership empowering younger people who find themselves contributing to the World Targets.
Since 2020, Generation17 has supported Younger Leaders worldwide with Samsung Galaxy know-how, mentorship and networking alternatives to amplify their tales and options.
A snorkeling journey as a youngster off the island of Nusa Penida in Indonesia modified all the pieces for Brigitta Gunawan. The reef was dense with life, fish weaving by coral in extraordinary colours. It was like nothing she had ever seen. Again on shore, one thought stayed along with her: most individuals would by no means expertise this.
Brigitta grew up in Jakarta, an inland industrial metropolis removed from reefs, however had all the time felt drawn to the water. She even took her first steps on a seaside in Bali. After a snorkeling journey to Nusa Penida, that connection turned one thing else: a way of accountability.
In line with the UN Setting Programme (UNEP), warming oceans, air pollution and overfishing have put coral reefs on a devastating trajectory, with as much as 90% projected to vanish by 2050. Coral reefs, discovered in additional than 100 nations, are among the many most vital ecosystems within the ocean — supporting marine life, defending coastlines and sustaining the communities that depend upon them. Globally, greater than one billion folks depend upon wholesome oceans for his or her livelihoods.
“We’re going to lose a lot in such a brief period of time,” Brigitta says. “I made a decision that there’s one thing that I can do.”
Turning a Hashtag Right into a Motion
In 2021, at 17, she launched 30×30 Indonesia, named after the worldwide effort to guard 30% of the ocean by 2030. The goal, backed by the UN’s World Targets for local weather motion (Aim 13) and life beneath water (Aim 14), is seen as crucial to preserving marine ecosystems. She started merely, with a hashtag and a name for folks to submit pictures holding indicators of help. Within the first month, over 400 pictures poured in, many from faculties and youth teams who had by no means heard of the 2030 goal earlier than.
“I had completely no expertise,” Brigitta says, crediting early mentors. “I simply loved going on the market and slowly constructing what it’s right now.”
Quickly, Brigitta expanded past social media. Working with an area diving neighborhood and village leaders in northeast Bali, she helped design and construct a coral backyard on the ocean flooring — a synthetic construction the place coral fragments are planted to assist degraded reefs get better, at the same time as oceans proceed to heat. Over the previous 5 years, her crew has planted over 1,400 coral fragments, with a survival charge of as much as 86%.
Know-how Bringing the Ocean to Everybody
As her coral restoration work grew, a deeper problem nagged at Brigitta: most individuals would by no means set foot within the sea, not to mention see a reef in particular person. “It’s vital for folks to see the ocean in order that they know why we now have to reserve it,” she says.
In 2024, she launched Diverseas, a free training program that makes use of 360-degree underwater filming to convey reefs into school rooms, supporting the UN’s World Aim for high quality training (Aim 4). Brigitta companions with grassroots conservation organizations worldwide to seize footage. College students slip on headsets and abruptly discover themselves beneath the floor, surrounded by coral and different marine life.
College students who stay inland have by no means seen these underwater scenes; by fostering ocean literacy, Brigitta is asking for collective motion to guard biodiversity.
Diverseas has since reached greater than 20,000 folks throughout 12 nations by workshops, on-line programs, diver coaching scholarships, conferences and occasions. Its give attention to immersive ocean literacy makes the undersea world really feel actual, and value defending.
For Brigitta, the objective now could be to achieve extra communities around the globe and to proceed restoring reefs throughout Indonesia.
The Subsequent Wave of Ocean Advocates
In coral reef restoration, the place the numbers on reef loss can really feel overwhelming, Brigitta believes staying optimistic is crucial. “For younger folks, giving up will not be an possibility,” she says. “We now have to stay hopeful.”
And the most effective place to construct that hope? The classroom, each bodily and digital. “I consider training is so highly effective,” she says. “When you do it proper, you encourage younger individuals who change into the policymakers of the longer term.”