Brigitta Gunawan is a member of Generation17, a Samsung and United Nations Improvement Programme (UNDP) partnership empowering younger people who find themselves contributing to the International Targets.
Since 2020, Generation17 has supported Younger Leaders worldwide with Samsung Galaxy expertise, mentorship and networking alternatives to amplify their tales and options.
A snorkeling journey as an adolescent off the island of Nusa Penida in Indonesia modified every little thing for Brigitta Gunawan. The reef was dense with life, fish weaving by way of coral in extraordinary colours. It was like nothing she had ever seen. Again on shore, one thought stayed together with her: most individuals would by no means expertise this.
Brigitta grew up in Jakarta, an inland industrial metropolis removed from reefs, however had at all times felt drawn to the water. She even took her first steps on a seashore in Bali. After a snorkeling journey to Nusa Penida, that connection turned one thing else: a way of accountability.
In line with the UN Atmosphere 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 international locations, are among the many most necessary ecosystems within the ocean — supporting marine life, defending coastlines and sustaining the communities that rely on them. Globally, greater than one billion folks rely on 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 International Targets for local weather motion (Purpose 13) and life beneath water (Purpose 14), is seen as crucial to preserving marine ecosystems. She started merely, with a hashtag and a name for folks to submit photographs holding indicators of help. Within the first month, over 400 photographs 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 a neighborhood diving group 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 recuperate, whilst oceans proceed to heat. Over the previous 5 years, her workforce has planted over 1,400 coral fragments, with a survival charge of as much as 86%.
Expertise 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 individual. “It’s necessary for folks to see the ocean in order that they know why we’ve got 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 lecture rooms, supporting the UN’s International Purpose for high quality training (Purpose 4). Brigitta companions with grassroots conservation organizations worldwide to seize footage. College students slip on headsets and instantly discover themselves beneath the floor, surrounded by coral and different marine life.
College students who dwell inland have by no means seen these underwater scenes; by fostering ocean literacy, Brigitta is looking for collective motion to guard biodiversity.
Diverseas has since reached greater than 20,000 folks throughout 12 international locations by way of 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 aim now could be to succeed in extra communities all over the world 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 important. “For younger folks, giving up isn’t an choice,” she says. “We now have to stay hopeful.”
And one of the best place to construct that hope? The classroom, each bodily and digital. “I imagine training is so highly effective,” she says. “When you do it proper, you encourage younger individuals who change into the policymakers of the long run.”
