Brigitta Gunawan is a member of Era17, a Samsung and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) partnership empowering younger people who find themselves contributing to the Global Goals.
Since 2020, Era17 has supported Young Leaders worldwide with Samsung Galaxy expertise, mentorship and networking alternatives to amplify their tales and options.
A snorkeling journey as a young person 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. Back 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 seashore in Bali. After a snorkeling journey to Nusa Penida, that connection grew to become one thing else: a way of accountability.
According to the UN Environment 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 vital ecosystems within the ocean — supporting marine life, defending coastlines and sustaining the communities that depend upon them. Globally, greater than one billion individuals depend upon wholesome oceans for his or her livelihoods.
“We’re going to lose so much in such a short amount of time,” Brigitta says. “I decided that there’s something that I can do.”
Turning a Hashtag Into a Movement
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 Global Goals for local weather motion (Goal 13) and life under water (Goal 14), is seen as essential to preserving marine ecosystems. She started merely, with a hashtag and a name for individuals to submit pictures holding indicators of help. In the primary 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 absolutely no experience,” Brigitta says, crediting early mentors. “I just enjoyed going out there and slowly building what it is today.”
Soon, Brigitta expanded past social media. Working with a neighborhood diving neighborhood and village leaders in northeast Bali, she helped design and construct a coral backyard on the ocean flooring — a man-made 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%.
Technology Bringing the Ocean to Everyone
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 important for people to see the ocean so that they know why we have to save it,” she says.
In 2024, she launched Diverseas, a free schooling program that makes use of 360-degree underwater filming to convey reefs into school rooms, supporting the UN’s Global Goal for high quality schooling (Goal 4). Brigitta companions with grassroots conservation organizations worldwide to seize footage. Students slip on headsets and abruptly discover themselves beneath the floor, surrounded by coral and different marine life.
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 individuals throughout 12 international locations by workshops, on-line…
