It\u2019s no surprise that Titouan Bernicot is so deeply passionate about his work. Growing up on his family\u2019s pearl farm on the French Polynesian atoll of Ahe, the ocean is so much a part of who he is that he describes it as his best friend. <\/p>\n
At just 18 years old, Bernicot set up Coral Gardeners, an organization focused on restoring local reefs,<\/em> and in the seven years since he has gathered a team to restore and plant more than 100,000 resilient corals at atolls across the Pacific Ocean. <\/p>\n Bernicot, now 25, has also recruited global stars as Coral Gardeners ambassadors, including actor Jason Momoa, who met members of the group earlier this year to take part in their work. <\/p>\n The partnership is called \u201cThe Lost Colors\u201d because of the coral bleaching process; usually caused by warmer water, it makes coral expel certain algae that give them their color. If temperatures remain too high, the algae are unable to return and the coral dies. <\/p>\n Once a coral dies, it is extremely hard for reefs to return and regrow. This is when the reef ecosystem begins to collapse \u2014 and that\u2019s what Bernicot and Coral Gardeners are trying to prevent. <\/strong> <\/strong> <\/p>\n Bernicot says his \u201cconnection\u201d with the ocean started when he was a baby, learning \u201cabout the fish behaviors, the octopus, the sharks, how they co-exist.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cWhen I am not feeling good, when I\u2019m stressed, I like to just go on the water,\u201d he adds. \u201cThere is no noise \u2026 there is only the sound of the reef, the fish.\u201d <\/p>\n But with the climate crisis threatening wildlife across the globe, coral reefs are in a precarious position. Scientists have estimated that up to 70-90% of existing coral reefs across the planet could disappear within the next 20 years, with the whole ecosystem under threat of destruction by the end of the century. <\/p>\n Homegrown reef restoration<\/h2>\n