“We have been planting trees for millennia, why not corals?”
Wherever he goes, Titouan Bernicot, founder of Coral Gardener, asks the same question. How to raise awareness among those present about the disaster he sees beneath the seas. During his visit to France last June, he bet on air quality to convince Parisians. At just twenty-three years old, the 91% bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef and the irreversible damage threatening the survival of two-thirds of coral reefs is a reality. Born in a pearl farm in Tahiti, he has been observing the first damages in the lagoon since he was seven years old. A decade later, “the reefs have become the first ecosystems threatened with disappearance : 90% are doomed by 2050.” It is madness to watch them fade away while they retain 50 times more CO2 than the atmosphere*. At sixteen, when others are trying reels, he is trying to grow corals. The success of his first transplantation convinces him to sow, to sow every day, and then to involve his friends. And at eighteen, he creates Coral Gardeners. Today, the association has about thirty permanent members responsible for planting, raising awareness, and innovating in improving the resistance of corals in particular. Already, he has achieved 22,000 successful transplants! Titouan aims to plant a million by 2050. Optimistic, this preacher of the seabed travels the seas in search of surfer communities and locals to convert. Apparently, his message hits home. After his visit to Thailand, former dynamite fishermen have become coral gardeners.
* the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
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