Coral Gardeners, the incredible story of Titouan Bernincot

Titouan Bernincot welcomes us with a smile that smells of sun and salt. The awareness of a twenty-five year old who knows he is doing the right thing, that is safeguard corals threatened by climate change and be in some way its “guardian”.

We meet him in the Milan headquarters of K waya brand that has decided to concretely support the project Coral Gardeners (the coral gardeners), the association founded by Titouan at just 16 years old, which today can count on the support of brands and activists who have embraced its cause.

And Titouan himself – National Geographic Explorer and recognized by the United Nations at the Young Activists Summit in Geneva – tells us his incredible story.

He spent the first two years of his life in a bungalow on a tiny atoll in the French Polynesiawhere his parents had a pearl farm, he then moved to the larger one Mo'orea, also in Tahiti, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. There is everything a boy could dream of: the postcard ocean, deserted beaches, palm trees to climb, waves to surf and incredible marine fauna to admire. Years pass and the connection with the marine ecosystem becomes ever deeper.

The turning point came in full adolescence, while surfing with friends and his younger brother, waiting for his wave, he realized how the corals, which he had always been used to seeing orange, yellow and pink, had bleached. In a part of the world so far from pollution it was a strong and clear signal: in the next two or three decades, coral reefs could be the first ecosystem in the world to collapse due to rising water temperatures.

Scientists say it and Titouan himself reiterates it: «Corals have been on earth for 400 million years and in the last three decades we have lost about half of them. What many people ignore is that the Coral reefs absorb carbon dioxide and turn it into oxygen, that's why they are called the Amazon forests of the sea. If one day we lose all this it will not only be a problem for marine life, but for the planet in general. And then they provide food for millions of people around the planet, protect us from big wave erosion and in places like Tahiti help support a sustainable local economy through fishing and tourism.”

What to do to safeguard coral reefs? Titouan asked himself this in 2017, when through crowdfunding, which fortunately went very well, he created a new profession: coral guardian and from there it was born Coral Gardeners. «At first the dream of repopulating coral reefs seemed like a decidedly bizarre and unachievable idea, and I received several doors in my face. But we started and to date we have repopulated 30,000 corals in various underwater nurseries scattered across French Polynesia, also expanding into other countries such as Thailand and Fiji. I want to create a movement, which acts concretely through active intervention, awareness-raising activities and innovation and which has a hold on young people.”

An achievement that already seems like a record, but which is only the beginning of a global project that makes use of social communication with a cool appeal (watch the videos on Youtube channel), engaging ambassador as Jason Momoa and supporters like Larry Page, the founder of Google. «The idea is to plant one million corals by 2025, opening Coral Gardners branches around the world, Indonesia, Rapa Nui and also in the Mediterranean. To do this we are involving surfers and local fishing communities, as in Indonesia where we employed former fishermen who used to use dynamite, a practice that is one of the major causes of the destruction of this marine ecosystem. Seeing all the new corals being born, growing and then becoming the home for many fish is something as incredible as it is concrete.”

An ambitious project, which also includes the experimentation with new technologies such as the use of artificial intelligence and telematic tools to be able to monitor the growth of corals, as Titouan explains to us. «Restoring coral reefs is similar to restoring plants on land, and the method used to save them is scalable and replicable around the world. in all the places where the water is overheating it happens that there are colonies of stronger corals, which survive by resisting bleaching and which we call super corals, because they are more adaptable, and we work with them because that is where thezooxanthellae algae, which is responsible for the coloration, continues to survive and thrive. To do this we collect coral fragments and grow them in special nurseries. We let them grow for about 12-18 months, depending on the species, monitoring them every three months.” If they remain healthy, they are returned to the reef (“glued” with marine concrete) to a transplant site, where their health continues to be monitored through the use of smart cameras and AI-powered telemetry.

«Using modern tools is essential to speed up our business», explains Titouan. A very demanding job, which in addition to gardeners, also involves researchers and scientists. «We take technological innovation very seriously. We have launched a collaboration with the University of California Berkely and in our team there are 10 engineers and scientists who work full time on open source projects such as 3D mapping of reefs and coral transplant sites. In the Beta phase we also have a monitoring platform, ReefOS, which connects the reefs and nurseries to smartphones in real time, also useful for showing our supporters the fruit of their commitment”.

If all this seems like a miracle to you, don't tell Titouan. After all, only six years ago the Coral Gardners adventure began thanks to a disruptive idea and a simple laptop. «We are only at the beginning of our work. We want to become a global movement and to do so we need everyone's help.” Including K way, which is among the brands that have decided to support the non-profit organization. «We have fully embraced Titouan's initiative – CEO Lorenzo Boglione explains to us. «We can make our impact on the planet less invasive by working on more sustainable materials, but we cannot save the planet. This is why supporting and giving visibility to important and concrete projects like that of Coral Gardners is an unmissable and wonderful opportunity.”