Corals, Reefs and Opportunities for Young People from the Prada Perspective

Prada Group showcased the full scope of its Sea Beyond program, dedicated to ocean literacy and conservation, at the UNOC-3 conference in Nice.

On the very first day of the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference, Prada Group and UNESCO launched a fund for ocean conservation. The agreement was signed by Ms. Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General, and Mr. Lorenzo Bertelli, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at the Prada Group and Executive Director, Patron of the Ocean Decade Alliance. Starting with a contribution of €2 million from PRADA, the Sea Beyond Multi-Partner Trust Fund will mobilize financial resources from a variety of partners to connect people with the ocean.

Overall, the full scale of the Sea Beyond program became evudebt at this conference. It is designed to restore the relationship between humankind and the ocean, utilizing a wide range of opportunities – from global initiatives such as this fund to local projects like the Kindergarten of the Lagoon, where marine biologists conduct special outdoor classes with children from Venetian kindergartens. There is also a more personal dimension, connected to the support of individuals who are passionate about ocean conservation, known Sea Beyonders. Learning about them, their stories, and their achievements is one of the most inspiring aspects of the Sea Beyond program.

The last day of Sea Beyond at the UNOC-3 conference was dedicated to the most personal and local aspects of the initiative. The day before, in the port of Beaulieu-sur-Mer, where the boat was moored, one of the Sea Beyonders, Carmelo Isgrò, Director of the MuMa Milazzo Sea Museum, had sailed to Nice from Sicily alone (accompanied by his dog Toby, whom he calls his “senior assistant”). His sailing boat, Cassiopea – named after the heroine of Greek mythology and, more importantly, in honor of the constellation that has long guided sailors – is over 50 years old, made entirely of wood, and was restored with the support of the Prada Group. Carmelo spent a month and a half sailing to Nice, stopping at various ports along the way to hold ocean literacy classes for local children aboard his boat. He is now making his return journey to Sicily.

The final day of the conference began with the announcement of another small-scale partnership: the Prada Group, in collaboration with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (UNESCO-IOC), will support Coral Gardeners, a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring coral reefs. This project was founded in 2017 in French Polynesia by Titouan Bernicot, who is now 27 years old – meaning he was very young when he started. As he explains, he and his friends began noticing, while diving, that their home reef – where they had swum since childhood – was rapidly deteriorating. They decided something had to be done, and thus Coral Gardeners was born. 

The Coral Gardeners team collects fragments of climate-resilient corals from the wild and cultivates them in dedicated nurseries for over a year before replanting them in nearby degraded reefs. Today, it is a significant initiative: through their research and development center, CG Labs, their team of engineers and scientists has developed a range of innovative data collection tools, including AI-powered image analysis, underwater cameras and a coral monitoring app. These tiiks gather key data on coral reef health – such as survivorship, coral coverage and marine biodiversity – to improve reef conservation strategies. 

Since its founding in 2017, Coral Gardeners has already planted over 160,000 tropical corals, helping to transform damaged marine habitats into thriving ecosystems. The goal of this collaboration is to expand their impact and reach a target of more than 200,000 corals in nurseries and 50,000 new corals planted by the end of 2026. This partnership will support Coral Gardeners in scaling up their science-based reef restoration efforts in French Polynesia, Fiji, Thailand, and beyond, by equipping local communities with advanced technologies.

Coral Gardeners is currently working with marine biologist and Sea Beyond Goodwill Ambassador Giovanni Chimienti to conduct an assessment of the coralligenous status of the Mediterranean Sea. In other words, the project will also explore the potential for establishing a new Coral Gardeners branch in the Mediterranean, contributing to the goal of creating a global network.

These exciting projects highlight the essence of Sea Beyond – to reconnect the world's oceans and humanity at all levels, from large-scale global partnerships to supporting small, private ocean-related initiatives.

Courtesy: Prada Group

Text: Elena Stafyeva