From not thinking much about conservation or climate change, as I child, Ajay Sawant always knew he loved being near the sea. And today that love has morphed into him being a young voice in the marine conservation space.
He speaks on his work as an ocean-climate communicator and president of ThinkOcean Society here:
As an ocean-climate communicator and president of ThinkOcean Society, his work often feels like bridging two worlds— the scientific and the human. He translates dense ocean science into stories that move people. In a workshop once, a student told me, “I never cared about the ocean until I heard your story. That moment stuck. As a communicator, I work to ensure civilians, educators, and innovators have access to ocean information that can drive real-world solutions. And I keep reminding people: the most powerful way to support conservation isn’t just with action, it’s by talking about it.”
While their work at ThinkOcean spans six countries, he does not directly lead projects on the ground. Instead, as part of the global executive team, in Hong Kong, Nigeria, and Uganda, the focus is on ocean literacy and marine debris management—teaching communities how to understand and care for their coasts while actively cleaning and restoring them. The Cameroon team leads mangrove reforestation and monitoring. While in India, where he is most active, they work on ocean policy advocacy and building awareness around global frameworks like the High Seas Treaty (BBNJ Agreement).
Across the board, the global team runs virtual campaigns raising awareness on Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), hosting webinars, and building open-source educational toolkits. We don’t just talk about action, they enable it. ThinkOcean is proof that young people don’t need to be experts to make an impact, they just need support, space, and something they care about. Conservation, for us, begins with connection.
Through Generation Artivism, over 4,300 youth have used poetry, murals, and creative advocacy to turn data into emotion. As part of the campaign to build awareness around the High Seas Treaty, they invited young people from across India to reflect on the treaty and write down one promise they were willing to make for the ocean. The board travelled across schools, festivals, and climate events and over time, they gathered over 1,700 pledges, from students, artists, and even policymakers.
The high seas are the vast, unregulated ocean areas beyond the national jurisdiction of any country, typically 200 nautical miles from the coastline. The High Seas Treaty, is a new international legal framework designed to protect marine biodiversity in these areas and move to from extractive processes.
Read the full story that first appeared in The New Indian Express dated July 6, 2025 here:
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