Young Ocean Champions Off To France For Global Summit

Six young Kiwi ocean advocates, alongside representatives from WWF-New Zealand and Save the Children New Zealand, will travel to France this week to attend a global Ocean Citizen Summit aimed at exploring solutions to better protect our ocean and accelerate youth-led ocean action.

The global forum, hosted at Nausicaá, Centre National de la Mer in Boulogne sur Mer, France, brings together more than 60 youth representatives from around the world to share the insights and solutions from their regions.

Together, with senior experts in marine science and advocacy, they will identify individual and collective responses to five key challenges of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development: changing humanity’s relationship with the ocean; unlocking ocean-based solutions to climate change, protecting and restoring marine ecosystems and biodiversity, developing a sustainable and equitable ocean economy and understanding and beating marine pollution from source to sea.

The world’s oceans and seas are critical to our planet’s health, covering 71% of the Earth's surface, producing 50% of our oxygen, feeding over 3 billion people, and absorbing 1/3 of global CO2 emissions. However, they face severe threats from climate change, pollution, overfishing, and ocean acidification. The Ocean Citizen Summit aims to empower young people to address these pressing challenges at both local and global levels.

"Young people have the most to lose from climate and ocean degradation, as they will experience the long-term consequences," says Save the Children Advocacy Director Jacqui Southey.

"That’s why youth voices are crucial in these global conversations, particularly Pacific youth who are experiencing the impact of the world’s changing climate first hand. Here in Aotearoa, our marine environment is an important part of our lives and national and cultural identities, but sadly it is facing many threats, with unsustainable fishing, plastic pollution and climate change pushing our marine species and habitats to the brink of extinction."

WWF-New Zealand’s CEO Dr Kayla Kingdon-Bebb says the global summit is an amazing opportunity for the New Zealand group to meet other ocean youth champions from around the world.

"I’m so proud that our rangatahi will be representing us on the world stage in France. This is a chance for these talented ocean conservation advocates to discuss global ocean conservation issues, share a Pacific perspective, and help shape the United Nations’ Ocean Citizen Charter."

The six youth advocates were selected following a series of ocean workshops held by WWF-New Zealand and Save the Children New Zealand in late 2024.

Alongside Save the Children Youth Engagement Coordinator Vira Paky and WWF New Zealand’s Conservation Impact Advisor Carolyn Aguilar, the six youth delegates are:

Quack Pirihi (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Whātua ki Kaipara, Patuharakeke) is a takatāpui activist, storyteller, and community organiser from Aotearoa, working at the intersection of indigenous sovereignty, climate justice, and queer liberation. Their mahi centres on rangatahi takatāpui empowerment, kaupapa Māori, and resisting environmental destruction. As the Founder and Director of Mana Āniwaniwa, Quack uplifts takatāpui and rangatahi Māori voices in decolonial and climate movements. A staunch opponent of deep-sea mining, Quack has spoken internationally, advocating for moana as an extension of whakapapa. In 2023, they joined the Pacific delegation to the International Seabed Authority conference, challenging corporate and colonial interests. Through storytelling and activism, Quack amplifies indigenous resistance to extractivism, pushing for solutions grounded in mātauranga Māori and a future where whenua, moana, and tangata thrive.

Lottie Stevenson was born in Westport/Kawatiri on the West Coast of Te Waipounamu, and has lived close to the ocean her whole life. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Geography, studying at universities in Wellington/Te Whanganui-a-Tara and The Netherlands. Her recently completed Master’s thesis examines Antarctic paleoclimate and glaciology, including a chapter advocating for decolonising Antarctic research. She aims to foster collaboration across borders, ultimately driving collective action for Papatūānuku (Earth Mother). Lottie largely splits her time between mountains and sea, being an avid tramper, beach-cleaner, and aspiring environmental activist.

Kat Cooper’s background is in marine biology and geography with a special interest in sharks, the deep sea, and queer ecology. Having just submitted their Master’s in marine biology they spend their time baking, annoying their flatmates, and volunteering. Love of the ocean began for Kat with their dad in the big blue backyard of Tāmaki Makaurau, with summers spent camping by the beach or snorkelling. To Kat, the way forward for ocean conservation is taking a holistic view of ocean ecosystems that acknowledges the place of people within the ecosystem, and emphasises the importance of indigenous knowledge. The Citizens of the Ocean Summit is Kat's first international event, and they're excited to explore the varied perspectives of the other delegates, and work together to create change.

Maia Horn Nō hea Whāngārā Mai Tawhiti ahau. Spending my childhood summers in Whāngārā fostered my deep love and connection to the ocean and there has never been any doubt in my mind about the career I have dreamt of. Growing up with the tale of the Whale rider, Paikea also meant that I aspire to study tohorā as they are not only ecologically significant, but also culturally significant to Māori.

Wei Heng Pok () is a Climate & Sustainability consultant based in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) at Edge Impact. An advocate for indigenous solidarity, climate policy, and justice, Pok has contributed to prominent forums such as the Nobel Prize Dialogue, the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, COP26, and TIME Magazine. Outside of work, he serves on the Strategic Council of Climate Catalyst and was a former Climate Justice Design Partner for the World Economic Forum. Constantly unlearning and unlearning, he hopes to find his way home as he works on decolonising his identity. His most recent projects are building on regenerative soil practice within community-supported agriculture, alongside tracing his genealogy back to China.

Veronica Rotman is a marine scientist, tertiary lecturer, science communicator and doctoral student. Her entire life revolves around the ocean, for work, for play and for kaimoana gathering, having grown up freediving and spearfishing in the frosty water of Te Waipounamu. Veronica is a TEDx speaker, has delivered many public talks and university lectures, and sat on the Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge Stakeholder Panel for five years. Her proudest mahi has been setting up and delivering the first remote tertiary training in sustainable aquaculture and marine science to Mana Whenua of the Muriwhenua in Kaitaia. The purpose of this was to empower students with knowledge and skills to get jobs and set up their own ventures. Veronica is in the final year of her PhD titled: Ki uta ki tai (mountains to sea): microplastics in Southern Aotearoa, that hopes to highlight the interconnectedness of terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments and to promote mountains to sea management. Her previous research looked into the physiological impacts of microplastics on snapper, incidence of microplastics in wild fish, and microplastics in aquaculture systems.

The Citizen of the Ocean Youth-led Summit is being held March 25-28 2025. It aligns youth advocacy with global agreements like the Paris Agreement, the UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 (Life Below Water), the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and the European Union’s Mission "Restore our Ocean and Waters"

About Save the Children NZ:

Save the Children works in 120 countries across the world. The organisation responds to emergencies and works with children and their communities to ensure they survive, learn and are protected.

Save the Children NZ currently supports international programmes in Fiji, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Laos, Nepal, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. Areas of work include child protection, education and literacy, disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation, and alleviating child poverty.

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