In 2013, Samantha began to explore the challenge facing 'life below water' when she travelled around rural communities in South-East Asia and noticed the environmental damage first-hand. Her advocacy began and today Samantha’s work is more vital than ever in the region where “marine governance has been a casualty of strategic competition”.
Seastainable is a social enterprise that supports marine conservation in South-East Asia by creating more environmentally conscious populations and channelling funds directly to organisations addressing issues on the frontline. Before 2020, the organisation sold sustainable products such as reusable straws to fund frontline conservation organisations. However, Samantha became concerned that this was contributing to overconsumption. Now, the organisation raises funds from Samantha’s educational talks, and donations from core partners such as Microsoft, The Philip Yeo Initiative, and HSBC. This has funnelled $43,065.61 into 49 different grassroots initiatives. In July 2020, the organisation started the #EASTCOASTBEACHPLAN. Through this, it coordinates weekly community cleanups to prevent marine pollution and provides a space for awareness-raising activities. More than 16.7 tonnes of beach litter have been collected and recycled by a network of more than 1,000 volunteers at 413 different clean-ups. The organisation also partners with fellow Ambassador-led organisation CarbonEthics, helping to plant 2,387 mangrove seedlings and train 16 farmers in environmentally sustainable practices.
Alongside Seastainable, Samantha is part of the leadership team of Stridy, an online platform that has created global a community of “Striders” who collect waste whilst exercising. The app has allowed these participants to track their collections and has gamified litter collection. More than 40,000 pieces of waste have been collected as a result, and for every 500 pieces collected a mangrove tree has been planted.
“Being a One Young World Ambassador has been wonderful as I've had the opportunity to connect and collaborate with other like-minded Ambassadors to develop more opportunities to support marine conservation. We partnered with CarbonEthics to further grow our sustainability programme, and hope to continue to work with other partners.”
