Preserving Paradise: How One Woman is Saving Kimbe Bay’s Coral Reefs

As the global community gathers at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) 2025 to review critical Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 14: Life Below Water, Papua New Guinea is set to present its Voluntary National Review (VNR), offering invaluable insights into national action for ocean health. Amidst rising global concerns over marine pollution, climate change, and unsustainable resource use that threaten the world's vital aquatic ecosystems, Papua New Guinea's efforts to protect its extraordinary marine biodiversity in places like Kimbe Bay stand out.

In the heart of Papua New Guinea's West New Britain Province lies Kimbe Bay—a place of staggering beauty and biodiversity. Home to the second-highest number of coral reef species in the world, the bay is a global treasure. But this vibrant marine ecosystem is under siege, facing mounting pressure from industrial pollution, climate change, and unsustainable resource use.

In response, a quiet but powerful transformation is underway—led by local women, supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), with support from the Global Fund for Coral Reefs, the Joint SDG Fund in collaboration with the Government of Papua New Guinea, and fueled by the resilience of communities who refuse to let their paradise vanish.

At the center of this story is Agartha Buku, a determined entrepreneur and environmental steward. Through her enterprise, Kukuni Na Dari, Agartha is helping rewrite the future of Kimbe Bay—not with grand gestures, but with seaweed. Kukuni Na Dari is one of several businesses supported by the programme "Gutpela Solwara, Gutpela Bisnis" (Good Ocean, Good Business).

The initiative empowers micro-, small-, and medium-sized blue enterprises that are not only driving economic change, but also actively preserving the bay’s precious ecosystems. Importantly, every one of these enterprises is led by local women—proving that environmental sustainability and gender equality go hand-in-hand. Agartha’s work in seaweed farming offers both ecological and social benefits.

Seaweed helps purify the water, reduce carbon, and support marine life— including the reef systems that are crucial to Kimbe Bay’s biodiversity. But it also provides meaningful, sustainable livelihoods for local women and youth who once relied heavily on fishing.

“Seaweed farming helps the environment, and it helps our people,” Agartha says. “It gives women independence, youth a future, and the ocean a chance to heal.” Her story is one of hope, rooted in deep love for the sea and her community. It’s also a powerful reminder that the fight to save the planet’s most precious places often begins with one person’s vision—and grows, strand by strand, into a movement.

Watch the full story here and learn how local action is protecting a global treasure.

All joint programmes of the Joint SDG Fund are led by UN Resident Coordinators and implemented by the agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations development system. With sincere appreciation for the contributions from the European Union and Governments of Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland for a transformative movement towards achieving the SDGs by 2030.

This article first appeared on the Joint SDG Fund.