As a boy growing up in Mumbai, Ajay Sawant’s world revolved around the sea. The Arabian Sea wasn’t just scenery—it was sanctuary. He spent countless afternoons collecting shells, racing crabs along the wet sand, and diving into the cool waves. “The ocean was my playground, my peace,” he recalls.
But in 2012, something shifted. The shells grew rare. The crabs disappeared. In their place were bottle caps, shattered sandals, and sun-bleached plastic shards pretending to be pebbles. “At first, I thought it was just a bad week. Maybe the ocean would clean itself up,” he says. “But it only got worse. Watching my favourite part of nature fade like that—it was quietly devastating. Like losing someone you love, slowly, and not knowing how to stop it.”
The beach, once his place of joy, began to make him ill—sneezing, wheezing, reacting to the pollution—illness he now knew was more than surface-deep. “That’s when I understood: the ocean and I were both unwell. And healing had to happen on both ends.” Sawant’s response wasn’t just cleanup—it was creativity. He started collecting plastic instead of shells. He began sculpting marine animals from the plastic he gathered, hauntingly beautiful effigies that told a very real story. “It was my way of confronting people with their impact. If you come to enjoy the sea, you should see what you’re doing to it.”
Even after moving to Pune to study for the NEET exam, Sawant kept returning to Mumbai’s shores. The ocean had become more than a memory. It became a mission. That commitment soon earned him a spot on the Future Blue Youth Council, a global program by Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Programs, founded by Linda Cabot. “It was mentorship by young people, for young people. Linda opened a whole new world for me—the ocean not just as emotion, but as ecosystem, economy, and engine of life.”
Today, Sawant is the Media Director at Bow Seat, where he drives the organisation’s strategic vision, builds grant proposals, sets global impact goals, and oversees projects across continents. “It’s where grassroots meets global,” says the 23-year-old. “From digital storytelling to high-level strategy, I’m helping the message travel.”
Between 2022 and 2023, Sawant joined the Advisory Council for World Ocean Day, co-developing a Youth Ocean Action Toolkit with The Ocean Foundation and National Geographic, designed to bring climate literacy into classrooms and communities. By 2023, he became President of ThinkOcean Society, a youth-led organisation sparking marine conservation from Hong Kong to Uganda. His role? Supporting regional leaders, funding grassroots action, and ensuring every initiative is locally relevant and globally resonant.
His most ambitious role yet may be his work as a High Seas Youth Ambassador for the High Seas Alliance, advocating for the newly ratified UN High Seas Treaty—a landmark effort to protect marine biodiversity in waters beyond national jurisdiction. “I served as a bridge between scientists, policymakers, and youth—amplifying voices and building political momentum,” he says. His influence now spans the UN, where as a Strategic Communications Advisor to the UN Ocean Decade, he helps turn high-level goals into digestible stories, accessible science, and community-level impact.
From coastlines to conference rooms, Sawant works at the crossroads of conservation, communication, and change. He partners with schools, nonprofits, governments, and grassroots collectives, pushing ocean issues into the heart of public dialogue.
But this is only the beginning.
“Eventually, I want to launch a social enterprise—circular, self-sustaining, and rooted in community,” he says. “It shouldn’t be about charity. It should be about resilience. Conservation that powers itself, and the planet.”
Sawant’s journey began with a shell. Now, he’s reshaping the shoreline—one policy, one project, and one young voice at a time.