I’m Will Charouhis. My hometown Miami, Florida, is ground zero for both flooding and green technology.  In 2017, after my city and our neighboring Latin American communities sustained catastrophic flooding from hurricanes , I was inspired to act. I founded We Are Forces of Nature, a youth organization working to provide coastal protection by planting a million mangroves; distributing weather-related disaster relief to hurricane victums, and educating youth on the solutions we need to build a more sustainable and adaptable world. 

 

When the pandemic hit, I spent the long months of the lockdown in the mangrove forests, cleaning up mangrove roots along the Miami shoreline, which is the fastest way to regenerate growth. In November 2020, Central America suffered massive mudslides after being hit by Hurricane Eta, and I expanded my coastline protection project to provide hurricane relief to the Latin American communities whose receding coastlines left many of them with nothing.

 

In June 2021, when an oceanfront condominium building collapsed in my neighborhood due in part to saltwater intrusion rusting out the foundation, our mayor invited me to bring the youth voice to experts investigating the causes of the collapse. Mangroves are now being used in innovative living seawalls. Recently, I began partnering with US State Department vistors from Gabon and Cameroon, in the hopes of expanding research on biotechnology can improve success in growing and replanting mangrove seedlings. 

At COP26 in Glasgow, I had the opportunity to meet with Peruvian farmers and the Ministers of Small Island Nations, including Fiji and the Seychelles, hear their coastal concerns, and discussmangrove regeneration as a path forward for halting coastal erosion and preserving local economies.  In a closed meeting with Barack Obama, he discussed risks his home state of Hawaii faces. I also had an opportunity to educate on trees' ability to sequester carbon in panels with Dr. Jane Goodall at the United Nations General Assembly, and the UN Conference on Climate Change COP26, as well as share my reseach at Stockholm+50 and Pre-COP27 at UN Headquarters in Bonn.

Mangroves protect against sea-level rise, provide a breeding ground for fish, preserve local fishing economies, and serve as nature's best carbon sink. Because mangroves grow to maturity in 10-20 years and have a large root system, they sequester atmospheric carbon at 5 times the rate of tropical forests and 10 times the rate of evergreen forests. Biotechnology and AI are already being used to magnify nature-based solutions.

This project allows everyone to play a role in protecting our coastline communities. Pull a group together to clean up ocean trash that clogs mangrove roots. Clean ups allow what Mother Nature does best - restore itself. If everyone in the world plants just seven mangrove seedlings a year, or cleans out the roots of just one bed of mangroves, we can amass enough forest area to absorb a third of carbon emissions.

I will continue to provide mangrove restoration education, as well as work hands-on, because I want youth to know that they can channel their fear into action, and make a difference.