2025 High Seas Youth Ambassador Divan Joseph Reflects on Leadership Development

This blog post was authored by Divan Joseph, a 2025 EarthEcho High Seas Youth Ambassador.

Divan Nyangi Joseph led a multi-layered national and regional campaign in Tanzania to build momentum for the ratification of the High Seas Treaty (BBNJ). The campaign combined media advocacy, academic and community engagement, youth leadership, creative arts, and regional collaboration to increase awareness and understanding of ocean governance.

Activities included national television (TBC) advocacy during World Wildlife Day, newspaper feature  advocacy, university exhibitions, awareness raising events, community research studies, creative painting sessions and a Tanzania-Zambia High Seas Youth Joint Webinar.

The campaign also used social media storytelling to reach broader audiences and shared research findings with student associations, environmentists and NGOs. Divan plans to continue leading the way towards healthy oceans in her community by 2030 through youth engagement,  awareness raising and policy advocacy beyond the Ambassador program.

“This program has enhanced my leadership capacity on campaign planning to execution and revealed the critical role young people play in driving change in ocean governance.” - Divan Joseph