Youth Activists Urgently Seek Funding to Save Dugongs from Extinction

As of October 24th, 2025, a team of young researchers and conservationists from the Philippines, known as Project Lawud, are leading the charge to save the dugong, one of the closest living relatives of the recently extinct sea cow.

Dugongs play a critical role in maintaining healthy seagrass meadows in the Indo-Pacific region. These meadows support marine biodiversity, serve as nurseries for many fish and invertebrates, sequester huge amounts of carbon to mitigate climate change, and fortify coastal resilience against storms and sea-level rises. However, in the Philippines, dugongs remain critically threatened by habitat degradation, pollution, human activity, and climate breakdown.

The team's work is rooted in community and driven by a sense of urgency, yet their youth-led initiatives receive less than 1% of global climate funding. Diofel Tampoy, a member of Project Lawud, emphasizes that if we are to prevent another extinction story, this must change. The team needs investment not just in technology or infrastructure, but also in the people on the frontlines of unprecedented biodiversity loss and climate change.

Iida Turpeinen's novel "Beasts of the Sea" serves as a powerful reminder that extinction begins with silence and apathy. The team is determined to act before the dugong becomes the next ghost of the sea.