Alexandra Cousteau

As the granddaughter of the famous Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau, she follows in her family’s wake telling people about the hidden treasures of the sea and using her films to show the wonders of the underwater world and how important it is to preserve it.

Cousteau is an expert scuba diver, having learned to dive aged seven alongside her grandfather who introduced her to the mysteries of the sea. As a filmmaker and photographer, she has led several expeditions aimed at better understanding the current issues the oceans are facing and searching for solutions. She believes that her greatest contribution to the environmental movement is having raised awareness about the underwater world globally and the need to preserve marine biodiversity and the sea’s natural resources.

Cousteau pioneered the live broadcast of expeditions on social media at a time when it wasn’t as widespread today and her commitment to the dissemination of ocean conservation programmes – which attracted record-breaking audiences – have earned her the honorary title of National Geographic Emerging Explorer in 2008.

The seas’ critical situation and gloomy forecasts drove her to launch the Oceans 2050 initiative in 2018 – a global action programme whose aim is to restore oceans’ abundance and diversity. Cousteau firmly believes in the oceans’ resilience and though this project, she strives to recreate the conditions that will allow nature to regenerate – reverting ocean acidification, restoring marine forests, rebuilding bountiful fisheries and marine habitats, etc.

In parallel, Cousteau works closely with the organisation Oceana, with whom she has collaborated intensely in campaigns against intensive fishing and advocating for marine policies that help increase biodiversity to provide us with more food in the future.