Thai Youth Replanting Staghorn Coral, One Dive Trip at a Time

Co-founded in Bangkok in 2020 by sisters Pleng and Pyn Kruesopon while still in school, Care for Coral runs hands-on coral restoration dives, bottle-nursery and artificial-reef installations, and classroom education programs across Thailand's coastlines, working mainly with fast-growing staghorn species such as Acropora muricata. The group has partnered with government agencies, dive operators, and schools on projects in Phuket, Koh Tao, Sattahip, and Phi Phi Island, and co-organizes an annual river-and-sea cleanup on the Chao Phraya River and Andaman Sea. As of May 2025, Care for Coral had worked with more than 800 volunteers to plant close to 400 corals across 13 restoration sites nationwide, work that earned it Thailand's Most Outstanding Youth Organization award from King Rama X and a Gold Ocean Conservationist medal from the Thai government.