Seventeen-year-old Dev Karan, a Class 12 student from India, has become one of the youngest global laureates at the United Nations-backed Young Activists Summit 2025 for his remarkable initiative, Pondora, which focuses on restoring India’s neglected ponds through low-cost technology, climate education and community-led stewardship. His work has revived public attention toward traditional water bodies that once served as India’s environmental backbone but are rapidly disappearing under urbanisation, pollution and neglect.
A teenager’s journey from witnessing a dying pond to creating a replicable model for ecological revival
If one saw him on an ordinary day, Dev would appear like any other student balancing board exam pressure, school assignments and extracurricular duties. But unlike most teenagers who spend weekends in malls or immersed in games, Dev devoted his time to visiting forgotten ponds hidden behind farmlands, highways and crowded bus stands. These were not scenic landscapes but dying water bodies suffocated by plastic, sewage, industrial waste and years of abandonment.
The turning point came during a school visit two years ago. He saw a pond so ravaged that it barely resembled a functioning water body. The sight shook him. It was then, he said, that he realised “the climate crisis is happening everywhere,” even in small corners most people ignore. Instead of dismissing it as another environmental tragedy, he decided to act.
Dev soon discovered that the problem went far beyond a single pond. For generations, ponds acted as India’s ecological safety nets. They stored drinking water during droughts, prevented floods, recharged groundwater, supported biodiversity and stabilised microclimates. Yet, they were disappearing at alarming speed. In Delhi alone, nearly half the ponds listed on official records had vanished, filled in for construction or left to decay.
Projects to clean ponds did exist—government schemes, CSR-led efforts and volunteer campaigns. But they lacked sustainability. Even after crores were spent, ponds often slipped back into neglect within a few years. Dev identified the missing factor: ongoing engagement. Restoration required more than one-time cleaning. It needed continuous community ownership and a new generation that valued local water bodies.
This idea formed the foundation of Pondora, a youth-driven model that blends science, low-cost tools, climate literacy and community accountability. The framework is elegantly simple: ponds stay alive only when people stay involved.
Dev and his team designed Bluetooth-enabled sensors that measure pH, salinity, temperature and chemical traces, allowing communities to monitor pond health without specialised training. They launched school programmes to train students as “Pond Ambassadors,” teaching them to test water, document changes and take responsibility for their local ponds. What were once ignored patches of water became shared ecological classrooms.
Pondora also encourages villages to create pond committees responsible for monitoring, cleaning cycles and long-term maintenance. The system empowers citizens to identify problems early, preventing ponds from falling back into disrepair. For Dev, climate literacy is the true engine of change. He explains that once young people understand the cultural, ecological and climate value of ponds, they begin advocating for them. Students who once walked by silently now lead awareness drives and community surveys.
The Young Activists Summit praised Pondora as a “replicable, scalable model for water ecosystem restoration,” noting that it combines scientific innovation with community empowerment at a low cost. This recognition placed Dev alongside other youth leaders from Japan, Brazil, Lebanon and Ivory Coast, all celebrated for technological solutions tackling real-world crises.
What makes Dev’s journey compelling is not merely his scientific skill but his readiness to work in the field. “Change doesn’t occur when we’re sitting in ivory towers,” he said during the summit. “We have to go down the swamp and bring change ourselves.” His philosophy is reflected in his actions. Whether testing sensors in muddy ponds or speaking to villagers about pollution sources, Dev believes innovation must always begin with listening.
Outside Pondora, Dev has built a profile that would be impressive even for someone twice his age. As head boy at DPS Noida, he balances leadership with sustained research work. He has explored ultrasonic crop-disease detection through a project called EcoShield, interned at IIT Delhi and IIT Roorkee on environmental engineering, studied microbiome science under IISc mentorship, attended global STEM programmes and guided peer groups in research-based learning. Yet his work remains rooted in communities rather than laboratories. He believes technology is only as valuable as its impact on the people it seeks to help.
A young innovator using technology, community participation and cultural memory to build India’s first nationwide pond movement
Growing up in what he calls “a generation that had phones in their hands from a very long time,” Dev naturally gravitated toward combining digital tools with ecological challenges. Under Pondora, he is now building a nationwide pond database where citizens can document water bodies in their neighbourhoods, upload photographs and flag ecological threats. The idea is to revive India’s cultural memory around ponds, which have historically been sacred spaces for communities.
Through social media campaigns encouraging people to post pictures with local ponds, Dev is transforming water bodies from neglected wastelands into shared cultural assets. This is not flashy technology. It is not powered by giant grants or expensive AI systems. Instead, it is practical, accessible, grassroots technology that can be used by anyone with a phone.
Dev believes environmental activism must be simple enough to be owned by ordinary people. This is why his message to the youth is refreshingly grounded: “Your voice matters. Even a small contribution has ripple effects. Everyone can be a leader if they have the courage to start.” Coming from someone who spends weekends testing water sensors in remote villages, his words feel less like motivational clichés and more like philosophy born from experience.
At the Young Activists Summit in Geneva, Dev stood beside young innovators working on healthcare access, political inclusion, education, and digital rights. While each awardee’s work was impactful, Dev’s project offered something uniquely Indian: a reminder that climate resilience does not always begin with massive infrastructure or national missions. Sometimes it starts with a single overlooked water body in a forgotten corner of a village.
His work matters profoundly because India is heading rapidly toward a water-scarce future. More than 30 percent of the country’s ponds have disappeared. Many of the ponds central to village childhoods have been replaced by garbage dumps, buildings or polluted pits. Dev’s initiative arrives at a critical moment when India must rethink its grassroots approach to water conservation.
Pondora offers a blueprint that any student, community or district can replicate. It demonstrates that climate action need not be overwhelming or distant. It can begin with the nearest neglected pond—in a field, behind a school, next to a temple, or at the edge of a village. Dev’s model also challenges the widespread notion that young people are disengaged from environmental issues. Instead, it shows that when empowered with the right tools and knowledge, they can lead societal transformation.
India’s environmental challenges are vast—depleting groundwater, rapid urbanisation, declining biodiversity, heat island effects, flooding, and shrinking water tables. Yet Dev’s work illustrates that small-scale, local interventions can ripple outward to create systemic change. Ponds, though modest in size, play an essential role in climate resilience. They store water, regulate temperature, recharge aquifers and sustain biodiversity. They are frontline climate buffers that India cannot afford to neglect.
Dev’s journey is still unfolding, but his early impact is undeniable. With each restored pond, each trained student, and each new village committee formed under Pondora, the country inches closer to a more sustainable relationship with its water bodies. His mission also acts as an invitation for a generation growing up in a time of climate anxiety: to recognise that caring for the planet does not always require grand gestures. Sometimes, the most transformative leadership is found in small acts of stewardship.
