World Oceans Day
The United Nations celebrates World Oceans Day every year on 8 June. Many countries have celebrated this special day since 1992, following the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro. In 2008, the United Nations General Assembly decided that, as of 2009, 8 June would be designated by the United Nations as “World Oceans Day”. The purpose of World Oceans Day is to inform the public of the impact of human actions on the ocean, develop a worldwide movement of citizens for the ocean, and mobilize and unite the world’s population on a project for the sustainable management of the world's oceans. They are a major source of food and medicine and a critical part of the biosphere. In the end, it is a day to celebrate together the beauty, the wealth and the promise of the ocean.
Statement from UN Secretary-General António Guterres on World Oceans Day 2020 ; June 8.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a sharp reminder of how we are all intimately connected -- to each other and to nature.
As we work to end the pandemic and build back better, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity – and responsibility -- to correct our relationship with the natural world, including the world’s seas and oceans.
We rely on the oceans for food, livelihoods, transport, and trade.
And, as the lungs of our planet and its largest carbon sink, the oceans play a vital role in regulating the global climate.
Today, sea levels are rising due to climate change, threatening lives and livelihoods in low-lying nations and coastal cities and communities around the world.
The oceans are becoming more acidic, putting marine biodiversity and essential food chains in jeopardy.
And plastic pollution is everywhere.
On this World Oceans Day, we focus on Innovation for a Sustainable Ocean.
Better understanding of the oceans is essential for conserving fish stocks and discovering new products and medicines.
The upcoming United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development will provide impetus and a common framework for action.
I urge governments and all stakeholders to commit to the conservation and sustainability of the oceans through innovation and science.
António Guterres
Statement from IUCN Director General’s Statement for World Oceans Day 2020 , June 8.
Imagine the deep blue ocean, an immense ally that provides food and oxygen, regulates our climate, links distant shores, and serves humanity as a source of social and economic development.
That ocean is in danger, and recent scientific research gives even greater cause for concern about its health. Last year alone, IUCN’s Ocean Deoxygenation report, the IPCC Special Report on Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate, and the IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services helped us understand that our activities are depleting the ocean’s oxygen levels, making the seas warmer and more acidic, and critically threatening biodiversity.
We now better understand the multiple threats to marine life and what needs to be done to protect the seas for future generations. But understanding only takes us so far – we must act on our knowledge, and we must do so urgently, because humanity is destroying the ocean. More than ever before, we must treat this amazing ally with the greatest respect. We need a healthy ocean for healthy people.
To achieve this, we need a strong, coordinated policy response that channels scientific insights into effective ocean conservation, from new and strengthened international trade agreements to better management of marine resources. We also need to work with coastal communities, embracing their traditional knowledge and innovations.
Thankfully, we are taking positive steps forward. States are working on a new, legally binding international instrument for marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, designed to improve the conservation and sustainable use of marine life in the high seas. This instrument must set clear guidelines to protect deep-sea life from activities such as deep seabed mining. Elsewhere, negotiations are ongoing among World Trade Organisation member states towards ending harmful fishing subsidies, which threaten the world’s marine resources.
The global business community is also taking action for ocean health – the newly emerging sustainable “blue economy” holds much promise. This space is where investors are searching for sustainable investment opportunities, and to meet this demand, facilities such as the Blue Natural Capital Financing Facility are starting to offer investment opportunities that generate climate change resilience, biodiversity restoration and return on investment.
As part of these positive steps forward, indigenous peoples and local communities are sharing their knowledge and traditional practices – making aquaculture projects more sustainable, for example. Furthermore, coastal communities and organisations are calling for healthy oceans to be part of the global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, so that we do not just rehabilitate the world, but ensure it truly prospers.
All of this is good news, and gives us cause for hope through action.
As we enter the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, key events over the next 18 months will provide critical opportunities to expand science-based solutions and propel action on the ground. The IUCN World Conservation Congress, taking place January 2021 in Marseille, will be the first major milestone in this journey, bringing together policy makers, scientists, NGOs, indigenous peoples’ organisations and the private sector to drive conservation action.
Let us remember that the evidence is clear: human activity poses a grave threat to ocean health on multiple fronts, but we have the science and we understand what it’s telling us. On this World Oceans Day, our challenge is to accelerate the conversion of that knowledge into action.
Statement from CBD Acting Executive Secretary Elizabeth Maruma Mrema for World Oceans Day 2020, June 8.
The ocean is hardly a static entity. It is changing all the time. As currents shift and move, coastal areas are eroded and marine species are forced to travel enormous distances, like never before. These challenges are on top of extensive changes to the ocean that climate change is bringing about.
Likewise, our relationship with the ocean has changed over time. Rising global populations and increased demands for services and materials from the ocean has rapidly and steadily increased the pressure we are placing on this blue planet, with negative impacts for nature and those very services and materials that we as human beings need.
If we hope for the ocean to continue to support our well-being, then we too much change. Hence, the timeliness and importance of the theme of this year’s World Oceans Day, “Innovation for a Sustainable Ocean”.
Innovations are more likely to emerge when there is an enabling environment and incentives to bring them forth. Under the Convention on Biological Diversity, Parties are negotiating the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity, to be adopted at the forthcoming 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15). This framework will contain a new set of global goals and targets for biodiversity and will also aim to strengthen the enabling conditions for effective implementation. This framework will also aim to catalyze and support innovation among a wide range of stakeholders and sectors in order to accelerate progress towards reversing global trends in biodiversity loss.
We are seeing glimmers of hope in innovation all around. For example, upcycling of plastic waste from the ocean is giving new life to yesterday’s waste, while technologies like waste drones are working to rid the ocean of debris. Researchers are also developing fully autonomous solar powered research vessels to monitor marine mammals and other trends in the ocean.
However, not all innovation comes from modern cutting-edge technologies. Local-scale and low-cost innovations, including from indigenous peoples and local communities, provide a wealth of possibilities. For example, local communities in Central America are reducing waste flowing from rivers into the sea by stringing together mesh with plastic bottles, called ‘biofences’, which has reduced trash entering the sea by 60% in these areas.
We must be proactive and seek out innovative approaches to conservation and the sustainable use of biodiversity, constantly questioning our long-held beliefs and practices. Only then can we truly realize the transformative change needed to achieve a sustainable future for the ocean.
Elizabeth Maruma Mrema. Convention on Biologicaln Diversity, Executive-Secretary.
FORUM: World Oceans Day 2020;'' Innovation for a Sustainable Ocean.''
Every 8 June, we have an opportunity to raise global awareness of the benefits humankind derives from the ocean and our individual and collective duty to use its resources sustainably. Future generations will also depend on the ocean for their livelihoods! Aquariums, science centers and research institutions, NGOs, communities and governments all around the world mobilize millions of people around events big and small. This is your portal to finding which events are happening around the world and in your neighborhood. Together with the United Nations Family and our partners, let’s celebrate all that the ocean gives us every day: from the oxygen we breathe to the inspiration that moves our poets.
PARTICIPANTS: List of Partners.
How a Global Ocean Treaty Could Protect Biodiversity in the High Seas?
New Research on the Possible Effects of Micro-and Nano-plastics on Marine Animals
A Look into Colombia's Seas with Nuclear Technology
IAEA Helps Reduce Plastic Pollution.
How Do Ocean Pollutants Make Their Way Into Our Seafood? Scientists Look For Answers with Nuclear Technology?
History of World Oceans Day : The international efforts at the origin of this global celebration of the ocean and its marine life. By Judith Swan, formerly Executive Director of the Oceans Institute of Canada - Except from "History of World Oceans Day"
1992 Declaration of Oceans Day;
Oceans Day was first declared as June 8th 1992 in Rio de Janeiro at the Global Forum, a parallel event at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) which provided an opportunity for non-government organizations (NGOs) and civil society to express their views on environmental issues. The Declaration was inspired by an event organized on that day by the Oceans Institute of Canada and supported by the Canadian Government: “OCEANS DAY AT GLOBAL FORUM – THE BLUE PLANET”. The programme featured international experts, opinion leaders and those in a position to speak for the oceans’ contributions to sustaining the Blue Planet.
Continuing the momentum – 2008 UN Designation of World Oceans Day;
In 2008, led by Canada, the General Assembly resolved that June 8th would be designated by the United Nations as “World Oceans Day”. In the interim, observation of Oceans Day had broadened and deepened. The need and scope for this was reflected in the broad range of concerns expressed in 2008 by the UN Secretary-General, including implementation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, maritime space, international shipping, maritime security, marine science and technology, marine biological diversity, the marine environment and sustainable development, climate change and regional and international cooperation. The awareness and action spurred by observation of World Oceans Day would be crucial in all these areas.
2017 United Nations Ocean Conference and World Oceans Day – Our ocean, our future;
The Declaration of World Oceans Day in 2008 catalysed action worldwide. Twenty-five years after the first Oceans Day took place in Rio de Janeiro at UNCED, a special event on June 8th marked its celebration during the United Nations Ocean Conference held from 5-9 June 2017. The Ocean Conference was convened to support the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)14 in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
In recent years, Word Oceans Day has celebrated the following themes:
World Oceans Day 2019: ''Gender and the Ocean.''
World Oceans Day 2018: ''Clean Our Ocean!''
World Oceans Day 2017: ''Our Ocean, Our Future.''
World Oceans Day 2015-2016: ''Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet.''
United Nations Secretary-General on World Ocean Day 2020
CBD Acting Executive Secretary Elizabeth Maruma Mrema for World Oceans Day 2020.
Targeting Microplastics with Nuclear Techniques.
There are more micro pieces of plastic in the sea than stars in the Milky Way. Watch the video to learn how scientists at our ocean labs in Monaco are using nuclear techniques to better understand this global threat.