It was the Canadian government, at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio that first mooted the idea of World Oceans Day. In 1998, UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission lent its support to this international Day of celebration.
Since 2003 World Oceans Day has been coordinated jointly by the World Ocean Network and the American association, The Ocean Project.
A major stride forward
The World Ocean Network and the Ocean Project have worked closely together to promote World Ocean Day. For 6 years they strove to obtain official recognition of this Day as an International celebration by the United Nations. A petition to the United Nations requesting the Day’s official designation obtained tens of thousands of signatures from all around the world. Thanks to all the collective and individual efforts and to the ever increasing public mobilisation for World Ocean Day, the United Nations General Assembly has now designated the 8th June World Ocean Day, the first official international celebration took place in 2009.
International reach
Every year, across the 5 continents, aquariums, research centres, museums, associations and institutions with a marine environment outreach role celebrate the 8th June. More than 200 organisations from 50 countries come together to take part in this festival of the ocean. On the programme there are organised activities, games, arts and craft workshops, conferences and films ; it’s a fun day out and entirely dedicated to the ocean.
Inform the general public of the dangers facing the ocean and of the impact of human activities,
Create a world-wide citizen’s movement,
Raise awareness about the crucial role the ocean plays in all our daily lives,
Mobilise people around sustainable ocean stewardship projects,
Encourage everyone to take action to preserve the ocean and its riches.
Celebrate World Oceans Day and participation in the day’s festivities.
Please click here to discover the 2010 World Oceans Day programme.
2009 World Oceans Day : photo gallery and programme.
En Algeria and Costa Rica,
En Lituania, in Mauritania and on Reunion Island.
Support for World Oceans Day comes from UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and the Ocean Project.
World Ocean network activities involving Citizens:
If you wish to organise an activity for World Oceans Day: click here.
If you would like to register your activities on World Oceans Day, please fill the form and contact World Ocean network here.
If you would like to register and access the exchange platform you can do so via the Ocean Info Pack site by clicking here.
If you would like to find out about other policy instruments or become a member of the World Ocean Network, click here.