The World Ocean Network sprang from the International Year of the Oceanin 1998 and the interest in the Oceans it gave rise to. In 1999, we organised our first International Meeting ‘For the future of the Blue Planet’, at Nausicaá, in France, under the aegis of UNESCO’s International Oceanographic Commission.

For twenty years we have striven to inspire change by promoting public awareness about the importance of the Ocean for humanity, about the impact of our behaviour on the environment,and by uniting everyone around the goal of preserving our shared heritage, the Global Ocean, without which humanity could not survive.

Our activities can either be led at the initiative of our members or at the initiative of our international organisation, which was established in 2006 and is headquartered in Belgium.