HISTORY:
The concept of a World Oceans Day was first proposed in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro as a way to celebrate our world’s shared ocean and our personal connection to the sea, as well as to raise awareness about the crucial role the ocean plays in our lives and the important ways people can help protect it.
World Ocean Day seeks to promote knowledge about the delicate systems that govern the world’s oceanic system and how they’re at increasing risk from climate change. From rising pollution, acidification of ocean water, rising average temperatures, to a reduction in ocean biodiversity.
The ocean covers over 70% of the planet. It is our life source, supporting humanity’s sustenance and that of every other organism on earth.
The ocean produces at least 50% of the planet’s oxygen, it is home to most of earth’s biodiversity, and is the main source of protein for more than a billion people around the world. Not to mention, the ocean is key to our economy with an estimated 40 million people being employed by ocean-based industries by 2030.
Even though all its benefits, the ocean is now in need of support.
With 90% of big fish populations depleted, and 50% of coral reefs destroyed, we are taking more from the ocean than can be replenished. We need to work together to create a new balance with the ocean that no longer depletes its bounty but instead restores its vibrancy and brings it new life.
“Revitalization: collective action for the ocean” is the theme for World Oceans Day 2022, a year framed by the UN Decade of Ocean Science and the celebration of the United Nations Ocean Conference, two years after being cancelled because of the pandemic.
QUOTES:
“The sea is a desert of waves, a wilderness of water”
“We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected on the deep”
“Sometimes in the waves of change, we find our true direction”
“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf”
