World Ocean Day is an annual global celebration of our ocean that takes place every 8 June. World Ocean Day raises the profile of the ocean, connects people worldwide, and inspires continuing action year-round to protect and restore our ocean.
A healthy world ocean is critical to our survival. The ocean is important because it
- Generates most of the oxygen we breathe
- Helps feed us
- Regulates our climate
- Cleans the water we drink
- Offers a pharmacopoeia of medicines
- Provides limitless inspiration!
World Ocean Day allows us to:
- Change perspective – encourage people to think about what the ocean means to them and what it has to offer all of us and how we can all help protect and restore our one world ocean for present and future generations.
- Learn – discover the wealth of diverse and beautiful ocean creatures and habitats, and how we are all interconnected.
- Change our ways – we are all linked to, and through, the ocean and our actions can help! By taking care of your community, you are acting as a caretaker of our ocean. Informing and involving your family, friends, and community will benefit our blue planet even more!
- Celebrate – whether you live inland or on the coast, we are all connected to the ocean. Take the time to think about how the ocean affects you, and how you affect the ocean, and then organize or participate in activities that celebrate and help with solutions to protect and restore our ocean
- Take collective action – together, we can be a force for positive change!
Yes! Everyone is absolutely encouraged to celebrate and take action for our one ocean throughout the year. Many people choose to plan their celebratory and action-oriented events sometime in June, and many others continue their action and activities at various other times in the year when the ocean may be more top of mind (e.g., in some parts of the Southern Hemisphere when December-March is the summer season).
Plan an event and download free resources from the website (WorldOceanDay.org)
Register your event by submitting it here
Find an event on the global Events Calendar
Show your support on social media and make sure to tag @WorldOceanDay
Anyone can use the logo as long as it’s in association with celebrating or taking action for World Ocean Day. We encourage you to use it to help your event or activities generate more involvement. Everything on the resource page can be used for free by anyone and customized for your own World Ocean Day purposes.
The best way to get our attention is by following the World Ocean Day social media platforms and tagging World Ocean Day in your conservation-related posts:
Twitter @WorldOceansDay (note that Twitter uses an “s” while the others do not and use the singular “ocean”)
Instagram @WorldOceanDay
Facebook @WorldOceanDay
LinkedIn World-Ocean-Day
Everyone subscribed to the World Ocean Day email list will be notified when the resources are uploaded to the website and ready for anyone to download and utilize. Subscribe here.
The World Ocean Day blog is another great place to see the latest announcements and updates.
You can submit any conservation-related activity, event, or announcement (any time of the year!) using the event submission form.
Usually within a few days or at most within one week. You will receive an email confirmation when your event is published.
Every year, we determine a common Action Theme to rally the world and that can be incorporated into any World Ocean Day celebrations and events. This is the “Action Theme” and each year we provide strategic advice, educational and actionable resources to help event organizers incorporate the Action Theme into their plans. This collective action around an overarching priority issue can make a big impact because many thousands of organizations and individuals are all working together for a cause.
See the history of World Ocean Day here.
The concept of World Ocean Day was first proposed by the Government of Canada at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
In 2002, The Ocean Project launched global coordination of World Ocean Day, including year round outreach to all sectors to make them aware of this unique opportunity to rally their target audiences.
To help grow recognition of World Ocean Day, together with the World Ocean Network and other international partners, from 2004 to 2008 The Ocean Project co-developed and widely circulated a petition online and onsite to our network of partners, urging the United Nations to officially recognize World Ocean Day as 8 June each year.
As a result of working with hundreds of partner organizations, and thanks to tens of thousands of people from all parts of the world who signed online and paper copies of the petition, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution in December 2008, officially recognizing 8 June as World Ocean Day each year.
Since 2002, World Ocean Day has grown to thousands of events each year in 150+ countries.
The global ocean literacy movement and scientists urge individuals and organizations to talk about our one (singular) ocean to strongly emphasize our connectedness on this blue planet. Learn more in this blog post: Drop the “S”: Our one big ocean connects us all.
We created the World Ocean Day Youth Advisory Council 2016 to help develop World Ocean Day into a unique way to connect and unite youth around the world for a better future with a healthier ocean.
The Council helps shape the development and increase the impact of World Ocean Day in June and throughout the year, by helping shape and message around the Action Theme, leading youth-focused initiatives, and engaging all generations to help protect and restore our ocean and stabilize the climate.
Applications to join the Council for a one-year term open once per year, at the end of June.
Yes! There are several different ways you can get involved as a youth leader in your community. Click here to read about our youth initiative.
To stay up to date with our vast network of global youth organizations, learn about youth events and opportunities, be notified when the application process open to join the Council, and receive updates about free Advocacy Training, webinars, and any of our other youth opportunities, be sure to subscribe to the Rising Blue Network Newsletter.
If you have any questions about the World Ocean Day Youth Advisory Council, or another youth initiative program, or if you have suggestions for us, please contact us at: youth@theoceanproject.org.