The world’s ocean and coastal areas are home to a rich biodiversity and key ecosystems that are vital for human lives, wellbeing, and livelihoods. Fisheries, shipping, tourism, and coastal industries provide employment for hundreds of millions of people around the globe and are key contributors to the economies of many countries. Ocean and blue carbon ecosystems are crucial for climate change mitigation, provide a wide range of ecosystem services, and are the foundation for a blue economy and sustainable development. With increasing global warming and climate change, small island developing states (SIDS), other island nations, and coastal populations in particular are vulnerable to different impacts including sea level rise, ocean warming and acidification, more intense and severe storms and floods, coastal erosion, and salinity intrusion. The COVID-19 pandemic can further affect ocean-based economies and exacerbate underlying socioeconomic vulnerabilities.
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The commemoration of World Ocean Day 2021 under the theme ‘The Ocean: Life and Livelihoods’ as well as the coinciding launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development have been pivotal in advancing discussions on oceans, livelihoods related to marine ecosystems, and restoration and conservation.
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In addressing the impacts of climate change and sustainable development needs, it is important to engage diverse stakeholders and scale up ambition on different levels and sectors, especially in the context of raising awareness and developing innovative solutions. Youth are a key stakeholder group and also an important constituency under the UNFCCC process, which is focused on for example through the Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) work under Article 6 of the UNFCCC and Article 12 of the Paris Agreement. ACE sets out an overarching goal to empower society, including youth, to engage in climate action through education, training, public participation, public awareness, public access to information, and international cooperation.
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To better facilitate youth engagement, youth should be recognized and included in the Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement and National Adaptation Plans to make climate action more inclusive, participatory, and multi-stakeholder driven. SLYCAN Trust works with youth and other key stakeholders to identify gaps and needs for enhancing youth engagement in climate processes, including NDs and NAPs. This series of discussions is organised to empower youth, build capacities, and engage youth in a multi-stakeholder dialogue that leads to the development of a draft strategy for youth engagement in climate action.

On the 8th of June the global populace will celebrate the World Oceans Day 2021 to highlight the importance of our vast ocean ecosystems and the vibrant life that calls it home. Ocean Decade ‘30×30’ is the latest vision to protect 30% of our oceans by 2030 through the expansion of marine protected areas. The high seas encompass 43% of the Earth’s surface, and 70% of the living space on the planet including land and sea.

The Pearl Protectors will be hosting a four-day summit covering a range of timely and important thematic areas related to our ocean. The World Oceans Day Summit – Sri Lanka is organized in partnership with the Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA), Blue Resource Trust and International World Ocean Day. The main themes will encompass Sri Lanka’s marine biodiversity, ocean pollution and solutions, ocean-based resource economy and the way forward for our oceans. Since Sri Lanka is surrounded by twenty times more ocean boundary than land, it is vital that Sri Lankans acknowledge and appreciate its importance both ecologically and economically, and the need to sustain the marine environment for future generations.

The hosting organization, The Pearl Protectors is a youth led marine conservation platform which advocates for protected oceans while increasing awareness on the importance of sustaining and conserving our marine environment. The Pearl Protectors have launched various projects and initiatives which promotes volunteerism, research and public involvement to conserve and sustain the marine environment of Sri Lanka.

The World Oceans Day Summit – Sri Lanka will be structured to provide maximum impact and awareness to the larger public audience of Sri Lanka. Each of the four days will entail a thematic topic which will include sub session topics. The sub session topics will be aired live on virtual media where several experts from each session will engage in presentations and discussions. The hour-long sessions will provide the opportunity for the public audience to engage in discussions while each sub session will be moderated by a team member of the host organization or partnered organizations.

The World Oceans Day Summit Sri Lanka 2021 is a first of its kind to be held in Sri Lanka. The virtual platform of the summit will be through StreamYard and will be open to the public for free. Recordings of the summit will be made available through Facebook and YouTube while publication press will release summaries for each thematic sessions.

Grab your art supplies and join us on the 1st of June.
A creative method in the light of World Ocean Day, by merging the love of the Ocean with the love of Art!

Demonstrated by Rena Ortega, a talented Ocean advocate raising awareness through her art will be demonstrating how to paint a Cosmic Whale with watercolors! Facilitated by Kasumi who is a core member of The Pearl Protectors.
Live streaming on Facebook and YouTube at 5.00-6.00 P.M. (IST)
Stay tuned for more updates!
We’re very excited! Are you?
Youtube: http://bit.ly/PearlonYouTube

World Oceans Day is celebrated globally on June 8th.

The global call for this year’s celebrations has been ’30X30′ which is a call to action to safeguard at least 30% of the worlds ocean by 2030.

The World Oceans Day Art Competition aims to depict the natural beauty of the marine environment through art while also aims to highlight ocean pollution.
The Pearl Protectors are organizing the art exhibition for the second year. The Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA), Blue Resources Trust, Dilmah Conservation and World Oceans Day International will be partnering in celebrating this year’s World Oceans Day in Sri Lanka.

The art competition and the exhibition will be conducted virtually where various
artwork/painting should be submitted as soft images.

The competition has two categories;
‘School’ and ‘Open’.

Two themes for art submissions;
• ‘Beauty of the marine environment’
• ‘Ocean Pollution’.

Submissions must be sent to thepearlprotectors@gmail.com along with the details requested on the submission guidelines, before the 4th of June (deadline).

Top 3 art from each category including an additional 30 top art submissions will receive prizes.

To learn about the competition rules and guidelines, visit:

https://pearlprotectors.org/world-oceans-day-through-art/

We hope to see your artwork and creativity make a difference in protecting our oceans.