World Ocean Day 2024 was full of exciting events and celebrations all around the world. This week, we are shining the spotlight on some of our brilliant Youth Advisory Council members and the events and initiatives they planned for World Ocean Day 2024.
The 2024 Youth Advisory Council cohort consisted of 25 young leaders from 21 different countries. Council members are responsible for promoting and encouraging World Ocean Day efforts in their own countries, collaborating with one other to lead their own initiatives, and providing guidance for the overall focus of World Ocean Day. If you are interested in applying to join the 2024-2025 cohort of the Youth Advisory Council, click here.
Check out these summaries from some of the Council members’ celebrations on and around World Ocean Day.
Dana Ahmed - Egypt









My World Ocean Day event, hosted in collaboration with my organization, Asfour Initiative, involved the Bedouins and local coastal communities of the Red Sea as an integral part of the event. We held a puppet show at Nuweiba’s Habiba Eco Lodge, a beautiful community that champions local involvement, environmental justice, and ocean activism with their organic farms, and Habiba’s education center that has been operating for decades. Habiba’s community, though not spoken about often in the international realm, has grown environmental warriors in a relatively conservative space in Egypt, an act that truly should be honored everywhere in the world.
With Habiba’s guidance, the Asfour Initiative hosted an Ocean Literacy Puppet show featuring topics ranging from Deep Sea Mining to Coral Bleaching and Indigenous empowerment that were voiced by Bedouin children in the area and active learners at the Habiba Education Centre. Through these puppet shows, we not only taught ocean literacy, but we echoed to the world that the ocean is a haven for all of us, regardless of where we are from, what we do, and who we are. Local Bedouin kids who are only 6 and 7 years of age, living in a faraway city on the South of Sinai, Nuweiba, a beautiful coast that is almost forgotten with its broken reefs and plastic-infused beaches, were made to righteously believe that they are the saviors of our ocean and seas, and were given the chance to be the teachers, and not just the mere listeners. They were entrusted with the science and knowledge of their homes, because it has always been equally theirs to claim. The puppet show ended with the children celebrating their achievements with a community swim and pencil-coloring session.
Meng Xu - China



I helped plan and participated in a marine education lecture and beach cleanup event in Blue Valley, Qingdao, China. Over twenty middle school students from remote mountainous areas of China attended. During the lecture, they learned about marine plastic pollution and seagrass beds, gaining insight into their impacts on marine life, humans, and the global ecosystem. In the beach cleanup that followed, the students collected a total of 242.71 kilograms of trash, actively contributing to ocean protection.
Sophia Skarparis - Australia








“Night at the Zoo” is an immersive music and art conservation experience hosted by Youth Ocean Carnival Sydney 2024, and our Global Goal Partner Taronga Zoo. It is our flagship under-18 event for World Ocean Day. The event provides access and connectivity for youth to explore their senses – feel, smell, taste, think, see and hear to immerse them as changemakers for the ocean.
Abdul-Na-eem Muniru - Ghana

My World Ocean Day event was focused on ocean conservation awareness and empowering the next generation. With the goal of inspiring youth to take action, I visited St. Paul’s Methodist Basic School to educate over 50 students and teachers on the importance of ocean conservation and sustainability. The event aimed to raise awareness about the impact of human actions on the world’s ocean, and encouraged the young minds to become stewards of the planet. Additionally, I took to the airwaves, sharing the crucial message with an interview about World Ocean Day and the importance of conservation with a local public radio station, further amplifying the reach and impact of this vital initiative.
Malika Gizzat - Kazakhstan
I held an event called “Ocean Labyrinth” for 7th grade students at my school. I printed out ocean-related questions and hung them around different places at school, and on each poster, there was a hint for the next one with an answer to the questions, as a sort of scavenger hunt. Children found this labyrinth not only very informative but also quite entertaining! They were excited to learn more about our ocean and how to help protect it.
Louisa Hoy - England
While I didn’t host an event entirely by myself, I was delighted to participate in the Open Ocean Day event at the National Oceanography Centre, which is one of the leading research institutions in the UK for ocean and earth science. The event took place over two days, inviting local schools and the general public to attend talks, displays, and interactive exhibits, all from inside the government-owned building, which is usually private. Opening their doors was a fantastic way to get people of all ages learning about the work taking place at the Centre, as well as learn more about our ocean and get involved with related topics. The event was a huge success, with over 1,500 signing up to attend, and I enjoyed speaking to people of all ages about our ocean and why World Ocean Day is so important.
Rajaa Berry - Canada
My World Ocean Day event was centered around a pre-existing project of mine, advocating for marine protected areas through green financing and lobbying. Our local advocacy event highlighted the importance of World Ocean Day and focused on the significance of the 30×30 initiative, which aims to protect 30% of the world’s ocean by 2030. We engaged the community through discussions and presentations about the critical role of marine protected areas in preserving ocean biodiversity and combating climate change. This event helped raise awareness and mobilize local support for sustainable ocean conservation efforts.
Leena Joshi - India




I organized and hosted “ArtSea: Art for Ocean Conservation”, an event where art meets ocean conservation. ArtSea brought together local artists, community members, and ocean enthusiasts to promote marine conservation through creative sustainability. The event featured natural pigment demonstrations, poetry performances, nature photography, and an art exhibit, all highlighting the beauty of marine ecosystems and the urgency of addressing environmental threats. Through art, I influenced impactful conversations and inspired action for ocean preservation. The event’s welcoming atmosphere, activities, and educational sessions created a wave of awareness and advocacy. ArtSea truly demonstrated the transformative power of art in conserving our blue planet.
Trevon Callender - Barbados











UN Ocean Decade ‘Tides of Tomorrow: World Ocean Day Celebrations’ was an ocean education-focused day for youth of the Barbados Cadet Corps Sea Cadet Division, Sustainable Ocean Alliance Caribbean Hub, the public, and CORALL. Areas that were highlighted included fundamentals on ocean knowledge, marine life essential to Barbados such as coral reefs and sea turtles, human impacts, and sustainable conservation practices for day-to-day life. The active component included a snorkel and scuba dive. Snorkeling allowed the youth to be physically exposed to reef life and see real time changes. Scuba allowed for a PADI Dive Against Debris to be conducted, which is removing marine debris from the ocean floor.
Kjeld Werther - The Netherlands

On the 6th and 8th of June, I organized World Ocean Day events in the Netherlands at Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden. I collaborated with the Sustainable Ocean Community (Utrecht University & Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ)), the Dutch Ministry on Infrastructure and Water Management, and Naturalis. The 6th was the National Ocean Sciences Conference, a gathering of the scientific community. On the 8th, the general public was welcome to discover the beauty and importance of the ocean via workshops, whale yoga, and scientific talks in the museum. Additionally, I organized a student symposium on island nations and their connection to the ocean together with Youth Advisory Council Alum Melati Wijsen.
William Charouhis - United States



I helped to organise the Clean Up Miami event for 2024, which is the lead Florida event for World Ocean Day, with the plan through social media to create a ripple effect and inspire other groups to organize beach clean-ups across the state on the morning of June 8th, 2024. Coming up, I will be presenting on how our oceans are currently being affected by climate change at the FXB Summer Cohort in July, the United Nations Summit of the Future in September, and the UN Ocean Conference in Nice next June. At the conferences, I’ll share the World Ocean Day projects of the Youth Advisory Council to amplify the power of youth action, education on solutions, and ignite others. The World Ocean Youth Advisory Council has taught me that each one of us can make a difference, we just have to decide what kind of difference we want to make, take the first step, and get started.
Want to learn more about the World Ocean Day Youth Advisory Council?
Click here to learn about the 2023-2024 Council and the incredible global Alumni Network, and click here to learn about how to apply for the 2024-2025 cohort.