World Oceans Day

Short description: Observance day on or around June 8

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World Ocean Day

A sunset in the White Sea

Observed by| All UN member states, including Argentina Australia , Austria, Brazil , Canada , Chile , Denmark , Finland , France , Germany , India , Israel, Italy, Japan , Mexico, Poland , South Africa and the United States
Date| 8 June
Next time| 8 June 2025 (2025-06-08)
Frequency| Annual
First time| 8 June 1992; 32 years ago (1992-06-08)

World Ocean Day (acronym: WOD) is an international day that takes place annually on 8 June. The concept was originally proposed in 1992 by Canada's International Centre for Ocean Development (ICOD) and the Ocean Institute of Canada (OIC) at the Earth Summit – UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[1] The Ocean Project started global coordination of World Ocean Day starting in 2002. "World Oceans Day" was officially recognised by the United Nations in 2008. The international day supports the implementation of worldwide Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and fosters public interest in the protection of the ocean and the sustainable management of its resources.[2] World Oceans Day is observed by all UN member states, incl. Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, South Africa and the United States.[citation needed]

## Contents

* 1 History
* 1.1 1987–1992
* 1.2 2002–2008
* 2 Annual themes
* 2.1 Overview
* 2.2 2008
* 2.3 2009–2010
* 2.4 2010
* 2.5 2011–2012
* 2.6 2013
* 2.7 2014
* 2.8 2015–2019
* 2.9 2020
* 2.10 2021
* 2.11 2022
* 3 Celebrations
* 3.1 World Oceans Day 2022 celebration
* 4 World Oceans Day edition dates
* 4.1 Pre-2022 (1992–2021)
* 4.2 2022 and beyond
* 5 See also
* 6 References
* 7 External links

## History

### 1987–1992

The Brundtland Commission (also known as the World Commission on Environment and Development) noted in the 1987 Brundtland Report that the ocean sector lacked a strong voice compared to other sectors.[3]

At the first World Ocean Day in 1992, the objectives were to move the ocean from the sidelines to the centre of the intergovernmental and NGO discussions and policy and to strengthen the voice of ocean and coastal constituencies worldwide.[citation needed]

### 2002–2008

Globally coordinated efforts began with The Ocean Project and the World Ocean Network collaborating, and events numbered in the dozens. During this time, www.WorldOceanDay.org launched,[4] to help promote the opportunity to raise the profile of the ocean and provide opportunities for getting involved and making a difference for our blue planet. The website provides event organisers with ways to help in their communities, and generates global involvement through the dissemination of educational and actionable resources, ideas, and tools, always free for everyone to use to celebrate World Ocean Day in whatever way they choose. In 2004, The Ocean Project and World Ocean Network launched the "Help Make a Difference for our Ocean Planet!" with both online and in person opportunities to sign a petition to the United Nations to officially recognise 8 June as World Ocean Day.[5] In December 2008, the UN General Assembly passed a Declaration to officially recognise the Day.[6][7]

## Annual themes

### Overview

The United Nations selected the following annual themes for the Day:

* 2009: "Our Oceans, Our Responsibilities"
* 2010: "Our Oceans: Opportunities and Challenges"
* 2011: "Our Oceans: greening our future"
* 2012: "UNCLOS @ 30" — United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
* 2013: "Oceans & People"
* 2014: "Ocean Sustainability: Together let's ensure oceans can sustain us into the future"
* 2015: "Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet"
* 2016: "Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet ⁠— Voyaging to a Sustainable Planet: Arrival of the Hōkūle‘a"
* 2017: "Our Oceans, Our Future"
* 2018: "Clean our Ocean!"
* 2019: "Gender and Oceans"
* 2020: "Innovation for a Sustainable Ocean"
* 2021: "The Ocean: Life & Livelihoods"
* 2022: "Revitalization: Collective Action for the Ocean"
* 2023: "Planet Ocean: Tides are Changing"

### 2008

The Ocean Project and World Ocean Network launched an annual theme for the first time: "Helping our climate / helping our ocean" with a special focus on coral reefs, to help support the International Year of the Reef.[citation needed]

### 2009–2010

Continued and more heavily emphasised on climate with conservation action theme of "one ocean, one climate, one future" because comprehensive polling work showed that the public not making the connections between climate change and ocean health.[citation needed]

### 2010

The Ocean Project and World Ocean Network recorded over 300 events for WOD 2010, a 26% increase over 2009. Participation in the United States increased by 32% (with participation in 37 states, as compared to 25 states the previous year). Forty-five countries participated in World Oceans Day 2010, including Bangladesh, Belgium, French Polynesia, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Malta, Malaysia, Venezuela, and Portugal.[citation needed]

### 2011–2012

Based on growing requests from around the world for a two-year focus, The Ocean Project and World Ocean Network launched "Youth: the Next Wave for Change" encouraging all participating organizations to more effectively engage young people in their communities and countries for education and action.[citation needed]

### 2013

The "Make a Promise" global campaign focused again on supporting organizations to use World Oceans Day events as opportunities to ask people in their communities or target audiences to take action for our shared ocean.[citation needed]

### 2014

Through the global World Ocean Day network, stepped up involvement on the major issues facing the ocean, and launched "Together We Have the Power to Protect the Ocean!" with action guides on renewable energy/climate change, sustainable seafood/fisheries, plastics action. Events registered on the World Ocean Day website numbered in the hundreds. The United Nations together with partners launched the annual amateur World Oceans Day Oceanic Photo Competition.[8][9]

### 2015–2019

In solidarity with the annual UN themes, The Ocean Project launched a five-year Conservation Action Focus on plastic pollution prevention and helping with solutions for a healthy world ocean. The World Ocean Day Youth Advisory Council launched in 2016, and current cohort includes 25 diverse young leaders (ages 15–23) from 22 countries. Annual Reports since 2016 can be viewed here.

### 2020

The UN theme for World Oceans Day was "Innovation for a sustainable ocean".[10] Conservation Action Focus on protecting 30% of our lands and ocean by 2030 ("30x30"), joining with the Campaign for Nature and the growing global movement to petition world leaders to commit their countries to 30x30. The Ocean Project and National Geographic coordinated a first-ever 24-hour Youth-a-thon for the ocean, with 24 co-hosts from 24 major time zones discussing and demonstrating ways to learn more about and help protect our shared blue planet. The World Ocean Day 2020 Annual Report can be viewed here.

### 2021

The theme for World Oceans Day in 2021 was'The Ocean: Life & Livelihoods'.[11] The aim of this year's campaign was to "shed light on the wonder of the ocean and how it is our life-source, supporting humanity and every other organism on Earth".[12] The conservation action focus for World Ocean Day 2021 focused for a second year on protecting 30% of our lands and ocean by 2030 ("30x30"), joining with the Campaign for Nature and the growing global movement to petition world leaders to commit their countries to 30x30. There were more than 1,000 events from 150 countries registered on the website and the World Ocean Day 2021 Annual Report can be viewed here.

### 2022

The theme for World Oceans Day in 2022 is Revitalization: Collective Action for the Ocean. The campaign was promoted on social media.[13] Its purpose was to raise awareness and action against the consequences of human activity on the ocean’s health, as 95% of the ocean’s surface has become more acidic since the late 1980s. The acidification of the oceans is dangerous to the marine ecosystem and affects more than three billion people, who depend on the oceans for income and diet.[14]

## Celebrations

### World Oceans Day 2022 celebration

On 8 June 2022, millions of people in multiple different countries across the whole world celebrated World Oceans Day 2022 despite the COVID-19 pandemic.[citation needed]

## World Oceans Day edition dates

### Pre-2022 (1992–2021)

Edition number | Date | Also known as | Day of the Week

|
|
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1st | 8 June 1992 | World Oceans Day 1992 | Monday
2nd | 8 June 1993 | World Oceans Day 1993 | Tuesday
3rd | 8 June 1994 | World Oceans Day 1994 | Wednesday
4th | 8 June 1995 | World Oceans Day 1995 | Thursday
5th | 8 June 1996 | World Oceans Day 1996 | Saturday
6th | 8 June 1997 | World Oceans Day 1997 | Sunday
7th | 8 June 1998 | World Oceans Day 1998 | Monday
8th | 8 June 1999 | World Oceans Day 1999 | Tuesday
9th | 8 June 2000 | World Oceans Day 2000 | Thursday
10th | 8 June 2001 | World Oceans Day 2001 | Friday
11th | 8 June 2002 | World Oceans Day 2002 | Saturday
12th | 8 June 2003 | World Oceans Day 2003 | Sunday
13th | 8 June 2004 | World Oceans Day 2004 | Tuesday
14th | 8 June 2005 | World Oceans Day 2005 | Wednesday
15th | 8 June 2006 | World Oceans Day 2006 | Thursday
16th | 8 June 2007 | World Oceans Day 2007 | Friday
17th | 8 June 2008 | World Oceans Day 2008 | Sunday
18th | 8 June 2009 | World Oceans Day 2009 | Monday
19th | 8 June 2010 | World Oceans Day 2010 | Tuesday
20th | 8 June 2011 | World Oceans Day 2011 | Wednesday
21st | 8 June 2012 | World Oceans Day 2012 | Friday
22nd | 8 June 2013 | World Oceans Day 2013 | Saturday
23rd | 8 June 2014 | World Oceans Day 2014 | Sunday
24th | 8 June 2015 | World Oceans Day 2015 | Monday
25th | 8 June 2016 | World Oceans Day 2016 | Wednesday
26th | 8 June 2017 | World Oceans Day 2017 | Thursday
27th | 8 June 2018 | World Oceans Day 2018 | Friday
28th | 8 June 2019 | World Oceans Day 2019 | Saturday
29th | 8 June 2020 | World Oceans Day 2020 | Monday
30th | 8 June 2021 | World Oceans Day 2021 | Tuesday

### 2022 and beyond

Edition number | Date | Also known as | Day of the Week

|
|
|

31st | 8 June 2022 | World Oceans Day 2022 | Wednesday
32nd | 8 June 2023 | World Oceans Day 2023 | Thursday
33rd | 8 June 2024 | World Oceans Day 2024 | Saturday
34th | 8 June 2025 | World Oceans Day 2025 | Sunday
35th | 8 June 2026 | World Oceans Day 2026 | Monday
36th | 8 June 2027 | World Oceans Day 2027 | Tuesday
37th | 8 June 2028 | World Oceans Day 2028 | Thursday
38th | 8 June 2029 | World Oceans Day 2029 | Friday
39th | 8 June 2030 | World Oceans Day 2030 | Saturday

## See also

* Coral Triangle Day
* European Maritime Day
* Marine pollution
* Ocean governance
* Overfishing
* Plastic pollution
* Spaceship Earth

## References

1. ↑ Swan, Judith. "About". United Nations. https://www.unworldoceansday.org/about.
2. ↑ "World Oceans Day, 8 June" (in EN). https://www.un.org/en/events/oceansday/.
3. ↑ ARE, Federal Office for Spatial Development. "1987: Brundtland Report" (in en). https://www.are.admin.ch/are/en/home/nachhaltige-entwicklung/internationale-zusammenarbeit/agenda-2030-fuer-nachhaltige-entwicklung/uno-_-meilensteine-zur-nachhaltigen-entwicklung/1987--brundtland-bericht.html.
4. ↑ "– Mission and History". https://worldoceanday.org/about/mission-and-history/.
5. ↑ "OUR OCEAN OUR FUTURE – bfitdoon.com" (in en-US). 7 June 2017. https://www.bfitdoon.com/blog/our-ocean-our-future/.
6. ↑ "HOME". https://www.un.org/Depts/los/wod/index.htm.
7. ↑ "A/RES/63/111: Oceans and the law of the sea". United Nations. 9 September 2013. http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/generalassembly/docs/globalcompact/A_RES_63_111.pdf.
8. ↑ United Nations. "United Nations World Oceans Day Oceanic Photo Competition". http://www.un.org/Depts/los/wod/photo-contest.html.
9. ↑ United Nations. "United Nations World Oceans Day Oceanic Photo Competition". http://www.unworldoceansday.org.
10. ↑ "World Oceans Day 2020: History, significance & this year's theme". 8 June 2020. https://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/report-world-oceans-day-2020-history-significance-this-year-s-theme-2827205.
11. ↑ "World Oceans Day 2021: Date, Theme, History, Quotes, Significance" (in en-US). 2021-06-11. https://news.jagatgururampalji.org/world-oceans-day-date-theme-quotes/.
12. ↑ United Nations. "Home - UN World Oceans Day". https://unworldoceansday.org/.
13. ↑ UN WOD 22 #RevitalizeTheOcean Toolkit \x5bOrganizations\x5d. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1bATsicxhAKR8vQZl-S46dwjpJ7ETOXruOqEOS3v-PYY.
14. ↑ "World Oceans Day 2022: What is Ocean Acidification?" (in en). 2022-06-08. https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/world-oceans-day-2022-what-is-ocean-acidification.

## External links

* Official United Nations World Oceans Day Website
* Official United Nations World Oceans Day Website (2009–2017)
* World Ocean Day website
* The Ocean Project website

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