History and significance
World Oceans Day is an
international day that takes place annually on 8th 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. 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
management of the ocean and its resources.
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.
In the early years of coordinated
efforts by The Ocean Project, with World Ocean Network, events numbered in the
dozens. During this time, www.WorldOceansDay.org launched, to help promote the
event and generate more involvement through the dissemination of resources,
ideas, and tools free for everyone to use to celebrate World Oceans Day. In
December 2008, the UN General Assembly passed a Declaration to officially
recognise the Day.
Themes
A few themes are given below:
"Our Oceans, Our Responsibilities".
"Our Oceans: Opportunities and Challenges"
"Our Oceans: greening our future"
"Oceans & People"
"Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet"
"Our Oceans, Our Future"
"Clean our Ocean!"
"Gender and Oceans"
"Innovation for a Sustainable Ocean"