The purpose of the Day is to inform the public of the impact of human actions on the ocean, develop a worldwide movement of citizens for the ocean, and mobilise and unite the world’s population on a project for the sustainable management of the world’s oceans.
The recent cyclones spanning the past two years over both the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal have clearly voiced our ocean’s wrath on us.
And we deserve it.
We have mindlessly, thoughtlessly and selfishly been unstoppable in plundering our oceans and its treasures that give us life itself.
Our oceans are the lungs of our planet and a major source of food and medicine and a critical part of the biosphere.
On World Oceans Day, June 8, 2021, it’s time to wake up.
We are way behind in the steps needed to build back the health of our seas and all they hold. And maybe if we sincerely dedicate our minds towards restoring, reviving and recreating the health of our blue planet; maybe in turn, it will forgive us for the damage that we have accorded it.
As the ocean is the home to most of the earth’s biodiversity, it provides the main source of food for more than billions of people around the world.
Vital to our economy, with an estimated 40 million people being employed by ocean-based industries by 2030, our oceans are a mighty force economically – to every country.
However, with the extinction of 90% of big fish populations and 50% of coral reefs destroyed, we are exploiting the ocean more than it can be replenished.
Closer home, our oceans wash ashore all the garbage we dump into it, it’s our sea’s way of saying – “here you can take your stuff back, we can’t breathe.”
Let’s do our bit, however small or big to restore health back to our oceans.
“For each of us, then, the challenge and opportunity is to cherish all life as the gift it is, envision it whole, seek to know it truly, and undertake—with our minds, hearts, and hands—to restore its abundance. It is said that where there’s life there’s hope, and so no place can inspire us with more hopefulness than that great, life-making sea—that singular, wondrous ocean covering the blue planet.” —Carl Safina
The second fully virtual celebration of United Nations World Oceans Day, on 8 June 2021, will highlight the theme of The Ocean: Life and Livelihoods.
When: 8 June 2021
Where: Virtual, register here.
World Oceans Day virtual event is produced by the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea of the Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations, in partnership with the non-profit organization Oceanic Global, and presenting partner Blancpain, this year’s annual event will shed light on the wonder of the ocean and how it is our life source, supporting humanity and every other organism on Earth.
Be a part of this year’s UN World Oceans Day annual event as we hear from thought-leaders, celebrities, institutional partners, community voices, entrepreneurs, and cross-industry experts about the biodiversity and economic opportunity that the ocean sustains.
This year’s theme is especially relevant in the lead-up to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, which will run from 2021 to 2030. The decade will strengthen international cooperation to develop the scientific research and innovative technologies that can connect ocean science with the needs of society.
