World Ocean Day 2022

What is World Ocean Day?

World Ocean Day is an annual event and falls on 8 June. This year it is on Wednesday, 8 June 2022. The day serves as an opportunity to inform, take action, and learn more about how day-to-day actions can positively (or negatively) affect the health of oceans around the world. It’s a chance for people around the world to come together and do their part to protect our oceans.

Why Was World Ocean Day Created?

This worldwide event invites organisations, businesses, and citizens to come together to protect the health of the ocean. World Ocean Day got its start in 1992 when Canada introduced the idea to the rest of the world. By 2003, 15 countries participated in World Ocean Day, and by 2019, more than 140 countries were active participants.

As businesses around the world continue to grow and thrive, the oceans are placed more and more at risk. Pollution, shipping accidents, oil spills, overfishing, and more are harming the oceans day by day. World Ocean Day works to raise awareness of how people across the globe can do their part to positively affect the health of the world’s oceans not just on World Ocean Day, but year-round.

Does World Ocean Day Have A Theme?

Each year has a theme. At time of writing the 2022 theme hasn’t yet been published but the United Nations 2021 Theme of World Ocean Day was The Ocean: Life and Livelihoods. One of the goals of World Ocean Day is to educate global citizens about how the health of the ocean affects the health and well-being of the rest of the world.

Every year, world leaders make decisions that affect the health of the oceans, and this Day is working to help people learn how – and why – they need to reach out to leaders to influence their decisions that affect the “interconnected issues of ocean, climate, and biodiversity.”

Previous themes were:

• 2020: Innovation For A Sustainable Ocean
• 2019: Gender and the Ocean
• 2018: Clean Our Ocean
• 2017: Our Oceans, Our Future
• 2016: Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet
• 2015: Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet
• 2014: Ocean Sustainability
• 2013: Oceans and People
• 2012: UNCLOS @ 30
• 2011: Our Oceans: Greening Our Future
• 2010: Our Oceans: Opportunities and Challenges
• 2009: Our Oceans, Our Responsibilities

Ocean Statistics: What You Need To Know

Current statistics on ocean health include:

• While oil spills are known as one of the biggest threats to ocean health, more oil comes to the ocean from runoff than spills
• In the next 30 years, the total weight of plastic in the ocean will outweigh the total weight of fish in the ocean
• Plastic takes four centuries to degrade and then continues to harm the ocean as it breaks down

Getting Involved

Interested in doing your part to participate in World Ocean Day?

There are several ways that both individuals and organisations can participate, including:

• Sign the petition to ask world leaders to commit to the 30×30 goal
• Use the World Ocean Day event planning toolkit to develop an event that helps inform the public about the importance of protecting the oceans and what they can do to make a difference
• Register your event with World Ocean Day to have it added to the global event page
• Join the day’s social media campaign by tagging your photos and stories with #WorldOceanDay and share pre-made photos displaying your involvement in or support of World Ocean Day