World Oceans Day

"The United Nations Ocean Decade 2021-2030 is now underway and has given rise to hundreds of innovative Ocean Decade Actions to generate a veritable ocean knowledge revolution and revitalize the ocean through collective action."

Audrey Azoulay Director-General of UNESCO

Message from Ms Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of World Oceans Day, 8 June 2022

8 June 2022

UNESCO

By its resolution 63/111 of 5 December 2008, the UN General Assembly designated 8 June as World Oceans Day.

The concept of a World Oceans Day was first proposed in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro as a way to celebrate our world’s shared ocean and our personal connection to the sea, as well as to raise awareness about the crucial role the ocean plays in our lives and the important ways people can help protect it.

To raise awareness about the role the United Nations and international law can play in the sustainable development and use of the oceans and their living and non-living resources, the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS) is actively coordinating different activities of the World Oceans Day.

UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) coordinates in partnership with DOALOS the official United Nations World Oceans Day Portal, which is instrumental in building support for ocean awareness events on 8 June.

"UNESCO, with its Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), will make the most of these ten years so that the international community develops knowledge about the ocean and protects it sustainably."

Audrey Azoulay Director-General of UNESCO

The ocean covers the majority of the earth, but only a small portion of its waters has been explored. Despite humanity’s utter reliance on it, and compared to the breadth and depth of what it gives us, the ocean receives only a fragment of our attention and resources in return. But tides are changing. This year's United Nations World Oceans Day (UN WOD) celebrates the theme Planet Ocean: Tides are Changing. In celebration of the 2023 event, the United Nations are joining forces with decision makers, scientists, private sector executives, civil society representatives, indigenous communities, celebrities and youth activists to underscore how earth is more than it may seem and finally put the ocean first.

Join the Global Celebration

"What we do or do not achieve during this Decade will have far-reaching consequences for our planet’s ‘blue lung’."

Audrey Azoulay Director-General of UNESCO