FORUM: "Awaken new depths." World Oceans Day 2024. This year theme acknowledges that while we know little of the ocean compared to its immense vastness, what we do know is that the consequences of our actions are evident throughout its waters – and that human activity is increasingly devastating the ocean as well as placing the survival of our entire blue planet at risk. Join the conversation with the hashtags: #WorldOceansDay, #8june, #OceanFirst.
EVENTS: At UNHQ, an hybrid -event hosted both virtually and in-person will be held on June 8th from 10:00 AM to 13:30 PM EDT to celebrate the United Nations World Oceans Day 2024. The event will take us on a journey of discovery through the ocean's vastness, tapping into the wisdom and expertise of global policy-makers, scientists, managers, thought leaders, and artists to awaken new depths of understanding, compassion, collaboration and commitment for the ocean and all it sustains. The celebration is hosted by the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea of the Office of Legal Affairs (DOALOS) in partnership with Oceanic Global.
Schedule: Depths of Commitment.
10:00 AM - Opening Remarks & Performance.
10:25 AM - Planetary Boundary Keynotes.
10:50 AM - Depths of Understanding: Science & Wisdom Fireside Chat.
11:15 AM - Depths of Compassion: New Depths Spotlights
PUBLICATION: Issued three times a year, the Bulletin provides cogent and timely information on issues related to the Convention on the Law of the Sea - ‘the constitution for the ocean’ - and contains the most recent legal materials relevant to the law of the sea. It includes national legislation, bilateral agreements and multilateral treaties as well as information on decisions of the International Court of Justice, arbitral tribunals and other dispute settlement procedures. Law of the Sea Bulletin - Current Issue.
SEMINARS, CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS
Advancing the united nations world ocean assessment - Supporting future ocean sustainability and informing decision making and oceans policy.
Highlight the importance of oceans for the cultural life and economic survival of communities around the world.
Join us for World Oceans Day 2021 annual event, produced in partnership with non-profit Oceanic Global.The second fully virtual celebration of United Nations World Oceans Day, on 8 June 2021, will highlight the theme The Ocean: Life and Livelihoods. Produced by the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS) of the Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations, in partnership with non-profit organization Oceanic Global, and presenting partner Blancpain, supported by La Mer, 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. On #8June 2021, we will be hearing from over 40 thought-leaders, celebrities, institutional partners, community voices, entrepreneurs, and cross-industry experts.
ACTIVITIES: To honor that theme, for this art gallery we are calling on YOU to show us in your preferred artistic medium how you’re connected to the ocean. Please submit your artwork to us using this form, you will need to create a different submission if you wish to submit multiple pieces.
Statement by the U.N. Secretary-General on World Oceans Day 2021, June 8th.
This year’s observance of World Oceans Day 2021 falls as the world wrestles with the COVID-19 pandemic, a climate crisis and humankind’s continuing assault on oceans, seas and marine resources. The recently issued Second World Ocean Assessment confirmed that many of the benefits that the global ocean provides to humankind are being undermined by our own actions. Our seas are choking with plastic waste, which can be found from the remotest atolls to the deepest ocean trenches. Overfishing is causing an annual loss of almost $90 billion in net benefits – which also heightens the vulnerability of women, who are vital to the survival of small-scale fishing businesses. Carbon emissions are driving ocean warming and acidification, destroying biodiversity and causing sea level rise that threatens heavily inhabited coastlines. The theme of this year’s observance, “The Ocean: Life and Livelihoods”, underscores the importance of oceans for the cultural life and economic survival of communities around the world. More than three billion people rely on the ocean for their livelihoods, the vast majority in developing countries. As we strive to recover from COVID-19, let’s end our war on nature. This will be critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, keeping within reach the 1.5-degree target of the Paris Agreement, and ensuring the health of our oceans for today’s and future generations.
Speakers are: Ms. Annebeth Rosenboom, UN Division for Oceans and the
Law of the Sea; Dr. Alex de Voogt, Assistant Curator of African
Ethnology Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History;
and Dr. Jenny Newell, Assistant Curator of Pacific Ethnology Division of
Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History.
June 8th is World Oceans Day! Oceans are the life support system of our
planet. Oceans regulate our climate. They provide the majority of our
oxygen. The oceans are a global resource that we all rely upon.
This
video was produced by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of
International Information Programs in May 2013. The featured speaker is
Philippe Cousteau, president and co-founder of Earthecho International.
United Nations Secretary-General's Message for 2013
From trade to food to climate regulation, the oceans are
integral to all of humanity. This is particularly so for coastal
dwellers whose income and culture are irrevocably bound to the sea. If
we are to fully benefit from the oceans, we must reverse the
degradation of the marine environment due to pollution,
overexploitation and acidification.
I urge all nations to work to this end, including by joining and
implementing the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Let
us work together to create new waves of action for ocean
sustainability – for people and the planet.
Ban Ki-moon
Message from the Director-General of UNESCO for 2013
The oceans constitute a single great body of interconnected seas
that covers 71% of the earth’s surface. Oceans are the source of life
and continue to play a crucial role in the lives of seven billion human
beings. Several million people depend directly on the oceans for their
food, travel and work.
Oceans regulate the climate and provide half of the oxygen that
we breathe. Oceans are a resource unlike any other, for they make
everything else possible. Their immense biological diversity contributes
to the beauty of the world, and we must join forces to preserve it.
With 46 world heritage marine sites, UNESCO supervises a
unique world network for the protection and study of oceans. More than
one million observation documents and 1,000 new species have been
recorded since the first few sites were listed.
Oceans are immense but not infinite: over-exploitation of
resources, pollution and acidification as a result of global warming tax
ecosystems and compromise human well-being. Rising sea levels threaten
the lives of millions of people and can lead to redrawing the map of the
world.
To take full advantage of ocean resources, humanity must invest
massively in science and research as soon as possible. This effort must
be made collectively, for oceans exceed States’ individual capacities –
hence the need for better, more inclusive and more tailored governance.
In this connection, the Oceans Compact launched in 2012 by Mr Ban
Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, on an idea floated by
UNESCO, affords an opportunity that must be seized.
In view of the potential that they hold for cooperation and
growth, oceans are central to peace and sustainable development in the
twenty-first century. In this critical period, UNESCO will redouble
efforts to harness scientific cooperation to ocean issues.
For more than 50 years, UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic
Commission (IOC) has been drawing on science in order to understand
oceans and improve ocean management. The coordination of the
Global Ocean Observing System has led impressive progress in world
scientific cooperation.
The Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) is a global
platform for sharing information and data on marine biodiversity. As a
result of the establishment and coordination of tsunami warning
systems, ties of solidarity have been woven among States, and people
are less vulnerable to ocean hazards.
Despite the challenges, one point is clear – together, we
can protect the oceans. World Oceans Day is an opportunity to
recognize this and to undertake to protect the oceans, where life
began and on which our future depends.
Irina Bokova
2013 Theme: Together, we have the power to protect the oceans
By its resolution 63/111 of 5 December 2008, the UN General Assembly designated 8 June as World Oceans Day.
The official designation of World Oceans Day is an opportunity to
raise global awareness of the challenges faced by the international
community in connection with the oceans.
The lungs of our planet, providing most of the oxygen we breathe, the
oceans are also a major source of food and medicines and a critical
part of the biosphere.
The General Assembly recognized the important contribution of
sustainable development and management of the resources and uses of the
oceans and seas to the achievement of international development goals,
including those contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration.
The resolution calls upon user States and States bordering straits
used for international navigation to continue to cooperate by agreement
on matters relating to navigational safety, including safety aids for
navigation, and the prevention, reduction and control of pollution from
ships.
Member states are also urged to increase the coverage of hydrographic
information on a global basis to enhance capacity-building and
technical assistance and to promote safe navigation, especially in areas
used for international navigation, in ports and where there are
vulnerable or protected marine areas.
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