Tomorrow is World Ocean Day! June 8^th is the annual global celebration where people unite with the common goal of restoring our shared oceans and creating a stable climate for our planet.

World Ocean Day 2023 is once again focused on the 30 x 30 campaign that aims to ensure that 30% of our planet’s lands, waters, and oceans are protected. For the last few years, the theme has been the promotion of the campaign, and this has paid dividends with two fantastic achievements in the last sixth months:

• December 2022 saw a historic agreement at the United Nations Biodiversity Summit (COP15) to conserve 30% of our lands, waters, and ocean by 2030 by protecting nature while respecting indigenous and traditional territories. The wording of the agreement emphasised the need for effective conservation management to ensure wetlands, rainforests, grasslands, and coral reefs are properly protected and ensure that there were actions behind the words of the document; and
• On March 4, 2023, United Nations delegates approved a new High Seas Treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of the areas beyond national jurisdiction, called the BBNJ agreement, which is a legally binding instrument under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The treaty covers all the ocean waters and seafloor beyond 200 nautical miles from shore; this is important as no single country controls this area as they are international waters. The treaty agreement sets out to protect biodiversity and prevent ecosystem loss from climate change, pollution, and other harmful changes to the marine environment. The treaty will need to be formally adopted by the UN member states and needs ratification from at least 60 countries to enter into force.

These agreements are a fantastic step forward for the campaign but are not the end. The focus now has to shift to requiring countries to implement policies and actions that turn these words into actions.

There are plenty of ways you can get involved in World Ocean Day this year, like the thousands who did so last year when over 15,000 events and activities took place in 140 countries. Details of events happening around the globe this year can be seen here, with options for both date and location lists, so why not look and see if there is something close to you?

There are also resources for children, which can be found here, with everything from colouring pages and collectible cards to digital resources telling you more about the oceans. Some posters can be downloaded, including the stunning Fraggle Rock poster you can see to the right – which I had to include in the blog! I know Fraggle Rock has recently rebooted on Apple TV, and at the risk of giving my age away, I have to give a shout-out to the original!

You can also show your support on social media by sharing one of the suggested images and using the hashtags #WorldOceanDay, #Protect30x30, #30×30, and #OceanClimateAction.

World Ocean Day is a fantastic celebration, but actions are required daily to make this goal a reality. We hope everyone will join in and help to protect and conserve the natural marine environment.