World Ocean Day | One Ocean, One Climate, One Future — Together!

World Ocean Day began in 1992, at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro! In 2019, World Ocean Day was celebrated with 2,000+ events in 140+ countries — with their #TogetherWeCan social media campaign engaging more than 87 million people. In 2020, the new multi-year Conservation Action Focus was launched in partnership with Campaign for Nature: to protect 30% of our land and ocean by 2030, or ‘30x30’ for short. The launch of this campaign reached over 454 million people!

In 2021, World Ocean Day went digital. More than 1,100 organisations in 84+ countries signed the global petition to support 30x30, and their youth-a-thon reached 650 million people on social media. In 2022, the focus is still on the 30x30 campaign, especially in the lead up to the COP15 Biodiversity Summit, which will be held in Kinmig, China in September.

Image: World Ocean Day

Five Fascinating Facts About Our Oceans!

The ocean is humanity’s life source! Every time World Oceans Day rolls around, it gives us a chance to appreciate our oceans, their incredible marine life, and how our oceans help us to survive and thrive. Did you know that:

1. The Earth is mostly made up of… you guessed it — water! Our oceans cover more than 70% of the Earth’s surface.
2. Our oceans produce 50% of the planet’s oxygen, which means that every second breath of oxygen that we take is thanks to the ocean.
3. Our oceans host 80% of the world’s biodiversity, and yet, only 5% of the planet’s oceans have ever been explored…
4. By 2030, more than 40 million people will be employed in ocean-based industries!
5. Our oceans absorb 4x more CO2 than the Amazon Rainforest.

Protecting 30% Of Our Land & Ocean By 2030 (30x30)

The end goal of the 30x30 campaign is to ensure that 30% of the Earth’s land and ocean is protected from harm. Currently, 17% of the Earth’s land and 8% of our oceans are protected. 

According to World Ocean Day, “to create a healthy ocean with abundant wildlife and to stabilise the climate, it’s critical that 30% of our planet’s lands, waters, and ocean are protected by 2030 (30×30). By supporting 30×30, we can  protect our planet’s life support systems — specifically the interconnected issues of ocean, climate, and biodiversity”. 

More than 90 countries have already adopted the 30x30 goal. World Ocean Day have put together an email template for you to encourage your nation’s leaders to adopt the target!

Five Ways To Get Involved On World Ocean Day

There are plenty of ways that we can help our oceans all-year round. Here are our top five:

1. Skip the seafood: Over 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises are killed every year by the fishing industry as bycatch.
2. Ditch single-use plastics: A garbage truck load of plastic is dumped into the sea every minute — think about what you’re throwing in the bin.
3. Clean up your local beach: There is over 150 million tonnes of plastic already floating in the sea. We don’t need any more plastic making its way into the ocean. 
4. Support Aussie ocean conservation organisations: Australian Marine Conservation Society, Sea Shepherd, and WWF-Australia, just to name a few!

Learn as much as you can. Documentaries like Seaspiracy (2021) provide an incredible overview of the fishing industry and its negative impact on our oceans and marine life.