Map of the Week – World Ocean Day, Museums and Aquariums
On 8 June, we celebrated World Ocean Day! Ocean Day was first declared as 8 June, 1992 in Rio de Janeiro at the Global Forum, a parallel event at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) which provided an opportunity for non-government organizations and civil society to express their views on environmental issues. In 2008, led by Canada, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly resolved that 8 June would be designated by the United Nations as World Ocean Day. [1] The United Nations marks this day each year through an annual event coordinated by the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (Office of Legal Affairs). The inclusive event provides an opportunity to celebrate the importance of the ocean and to better understand how to interact with it in a sustainable manner. [2]
World Ocean Day 2022 was the first-ever hybrid celebration of the annual event, featuring both in-person programming hosted at UN Headquarters in New York and virtual components for global public accessibility. The theme highlighted this year was Revitalization: Collective Action for the Ocean. Missed it? You can still learn about it by watching the recording of the event and exploring the latest ocean-related stories, resources, and videos from the UN World Ocean Day community!
Wish to know where you can learn about the ocean in your region? Did you know that the European Atlas of the Seas includes map layers on maritime museums and public aquariums across Europe? The Map of the Week combines these two map layers. Maritime museums offer unique experiences to discover our maritime history. They ensure that ancient and historical artefacts, and vessels are preserved in optimum conditions, and are accessible for general interest, for academic study and for public education. By visiting an aquarium, you can, for example, learn about the histories of seafarers, the physiology of marine animals, ecological facts about different marine habitats and the importance of keeping our seas clean.
Wish to know more about the ocean?
- Dive into the UNESCO Ocean Literacy portal;
- Explore the Ocean Decade website;
- Find out about collective actions carried out by the EU4Ocean Coalition by watching the EU4Ocean video and the recording of the EU4Ocean summit and reading about the EU4Ocean Coalition awards that were announced at the summit;
- Learn about the upcoming UN Ocean conference that will be taking in Lisbon from 27 June to 1 July 2022.
The data in this map are provided by European Maritime Heritage and International Aquarium Forum.
[1] https://unworldoceansday.org/about/
[2] https://unworldoceansday.org/un-world-oceans-day-annual-event/