This week, on 12 August, young people around the world celebrated International Youth Day. The theme for International Youth Day 2024 – “From Clicks to Progress: Youth Digital Pathways for Sustainable Development” – highlighted the key connection between digitalisation and accelerating the progress of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), emphasising the crucial contributions of young people in this transformative process. In this framework, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres stated that “Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals requires a seismic shift – which can only happen if we empower young people and work with them as equals”. [1] International Youth Day is commemorated every year on 12 August, bringing youth issues to the attention of the international community and celebrating the potential of youth as partners in today’s global society. [2]
Did you know that there is a map layer on projects developed by Young Ocean Advocates in the European Atlas of the Seas? Young Ocean Advocates are members of the Youth4Ocean Forum, who have been recognised for their outstanding and innovative work that contributes to improving the health of the world ocean and the well-being of coastal communities. The Youth4Ocean Forum currently brings together 442 young changemakers between 16 and 30 who are passionate about the ocean and is constantly growing as more young people across Europe join the Forum. Their common goal is to shape our future with a healthy ocean that sustains us all. The Youth4Ocean Forum provides young people with the opportunities to speak up for their generation, share their ideas, present their projects and connect with other young people and experts all over Europe. The European Atlas of the Seas team and the Youth4Ocean Forum facilitators have been working together to update the map. The 2024 updated map layer has just been released. Have a look!
On International Youth Day, Young Ocean Advocates shared important video messages on social media. Juliano Vilke, who researches sea anemones from Antarctica and the deep sea, explained that he believes in the power of collective actions. Nina Dietz and Marika Hellmund, winners of the ‘#MakeEUBlue Awards for Best Youth Initiative!’ with their project "True Tales for Ocean Rebels", pointed out that, to bring about change, we require imagination. They further indicated that while connecting, for example, art and culture with science, we can create new and emotional narratives for the ocean’s health and preservation. And, Mélinda Martins, who has developed the project “Resilient Oceans", underlined that, together, we can transform hope into impactful action. Browsing through their projects on the map layer, we can see that Young Ocean Advocates have been very busy transforming hope into many amazing impactful actions! Make sure you learn about their projects!
The Youth4Ocean Forum is one of the three components of the EU4Ocean Coalition - the European hub for Ocean Literacy – together with the EU4Ocean Platform and the Network of European Blue Schools. Launched in 2020, the EU4Ocean Coalition has become a vibrant Coalition now gathering over 1,000 members in total.
Wish to know more?
Explore the Map of the Week and click on the symbols to discover who the Young Ocean Advocates are and what projects they have developed. Are you aged between 16 and 30 years old? Are you passionate about the ocean? Learn how you can become a member of the Youth4Ocean Forum and, if you have developed a project, how you can submit your project to become a Young Ocean advocate!
Read Dr Jack H. Laverick’s insightful interview published on the OceanICU project’s website on the occasion of International Youth Day. Jack is a Chancellor’s Fellow in Statistics and Data Science at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland and a founding member of the Youth4Ocean Forum. In this interview, he explains, amongst many other things, how he became involved in ocean modelling, why it is important to better understand the role of the ocean in the global carbon cycle, what amazes him most about the ocean and what it is like for him to work on EU4Ocean with others.
Learn about the Mentoring Programme developed by the Youth4Ocean Forum.
If you are in Belgium, join EU4Ocean to celebrate the ocean with inspiring and engaging activities at the Ocean Week 2024 on 3 October 2024 in Brussels!
Follow the Youth4Ocean Forum on social media: @Youth4Ocean Forum & #Youth4Ocean.
Happy International Youth Day to all young people!
The data in this map are provided by the Youth4Ocean Forum.