Love Our Oceans
June 8 is the United Nations World Oceans Day. For over 30 years, communities around the world have come together on this day to celebrate, and inspire action to steward our world’s oceans.
The Sunshine Coast Conservation Association hosted World Oceans Day events from 2016-2020. In 2021, we teamed up with RhizomeUP! Media and the Green Films Series to create a week long World Oceans Day Festival.
The Festival program includes online and in person feature length and short films including engagements with filmmakers. Throughout the week we host a series of Nemo Talks focused on marine conservation initiatives in our region. Every year we also coordinate and promote local marine education and conservation activities.
We gratefully acknowledge funding and in-kind support for this event from the District of Sechelt, Sunshine Coast Regional District, Sunshine Coast Credit Union, BC Government and design By Billie Carroll. We especially want to thank Billie Carroll, and SCCA liaisons Dianne Sanford and Angela Kroning for their inspiring and tireless commitment and support for this event. We could not do it without you!
From the United Nation
Why Ocean Matters
The world’s oceans – their temperature, chemistry, currents and life – drive global systems that make the Earth habitable for humankind. Our rainwater, drinking water, weather, climate, coastlines, much of our food, and even the oxygen in the air we breathe, are all ultimately provided and regulated by the sea. Throughout history, oceans and seas have been vital conduits for trade and transportation.
Careful management of this essential global resource is a key feature of a sustainable future. However, at the current time, there is a continuous deterioration of coastal waters owing to pollution and ocean acidification, which has an adversarial effect on the functioning of ecosystems and biodiversity. This is also negatively impacting small scale fisheries.
Marine protected areas need to be effectively managed and well-resourced and regulations need to be put in place to reduce overfishing, marine pollution and ocean acidification.
Celebrating its importance
For all these reasons, it was necessary to create awareness through an Observance. That is why, by its resolution 63/111 of 5 December 2008, the UN General Assembly designated 8 June as World Oceans Day.
The concept of a ‘World Oceans Day’ was first proposed in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro as a way to celebrate our world’s shared ocean and our personal connection to the sea, as well as to raise awareness about the crucial role the ocean plays in our lives and the important ways people can help protect it.
To raise awareness about the role the United Nations and international law can play in the sustainable development and use of the oceans and their living and non-living resources, the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea is actively coordinating different activities for World Oceans Day.
