World Ocean Day is much more than a day: It’s a lifestyle, it’s a way of life, it’s a mindset. Together, we are helping grow the global movement for a healthy blue planet!

The 8th of June is the annual crescendo of celebration and action, and throughout World Ocean Day month there will be thousands of activities and events.

When The Ocean Project launched global coordination of World Ocean Day in 2002, there were essentially zero events, no official UN recognition of the Day, and an ocean of opportunities to help develop this unique opportunity into a way for organizations and individuals around the world to unite for action for our one shared ocean. For us it has always been about more than just the day but more of an ocean 365 approach to engagement and action.

New for 2024, we are providing ways to get more involved all 12 months!

It will be a year full of exciting opportunities for continual learning, connecting, and taking meaningful action, as individuals and collectively as part of the fast-growing World Ocean Day global network! Together, with the World Ocean Day Youth Advisory Council, our growing global youth network, and your involvement, we are excited to see what we can achieve together!

Working under the World Ocean Day 2024 Action Theme: Catalyzing Action for Our Ocean & Climate, we are developing 12 Months of Action, in collaboration with leading national and international organizations. We will also help make the critical connection between a healthy ocean and a stable climate. After all, ocean action is climate action!

Each month’s focus will be strategically timed around key policy and action opportunities and target key national and international leaders and help ensure the strongest possible policies and outcomes for a more just, equitable, and sustainable society and a healthy blue planet.

The monthly collaborative campaigns will focus on the following:

• January: Ocean and Climate Literacy
• February: Environmental Justice
• March: Global Plastics Treaty
• April: Earth Day Collaboration
• May: High Seas Treaty Ratification
• June: World Ocean Day!
• July: Deep Sea Mining Moratorium
• August: 30×30 Implementation
• September: Protection of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean
• October: Sustainable Food Systems
• November: 30×30 Implementation
• December: Climate-Related Emotions & Wellbeing

To maximize our collective impact, each month we will collaborate with national and international organizational leaders on some of the most important intersectional issues. We will:

• Share the best resources and effective messaging for action. We won’t be reinventing the wheel. Rather, we will align with the leaders on key policy issues and make sure we are complementing and adding value to their efforts by being ‘on message’ and targeting the most appropriate national leaders to take action on these interconnected issues.
• Develop a brief action guide with messaging and “ask” for targeted action on each issue and opportunity, developed in partnership with our collaborating partners.
• Facilitate a webinar around the monthly campaigns, featuring a youth leader and a seasoned advocate to help convey the importance of addressing these issues in intergenerational ways. Each webinar will allow plenty of time for Q&A and be recorded and available on the World Ocean Day YouTube channel.
• Develop collaborative mini social media campaigns with our key partners and provide graphics for all to customize for their audiences.
• Make these and related resources and information available on the website, through the monthly email, and promoted through the World Ocean Day social media channels (Instagram, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn).

As one example, we will be collaborating with the High Seas Alliance in May to push for ratification of the High Seas Treaty. In June 2023, governments formally adopted the High Seas Treaty to protect ocean life in the world ocean beyond areas of national jurisdiction; the High Seas cover nearly 50% of our planet’s surface. But to take effect and be meaningful, the Treaty needs to be ratified by at least 60 countries. We will activate our global network in May to generate targeted engagement and support directed toward national leaders to ratify the Treaty. This push in the month leading up to World Ocean Day is a high visibility time of year and will help generate a significant spotlight on this critical issue and opportunity to protect our blue planet. By collaborating with HSA and other key partners we will help demonstrate strong global support for protection of the High Seas and at least 30% of our one shared ocean.

Each month, for those receiving the monthly World Ocean Day newsletter (subscribe here), we will provide an overview of the collaborative campaign and action focus, with links for ways to learn more and get involved. If you have suggestions for great information and connections for us to include, please let us know.

One Ocean, One Climate, One Future – Together, we can make a real difference!