are you ocean aware?

People don't change their habits for something they can't see or don't understand. If we want to protect the ocean, its ecosystems and inhabitants, we need to empower people to act by providing them with the tools to do so. When empowered with knowledge people can choose to change their own behaviour and call on others to do so too. Importantly, this needs to happen the world over, and not just in coastal regions or riverine communities. Every one of us can be an ocean citizen, regardless of where we live. Our actions matter, wherever we are. 

The latest UN ocean conference, held in Lisbon in 2022, closed with the declaration Our Ocean, Our Future, Our Responsibility, which commits, among others, to taking the following action on an urgent basis:

“Ensure that people, especially children and youth, are empowered with relevant knowledge and skills that enable them to understand the importance of and the need to contribute to the health of the ocean, including in decision-making, through promoting and supporting quality education and life-long learning for ocean literacy”

An ocean-literate person understands the importance of the ocean to humankind; can communicate about the ocean in a meaningful way; and, is able to make informed and responsible decisions regarding the ocean and its resources. The ocean literacy movement started with the National Marine Educators Association (NMEA) in the United States in the early 2000s and has since growm into a worldwide movement of marine science educators (with regional groups such as the International Pacific Marine Educators Network (IPMEN) and the European Marine Science Educators Association (EMSEA)). United States ocean educators established the following seven principles as the basis of ocean literacy: 

1. The Earth has one big ocean with many features. 

2. The ocean and life in the ocean shape the features of Earth. 

3. The ocean is a major influence on weather and climate. 

4. The ocean makes Earth habitable. 

5. The ocean supports a great diversity of life and ecosystems.

6. The ocean and humans are inextricably interconnected.

7. The ocean is largely unexplored.

These core principles are supported by a series of 45 fundamental concepts, set out in this guide. Ocean literacy is an understanding of these principles and concepts, appreciating, as NMEA says, "the ocean’s influence on you - and your influence on the ocean".

On an international level, UNESCO has been working to put the ocean onto school curricula since 2015, launching its Ocean Literacy for All commitment at the first UN Ocean Conference in 2017 and aiming to promote ocean literacy worldwide at all levels, providing resources, guides and courses for policy makers, journalists, teachers, and civil society. In 2022, at the One Ocean Summit in France, UNESCO called on all States to include ocean education in their school curricula by 2025, introducing their toolkit for policy makers, for ministries of education and for teachers at all levels, A New Blue Curriculum. The toolkit provides guidance for developing and implementing an ocean curriculum and highlights examples of States already working on ocean education such as Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Kenya, Portugal and Sweden, showcasing results as well as opportunities and challenges met when seeking to include the ocean in the school curriculum.

"The international community must make education one of the pillars of its action for the ocean. Because if we want to protect it better, we must teach it better. On the occasion of the One Ocean Summit, I am setting a common objective for our 193 Member States: to include ocean education in school curricula by 2025." 

Audrey Azoulay UNESCO Director-General, at the One Ocean Summit, Brest 2022.

Ocean education should be available throughout the learning path of a child, starting with the introduction of ocean stories at primary-school level, all the way through to higher and further education. While perhaps most obviously connected to subjects like geography, chemistry or biology, the ocean should by no means be confined to them but can be addressed in every educational area, from art and design or economics to religion, from music or computer technology to story-writing. 

are you ocean aware? Try the ocean awareness quiz here

if you are an educator, are your school students ocean aware?

resources for educators

Online ocean-related courses

The ocean plastic online course developed by oceans aware for MBRC the ocean is available for free on the website of the MBRC Academy. Divided into four modules, each chapter introduces you to a new subject, dives deeper into one specific topic and puts the spotlight on a relevant organization or project. Links to further information in the form of articles, reports, documentaries, films, podcasts or websites are provided, as is a selection of takeaways from the chapter highlighting some of the main facts and suggesting some positive to take. Quizzes provide a chance to test your knowledge after each section. You should complete the course having gained a deeper all-round knowledge of our ocean, the ocean plastic problem, and what you can do to help restore the ocean.

Plastics: from Production to Reduction in 5 - a plastic crash course

If you are looking for a succinct introduction to the plastic problem then the plastic crash course could be for you. As with the ocean plastic course this has been developed by oceans aware for MBRC the ocean and is available for free on the website of the MBRC Academy.

The crash course is focussed on the following questions:

Plastic Production - where does it come from?

Plastic Afterlife - where does it go?

Plastic Impact - what is it doing to us?

Plastic Cleanups - can we clean up the mess?

Plastic Regulation - can we switch off the tap?

What can I do? - can you kick your plastic habit?