Celebrate World Ocean Day on June 7 – 'The ocean is our life support system'

June 7 is World Ocean Day around the world.

World Ocean Day is an annual celebration as well as a call for ocean and climate action throughout the year.

It’s about how we can create a better future with an abundant ocean and a stable climate, by working together.

This unique celebration brings together thousands of organisations and millions of individuals each year.

World Ocean Day belongs to all groups and individuals, collectively, everywhere.

The Award recognised the efforts of the Racing with Purpose sustainability programme, which was created with one of the competing teams, 11th Hour Racing, to put ocean protection at the heart of the round-the-world sailing competition.

11th Hour Racing president and co-founder Wendy Schmidt says we are at an “urgent” crossroads in terms of ocean health.

“11th Hour is about the sense of urgency on the clock,” she said.

“At this time, when we know climate change is occurring and the ocean is our life support system, it’s an urgent time for us to act.”

Highlights from The Ocean Race 2022-23 (which took place January-July 2023, via nine cities on four continents) included:

• Slashing greenhouse gas emissions by 75% compared with the previous edition of the Race
• Driving support for the recognition of the ocean’s rights through high-level Summits that featured a range of ocean advocates including Prime Ministers, business leaders, athletes, sailors, indigenous people and ocean advocates, culminating in a special event during the UN General Assembly in September 2023
• Public backing of a Universal Declaration of Ocean Rights, with 32,000 people signing the One Blue Voice petition
• The most ambitious Science programme in sport, in which the fleet collected over four million measurements as they raced round-the-world (including data on water temperature, CO2 and microplastic pollution), many from remote parts of the ocean where data is lacking
• Learning programmes that empower young people to care for the ocean, that have reached a total of over 225,000 children in more than 80 countries