How Geoparks contribute to the decade of the Ocean
8 June 2022

The Global Geoparks Network, in collaboration with UNESCO celebrates the World Oceans Day 2022 and asks all UNESCO Global Geoparks management bodies, partners and stakeholders to join the campaign to raise awareness of the challenges the oceans are facing and inspire actions to protect them to use marine and water resources sustainably.

World Ocean Day has been celebrated on June 8 every year since 1992, and since 2009, it has been under the auspices of the UN.

The oceans cover over 70% of the Earth's surface and have been associated with human evolution since ancient times. Today marine life and biodiversity in the oceans are threatened by many human activities like overfishing, pollution and plastic waste which ends up in the oceans, but also by climate change.

The marine environment is one of the important parts of some UNESCO Global Geoparks. More than 30% of UNESCO Global Geoparks have a maritime component and many of them despite being located in continental areas, are the guardians of the evolution of former oceans. Activities in Geoparks contribute significantly to SDG 14 (Life below water) and to other SDGs such us SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and SDG 13 (Climate Action). The marine environment is fully included in the UNESCO Global Geoparks guidelines for the sustainable use of Earth’s natural resources.

Geoparks are working towards achieving clean oceans. They are concerned about how they can interact with the oceans without disturbing the ecosystem, the measures that they need to take for dealing with pollution and how to achieve balance between human activities and sustainability. Geoparks also promote traditional activities like fishing and implement various good practices which are in line with the United Nations Decade of the Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. The Global Geoparks Network, in collaboration with UNESCO, presents some examples of activities and good practices in the following video:

The Global Geoparks Network, in collaboration with UNESCO, invites all its members to celebrate “World Oceans Day” on the 8th of June and to join forces, to organize activities, to raise awareness of positive initiatives and find solutions that give hope to younger generations.

Please share all your good practices by sending them to the ggnwebsite@hotmail.com and ggnsecretariat@hotmail.com and the Global Geoparks Network will be published to the GGN Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/globalgeoparksnetwork