World Oceans Day

1.What is the World Oceans Day?

World Oceans Day is an international day that takes place annually on 8 June.

World Oceans Day reminds every one of the major role the oceans have in everyday life. They are the lungs of our Planet and a major source of food and medicine and a critical part of the biosphere.

The purpose of the Day is to inform the public of the impact of human actions on the ocean, develop a worldwide movement of citizens for the ocean, and mobilize and unite the world’s population on a project for the sustainable management of the world's oceans.

?2.The theme of World Oceans Day 2022

The theme of World Oceans Day 2022 is Revitalization: Collective Action for the Ocean

This year’s United Nations World Oceans Day, on 8 June 2022, will highlight the theme Revitalization: Collective Action for the Ocean.

This year, the United Nations will host the first hybrid celebration of the annual event on 8 June 2022, hosted in-person at the UN Headquarters in New York to be broadcasted live. It will highlight the 2022 theme of “Revitalization: collective action for the ocean”.

?3.Plastic damage to the oceans

What do the deepest point in the ocean, the Mariana trench, and the highest mountain peak in the world, Mt. Everest, have in common?

Despite being among the planet's most remote and inaccessible environments, they both contain tiny pieces of plastic from human activities miles away.

Plastics are the largest, most harmful and persistent fraction of marine litter, accounting for at least 85 per cent of total marine waste.

Marine litter is found in increasing volumes along our coastlines and estuaries, in massive swirling mid-ocean currents, on remote islands, in sea ice ...… across the sea floor from the polar regions down into the deepest darkest trenches, harming marine life and damaging habitats across its path.

Over the last 70 years, plastic - an incredibly malleable, versatile, and durable material - infiltrated the market and permeated seemingly every nook and cranny on Earth. Plastics can provide important benefits, from life-saving medical devices to safe and long-life food storage. However, unnecessary and avoidable plastics, particularly single-use packaging and disposable items, are polluting our planet at alarming rates. Decades of economic growth and an increasing dependency on throw-away plastic products has led to a torrent of unmanaged waste that pours into lakes, rivers, coastal environments, and finally out to sea, triggering a ripple of problems.

From Pollution to Solution: a global assessment of marine litter and plastic pollution shows that there is a growing threat in all ecosystems from source to sea. It also shows that while we have the know-how, we need the political will and urgent action by governments to tackle the mounting crisis. The report will inform priority actions at the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA 5.2) in 2022, where countries will come together to decide a way forward for global cooperation. The new UN Assessment warns that unless we get a handle on our plastics problem:

Without urgent action, the estimated 11 million metric tons of plastic currently entering the ocean annually will triple in the next twenty years.

This would mean between 23 and 37 million metric tons of plastic flowing into the ocean every year by 2040.

That is equivalent to 50 kilograms of plastics per metre of coastline worldwide …?or the weight of as many as 178 Symphony of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world.

The problem has burgeoned into a global crisis requiring both immediate and sustained attention and action. This assessment provides the definitive wake-up call to the ubiquity of marine litter and the adverse impacts of plastic pollution – from environmental degradation to economic losses for communities and industries, to human health risks – and shows us how we can do better. It’s time to join hands to turn the tide on marine litter and plastic pollution by implementing the many – great and small – solutions at hand, with urgency, innovation, commitment and accountability.

?4.Solution:

Engage consumers in addressing plastic pollution to influence the market and to inspire behavioral change.

Close the tap by phasing out unnecessary, avoidable, and most problematic plastic items and replacing these with alternative materials, products and services.