UN Holidays - World Ocean Day

In the large family of environmental holidays, we can highlight one of the most significant - World Oceans Day The importance of the event, which received the status of an official holiday back in 2008, is difficult to overestimate After all, the World Ocean accounts for neither more nor less - 70% of the entire surface of our planet We can say that we live inside a huge water system, without which life is impossible The element of boundless waters is represented by four famous oceans - the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian and Arctic And thanks to recent research, scientists have unofficially identified a fifth one - the Southern Ocean, located at the intersection of the currents of three oceans, differing from them in its microclimate and ecosystem Oceanologists devote their lives for the benefit of all inhabitants of the Earth, because their complex, sometimes dangerous, but very interesting work makes it possible to assess the state of the world's waters, their impact on other systems, as well as monitor the results of human activity and the problems associated with it The idea to give the holiday official status arose back in 1992, it happened at an environmental summit in the capital of Brazil - Rio de Janeiro, where the Declaration on Environment and Development was adopted and signed - a fundamental document regulating humanity’s activities in relation to nature and environmental aspects of interaction The participants of this large-scale event came to a consensus on the need to highlight this day, but many years passed before the holiday changed its status to official and received a name For 17 years, the world community had been waiting for this event and, finally, in 2009, through the UN General Assembly, June 8 was declared International Oceans Day It is worth noting that the holiday, which is under the auspices of the UN, has a specific theme that changes from year to year This is due to the fact that in a dynamic world, subject to the constant influence of anthropogenic factors, new environmental or environmental problems appear that require mandatory solutions After all, everything on the planet is interconnected and deterioration in one of the elements can lead to changes in another and even a full-scale environmental disaster The themes of the celebration in different years were: - humanity’s responsibility for the state of the World Ocean; - opportunities and challenges in using the ocean ecosystem; - the revival of the oceans and the impact on the future; - youth participation in the protection and preservation of the resources of the World Ocean; - interaction between man and the ocean; - the impact of the state of the water system on our planet and others Every year, various international conferences, seminars, scientific forums, and events dedicated to environmental problems and water resource conservation are held An officially recognized holiday allows us to coordinate the efforts of specialists associated with the ocean system and its inhabitants from different parts of the world And the problems voiced at events within individual states and the world as a whole, dedicated to this important day, make it possible to attract the attention of the general public and all humanity to acute environmental problems related to the World Ocean