World Oceans Day 2011

The 8th June is World Oceans Day - WOD, a celebration established in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and officially recognised by the United Nations only in 2008. The purpose of World Oceans Day is to inform the community about the importance of oceans and to create awareness regarding the impact of human activities on the marine environment. In fact, oceans produce over 50% of the oxygen in the atmosphere, are home to 80% of the world’s biodiversity and half of the Earth’s population lives in coastal regions. Moreover, seas represent a reservoir for the storage of carbon and contribute to the annual global economy with fishing and tourism. There are different events scattered across the five continents in zoos, aquariums, museums and associations along with initiatives organised by individual citizens such as cleaning up beaches, painting competitions for children, marine biology lessons and photograph exhibitions.