Monday, June 11, 2018, 08:41 (GMT+7)
World Oceans Day

The World Oceans Day was initiated by the Government of Canada on the 8th June 1992, at the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, highlighting the importance of the seas and oceans to human life. This is an event of global importance, aiming to respect the world oceans and express concerns to the seas and oceans for the future of human being. Accordingly, World Oceans Day is aimed to enhance the awareness of the public and policy makers of countries of the importance of the seas and oceans to human life, while supporting positive behavior for the sustainability of the oceans. For this reason, Canadian proposal of the World Oceans Day was immediately approved by the UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Quang Ninh provincial leaders awards oustanding people in the protection of the sea at the Launch of Vietnam Seas and Islands Week and World Oceans Day 2018 (Photo: baoquangninh.com.vn)

Since the inception, especially after the International Meeting on joint action for the future of the green planet in 2002, with the support of the Global Forum on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands (GFOCI), the World Ocean Network (WON), Ocean Project, and the International Ocean Institute, etc. over 50 countries celebrate the World Oceans Day annually. With activities as diverse as: marching for the oceans, green road connecting people, fishery resources and sustainable market, peaceful ocean talk, marine art and culture contest, etc. World Oceans Day has strongly supported the awareness of protecting the marine environment globally. Therefore in 2009, the United Nations decided to celebrate the World Oceans Day on the 8th of June in all of its member countries.

As a country with a vast sea and a long coast, for the past years, Vietnam has been proactively and responsibly in responding to and participating in the protection of the seas. Vietnam is among the earliest countries to celebrate the World Oceans Day with both domestic and international activities. In 1998, on the occasion of the International Year of the Ocean held in Lisbon (Portugal), Vietnam had in-depth discussion on topics of the Conference and was highly appreciated by the international community. After that, at the World Ocean Conference held in Indonesia in 2009, Vietnam’s Minister of Natural Resources and Environment participated in the discussion and ratified the “Manado Ocean Declaration”. Particularly, the Decree No. 25/2009/ND-CP, dated 6th March 2009 of the Government on the management and protection of natural resources and marine environment instructed the organization of Vietnam Sea and Island Week annually in order to respond to World Oceans Day. These activities not only play an important role in enhancing the awareness and responsibility of the community for the protection of seas and islands, but also represent a chance for introducing our marine potentials for developing a marine economy, contributing to making Vietnam a strong and prosperous coastal country. At the same time, this is also a message to the world that Vietnam is a littoral state which is responsible for settling issues relating to seas and islands and contributes to the protection of the green ocean and green planet of the human kind.

Nguyen Van Su

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