| World Ocean Day |
Events |
Ocean Day 8th June 2009
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“Our Ocean,
our Responsibility”
Message from Dr. Awni Behnam,
President, International Ocean Institute'
On 8th June the international community will celebrate Ocean Day. This year the theme is Our Ocean, our Responsibility. The founder of IOI, Elisabeth Mann Borgese, the mother of the oceans, wrote: “The ocean is the real thing, covering almost three quarters of the surface of our blue planet; the continents are floating islands on the world ocean; the ocean links and unites the continents, rather than separating them. The world ocean is our common heritage.”
By that she meant precisely that the ocean is the responsibility of our humanity. However the
unconscionable state of deterioration of the ocean, the governance deficit and the abdication of common
sense duties and responsibilities that are based on decency, moral and ethical values to safeguard this
precious source of life is a damning testimony of the failure of generations of our humanity.
Although our ignorance of the ocean is profound, I believe we collectively have the will and the tools that
can guarantee future generations a sustainable life on this planet. We have a unique opportunity to
influence the course of events and to change mankind’s current unacceptable relationship with the ocean
to one of “living with the ocean and from the ocean in a sustainable relationship”. This responsibility is at
the very heart of the legacy and mission of our founder and to which, we at IOI on this day of 8th June 2009,
recommit ourselves. Let us all remember that the ocean can live without human beings but we cannot live
without the ocean.
IOInforma
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