With over 1000 members in its communities EU4ocean has a wide variety of projects that its members are engaging and developing to strengthen ocean literacy in Europe. Directory of the members and their projects can be found on the Maritime Forum pages (www.eu-oceanliteracy.eu ):
An environmental hiking expedition around the Baltic Sea in 2024 (https://savebaltic.eu/). One of the winners of the EU4Ocean call for actions in 2023, the project EU4Ocean, this expedition aims to develop a culture of marine conservation, inform citizens about the state of the aquatic ecosystems, and bring together local communities and stakeholders in the Baltic Sea countries to co-design local solutions and enable collective action that will help halt marine pollution. In doing so, the project will improve ocean literacy in the countries surrounding the Baltic Sea and strengthen cooperation between different communities. Communication campaign, ‘living lab’ workshops, and other ocean literacy events (reaching 11.700 individual participants from 50 countries so far) have been organized during the hike gather local stakeholders and community representatives to search for the most suitable ways to reduce negative impacts on the Baltic Sea in each location.
Talk C.E.C is a cultural centre engaged in environmental issues in Brussels. It is a space for multidisciplinary research and creation, a place for the production and dissemination of visual and sound arts. As a member of EU4Ocean platform and winner of the 2023 Challenge of the Year, Talk C.E.C is actively engaged in the activities – hosting afterworks for the celebration of World Ocean Day, and organises an immersive biennale exhibition, Seas & Oceans (engaging > 23 000 visitors), a fusion between art and science, to raise awareness of environmental issues through a new prism. The project aims to build a wider community around ocean-related issues, encourage the circulation and access of scientific knowledge to the widest possible audience by organising a wide range of events (conferences, workshops, and urban and contemporary art exhibitions), and offer a new experience for learning through an art-science dialogue. Just in one year of activities, over 37 000 people were engaged (both onsite and via social media).
Being an active member of the EU4Ocean platform Team Malizia https://www.team-malizia.com/category/educationbrings its initiatives and educational activities on board of the EU4Ocean coalition! The project ‘My Ocean Challenge’ aims to act as a catalyst to help restore ocean health. Built for educators to use with kids aged 8-12 years old, it has been translated into 11 languages. This immersive, school learning program gives children the opportunity to discover the excitement of sailing through following world races on board the IMOCA 60 Malizia - Sea explorer, understand how Ocean health is threatened and how carbon dioxide (CO2) is damaging our Ocean – and how they can be part of the solution. There are educational booklets, quizzes, newsletters, and games.
Thalassophile Projectaims to make an introduction to marine science and conservation accessible to ALL European citizens, especially those who are hearing or visually impaired. Funded by Erasmus+ the project created a framework to guide others in making their marine science and conservation material more accessible to adult learners. The project is curating existing accessible material, and making it available to scientific outreach, adult education and conservation educators, via an online database. Finally, they will also be consolidating this learning into four factsheets, and disseminating to cross-sector stakeholders.
This youth-led initiative aims is to raise students' awareness of marine protection issues, especially marine biodiversity. Based in French Brittany, this association of students organizes weekly sailing trips, but not just for leisure and fun of sailing! Over the course of the week, the boat sails from town to town in French Brittany, carrying out concrete actions to raise awareness and protect the marine environment: beach and estuary clean-ups by the Vent d'Espoir team, prevention campaigns and meetings with local actors. By organising these local actions the project aims to show that it's possible for everyone to take action at their own level, and that everyone has a role to play.
After the Jac P Thijsseschool has become the first school ever that was granted a certificate of an EU Blue School in 2021, the school organized together with the municipality and Scholen aan Zee the first Conference on EU Blue Schools in 2023. Following up on this initiative, the municipality of Den Helder decided to set up the Blue School Municipality to support its schools and to inspire other municipalities. The Blue School Municipality concept aims is to improve the level of ocean literacy in schools, exploring ocean issues through structured and interdisciplinary strategies that strive for social impact, both with the participation from different partners and through the involvement of local communities. It creates responsible and active generations that contribute to ocean sustainability!
We are BlueSchools! (Som Escoles Blaves) is a beacon for ocean literacy in the Balearic islands! This project aimed to promote ocean literacy, environmental awareness, and sustainability skills among young students from Mallorquin schools. This success story, driven by passion and commitment, has created a thriving local community dedicated to nurturing the next generation of environmental stewards across the Balearic Islands. The dedicated efforts of the partners led not only to the certification of more than 100 Blue Schools in Mallorca, Minorca, and Ibiza, but also to the creation of the first local community of practice, uniting teachers, schools, NGOs, and informal education institutions. Together, they are dedicated to fostering blue education and advancing ocean literacy. Som Escoles Blaves not only empowered teachers and students with invaluable knowledge of marine ecosystems but also created a model that other regions can replicate to advance environmental education and sustainability.
