Protect the ocean with knowledge.Thus UNESCO and the Prada Group want to bring ocean literacy to schools around the world

Only by knowing the sea is it possible to protect it.For this reason, on 7 June, in Venice, the United Nations delegates will meet together with sector experts in the Ocean Literacy World Conference with the aim of bringing ocean education into the school curricula of member countries.A fundamental step in a journey that began over ten years ago, as oceanographer Francesca Santoro, responsible for ocean education activities for the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, explains to Open

About 70% of the earth's surface is covered by water, in the form of rivers, glaciers and lakes, but mostly ocean.It regulates the climate and rainfall, gave rise to the first vital forms and is still the element on which the sustenance of entire human and animal populations is based.Yet despite its importance, the ocean remains largely unknown.Many of the problems affecting it are known – the proliferation of alien species, coral bleaching,plastic pollution, acidification,increase in temperatures – but most people lack basic knowledge of the ocean, which is rarely taught in school.In English, ocean education is defined as “ocean literacy“.But the concept is the same expressed by the Italian phrase:only by knowing the world that hides behind the blue seas is it possible to protect it.With this purpose the Ocean Literacy World Conference, organized within the framework of SEA BEYOND, the educational program launched in 2019 by the Prada Group in collaboration with the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission to create awareness about the sustainability and preservation of the sea.

The Venice Declaration:ocean education in school curricula

The conference will be held on June 7th in Venice, in the historic Ca' Giustinian palace, with the patronage of the Municipality and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.There, 150 delegates from UNESCO member states and experts on the ocean and the communication of its importance will meet to outline a path that leads to including ocean education in the school programs of the states involved.The results of the meeting will be presented in the Venice Declaration for Ocean Literacy.It will provide concrete recommendations that will be shared with all United Nations member states, including those necessary to ensure equitable and inclusive access to funding for education and research.The member states will then meet on July 2 at the UN headquarters in New York to define the program for the third United Nations conference on the ocean, scheduled for June 2025 in Nice and co-hosted by the governments of France and the Coast. Rica.

SEA BEYOND

In the three editions that have followed since 2019, the SEA BEYOND program has anticipated various objectives of the conference, aimed above all at younger people.In fact, over 35 thousand secondary school students from all over the world have been reached by the ocean awareness and education project, which has reached its third edition this year and is currently underway.Furthermore, in Venice in 2021, "the Lagoon Kindergarten" was born, a program of outdoor activities aimed at children from the city's kindergartens on the water, with the aim of introducing the little ones to the ecosystem that surrounds them .Since July 2023, educational activities have been accompanied by scientific dissemination and humanitarian projects related to the protection of the sea, also carried out thanks to the support of 1% of the proceeds from the Prada Re-Nylon collection, entirely made with regenerated nylon obtained from the recycling of plastic materials recovered from oceans, landfills and textile waste.

The importance of ocean literacy

There Ocean Literacy World Conference it is the first step towards making initiatives of this type the norm and not the exception.Specifically, being able to include ocean education in school curricula would be a huge success.To explain it to Open is Francesca Santoro, responsible for ocean education activities for the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO.«As long as most people think, for example, that the Amazon is the Earth's main source of oxygen, things will not change.In reality, the ocean is our first ally against the climate crisis and this is just one of the things that many don't know.It absorbs 90% of the excess heat produced by global warming and generates up to 80% of the planet's oxygen."«The ocean supports life, health, the economy and human nutrition.At the same time, human activities threaten it.This is why we must change our relationship with it, and we can only do this by knowing it", reiterates Santoro.

Ocean literacy goes far beyond school education.«There must be attention to ecological, traditional, indigenous knowledge, starting from that of the Mediterranean.Scientific knowledge is just one type of knowledge", continues Santoro.«It shouldn't just be science that dictates the line.Citizens, inhabitants of coastal areas and fishermen must be included:everyone must rethink together the new relationship with the ocean.In this sense, for me Venice is a great source of inspiration.The city and its citizens have coevolved with the sea, developing a profound knowledge.And we must learn from this.It is no coincidence that the conference is organized in Venice", adds the oceanographer.

An important stage

The conference is in fact part of what Santoro defines as "a crucial moment" for the protection of the ocean, achieved through years of effort.Also in agreement with her was Lorenzo Bertelli, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility of the Prada Group and Patron of the Ocean Decade Alliance, who said:«This conference represents an important step in SEA BEYOND's commitment to the spread of ocean education.For the first time we are moving the topic to a political level and we are officially asking governments to put in place measures aimed at supporting our young people, future decision makers of tomorrow, in their journey of awareness of the situation of our sea".

The program of the Ocean Literacy World Conference

The works of Ocean Literacy World Conference they will be broadcast live on the “Unesco Venice” YouTube channel.The two days will see the participation of numerous institutional representatives including Maria Chiara Carrozza, President of the CNR, Magdalena Landry, Director of the UNESCO regional office for Science and Culture in Europe, Peter Thomson, special envoy of the Secretary General of the Nations United for the Ocean.On 8 June - World Oceans Day - the presentation of the agreement reached will be held, followed by a panel dedicated to researchers, disseminators, experts and personality ambassadors of the SEA BEYOND project, who support the Prada Group and UNESCO-COI in spreading the message.Among them, the director of the Milazzo sea museum Carmelo Isgrò, the visual storyteller Elisabetta Zavoli, the surfer and activist Maya Gabeira, the coral gardener Titouan Bernicot, the marine biologist Giovanni Chimienti, and the actress and communicator Valentina Gottlieb.

On June 8th, the first SEA BEYOND Ideas Box will be presented, the result of the collaboration between SEA BEYOND and Bibliothèques Sans Frontières.When closed, it appears as a series of boxes or containers, mounted one on top of the other.However, inside them there is a complete media library of books, digital media, desks and chairs, which once arranged give life to a small cultural space, a modern miniature library completely independent from an energy point of view.After the twenty minutes needed to assemble it, the Ideas Box offers a satellite internet connection, 25 computers and tablets, a high definition screen and materials for studying and playing.A concept born following the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010, from the collaboration between Bibliothèques Sans Frontières and the world-famous French architect and creator Philippe Starck, with the aim of facilitating access to education for children and young people in the community vulnerable.On the occasion of the presentation, the architect will speak with Patrick Weil, president of Bibliothèques Sans Frontières.