Ocean Observing and Ocean Literacy - a win-win deal - Dina Eparkhina Report on the activities of the EuroGOOS Ocean Literacy Network to the ...

Ocean Observing and Ocean Literacy - a win-win deal

                     Dina Eparkhina

  Report on the activities of the EuroGOOS Ocean Literacy
   Network to the General Assembly, 8 September 2020

Ocean Literacy

Ocean is a public utility
As is oceanography

“To make ocean observation more sustainable it needs to become a public utility. We need to do
what going from gas lamps to electricity did for the Industrial Revolution: we need to turn on the
lights in the ocean.”

John Bell, Director Healthy Planet, European Commission

Ocean Literacy rhetoric adopted by:

Version 2.0 of the Ocean Decade Implementation Plan
                                           submitted for presentation to the United Nations General
                                           Assembly

https://oceandecade.org/news/72/Version-
20-of-the-Ocean-Decade-Implementation-
Plan-submitted-for-presentation-to-the-
United-Nations-General-Assembly

Lots being done

                               Where do the
                               oceanographic
                               institutes stand on
        Best practice          this?

                        in bringing Ocean Literacy into
                        mainstream culture

Ocean Observing and Ocean Literacy - a win-win deal

Ocean Observing for Ocean Literacy -               Ocean Literacy for Ocean Observing -
information, visuals and stories                   sustainability, usefulness, integration

                                       • 44 EuroGOOS members + 50 across regions

                                       • OL working group: 20 organizations (9 countries
                                         across 5 EuroGOOS regions; international and
                                         national-wide)

                                       • Kick-off: June 2019

                                       • 1st survey - to be augmented with full EuroGOOS
                                         & ROOS membership

1st survey:
• 11 organizations from 7 countries (IT, UK, GR, IE, BE, ES, NO)
• 170 entries (programmes, recurring or ad hoc outreach & engagements, multimedia…)

                • No similar studies found. Linking national investments in OO with
                  OL will create substantial added value
                • ‘We can now get inspiration from other organizations for our own
                  activities’
                • ‘We didn’t realize we were active in ocean literacy, but if fact we
                  are’
                • Recognized & empowered at EU level
                • Community of practice
                • Most activities are either for schools or for general public (lack of
                  activities targeting policymakers, public authorities, industries)
                • Most activities address multiple ocean science topics
                • Among other topics: Fisheries and Aquaculture, Biodiversity, Litter
                  and Plastics, Technology, Marine Careers, Gender

Activities during reporting period

• Promotion of Ocean Literacy at OceanObs’19 (poster and OL demos at the EuroGOOS stand) – September
  2019;
• Survey of the OL activities in EuroGOOS member organizations – members of the Network.

• The Network represented at the Global Science Education Workshop – November 2019, and UNESCO Ocean
  Literacy Framework workshop preparing for the OL Strategy for the UN Ocean Decade – December 2019;

• Home-schooling twitter campaign during the corona-virus lockdown successfully ran during April and May
  2020;

• EuroGOOS co-organised the First Ocean Literacy Summit – official event of the UN Ocean Decade preparatory
  stage and promoted the inclusion of national OL activities in the event’s website;

• EuroGOOS was invited and accepted to be a founding member of the EU4Ocean Ocean Literacy Platform
  supported by DG MARE – June 2020;
• Ocean Literacy resource library by EuroGOOS launched on the World Ocean Day 2020 – June 2020.

http://eurogoos.eu/ocean-literacy/

First Ocean Literacy Summit, 8 June 2020 – World Ocean Day

• State of play – national capacities
                                                  EuroGOOS co-organizer (3 co-organizers; more
• Uniting at pan-EU level                         than 15 global contributors)

                                                  Promoted the inclusion of national OL activities in
• Promoting globally and making their             the event’s website - at least 80 resources from the
  individual and collective voices heard          EuroGOOS member organizations were included
                                                  on the Summit’s website

• Recognition at global level – high level        The Summit brought together over 1,600 online
  speakers, websites and outreach materials       participants and featured high level and diverse
                                                  panel
  (see video)

• At least 80 EuroGOOS member resources       Video: https://www.facebook.com/IocUnesco/videos
  promoted on the event’s website            Websites: https://en.unesco.org/news/virtual-ocean-
  EuroGOOS and UNESCO OL pages                literacy-summit; http://eurogoos.eu/ocean-literacy/

The story of the Ocean is My Home

 Disseminated and used by:

 • Schools in France, Italy, Azores,
   Portugal – incl Blue Schools,
   Ireland, Sweden, Spain…
 • MEPs, EP Intergroups,
   International Conferences, …

                                       Translations and publication: ISPRA, Italy;
                                       IPMA and OMA, Portugal; SOCIB and CSIC,
                                       Spain, US IOOS
                                                http://eurogoos.eu/2017/10/16/our-ocean-2017/

The story of the Ocean is My Home – cont’d

Next steps for the Network:

• Publication of the results of the OL survey in national oceanographic institutes and met
  offices – members of the Network.
         In preparation of the publication a new call to members and ROOS will be
         launched to augment the representativeness of the survey.
• The survey summary and recommendations will be issued as a policy-oriented brief.
        Topical in the view of the UN Ocean Decade implementation as well as the
        national strategies underpinning the Decade’s objectives.
• Contribute to the International Ocean Observers Workshop organized by JCOMM and
  Euro-Argo – October 2020, and CommOCEAN conference, organized by the EMB
  Communication Panel – December 2020.

Policy-oriented brief on Ocean Literacy activities in public oceanographic research

Who is the publication for?                   Findings and messages

•
    European Commission (MARE, RTD, ENV,      •
                                                  Volume and diversity of activities on a small or no budget – increased funding
    GROW) and Parliament (intergroups,            = increased impact and follow up
    committees, etc)                          •
                                                  Empowering scientists to engage with their surroundings
•
    National (Env, Res and Edu) ministries    •
                                                  Connecting research with education, policy, economy
•
    Teachers & educational authorities (Edu   •
                                                  Partner with professionals in other disciplines (art, communicators,…)
    Ministries, regional)                     •
                                                  More OL collaborations among practitioners
•
    EuroGOOS members and regions              •
                                                  Institutionalize
•
    National and regional OL networks         •
                                                  Need for more national coordination and engagement – know who does what
•
    NGOs/lobby organizations (Surfrider,          nationally
    WWF, Greenpeace)                          •
                                                  These activities are free for the public
•
    Art/public (TBA21 academy, aquaria        •
                                                  Open access (reach out to anyone whether close or not to the ocean) –
    networks, media)
                                                  opportunities for vulnerable parts of society (hospitals, prisons, retirement
•
    Marine education associations (EMSEA,         homes, etc)
    NMEA, COSEE)                              •
                                                  Re-utilize/re-purpose the content
•
    Blue Economy actors                       •
                                                  Promotion of STEM
                                              •
                                                  Generation of jobs

Thank you!

www.eurogoos.eu

dina.eparkhina
@eurogoos.eu

@EuroGOOS