Map of the Week – Ocean Literacy – EU4Ocean Platform
Have you seen that the map of EU4Ocean Platform members has been updated? There are currently over 150 members across Europe! Since 2020, the EU4Ocean Platform brings together organisations, projects, networks and individuals from a wide range of sectors who are working on Ocean Literacy so that they can share experience and work together to expand their activities and develop new initiatives. Members who have recently joined the EU4Ocean Platform further expand the diversity of expertise within the Platform, in particular in the fields of marine sports activities, education and citizen science (e.g., Team Malizia, Società Sportiva Dilettantistica Outdoor Portofino), art (e.g., Talk C.E.C), nature conservation, environment protection, sustainable development and education (e.g., Parc des Calanques, Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association – HELMEPA, Fispmed), maritime heritage preservation (e.g., ASOCIACIÓN AMICOS) and the blue economy (e.g., Economia Azul) to name just a few. Members of the Platform appear in blue in the Map of the Week. Explore the map by clicking on the pieces of the puzzle to learn who the members are and what they do. You cannot find a member in the map? This means they have joined the Platform after this map update and they will be included in the next update of the map. The EU4Ocean Platform is constantly evolving!
If you have read previous Maps of the Week, you already know about the Youth4Ocean Forum and the Network of European Schools, who, together with the EU4Ocean Platform, form the EU4Ocean Coalition. In short, the EU4Ocean is composed of three communities:
- the EU4Ocean Platform for organisations (e.g., research institutes, non-governmental organisations, associations, companies), projects, networks, clusters and individuals engaged in Ocean Literacy initiatives;
- the Youth4Ocean Forum for young people between 16 and 30 which includes Young Ocean Advocates who have developed a project for the ocean; and
- the Network of European Blue Schools which includes schools who have met the challenge to ‘Find the blue’ by developing a project with a local partner.
On 16 September, the EU4Ocean Coalition participated in the World Cleanup Day event organised by the city of Brussels. With the presence of the managers of the Erasmus Maris project and Talk C.E.C. , the EU4Ocean booth in the Cleanup village nicely highlighted how science, education and art can come together to help us all connect to the ocean! Visitors of the booth learned how the Erasmus Maris project helps students learn about microplastics through work on a ship and in a laboratory and were able to themselves identify microplastics in samples. They could also see an artist work on a painting. Visitors of all ages showed a great interest in the ocean and cleanup activities. It was clear that by cleaning the city everyone was also contributing to a healthy ocean!
What’s next? It is going to be busy for Ocean Literacy!
- Learn about the upcoming media training organised by the Youth4Ocean Forum!
- Stay tuned for news from the Network of European Blue Schools!
- Participate in activities organised in the framework of Blue Nights on 29 September!
The data in this map are provided by the EU4Ocean Platform, the Youth4Ocean Forum and the Network of European Blue Schools.