Successful Opening of Workshop on Ocean Literacy and Blue Citizens in Xiamen

On November 20th, 2021, Workshop on Ocean Literacy and Blue Citizens was successfully held in Xiamen where guests and representatives at home and abroad gathered over the web. This workshop, organized by APEC Marine Sustainable Development Center, Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources of People’s Republic of China (TIO-MNR), Xiamen Marine International Cooperation Center, and co-organized by Xiamen Little Seagull Educational Center for Nature and Ecology and SEE Foundation, welcomed more than hundred experts from APEC regions including China, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, and the US, international organizations involving World Economic Forum, Global Environmental Institute, World Wild Fund, and Wild Aid, and research institutes and universities, as well as practitioners in the fields of marine protection and nature education. This workshop weaves series of activities marking the 10th anniversary of APEC Marine Sustainable Development Center.

In December 2019, APEC Marine Sustainable Development Center launched the Blue Citizen Partnership Initiative. To better promote and enrich the Blue Citizen Partnership Initiative and engage more citizens in facilitating sustainable development, APEC Marine Sustainable Development Center organized this workshop to improve the experience, methods, and ways in raising ocean literacy and developing blue citizens, and to expand the cooperation related to all parties.

Deputy Director General from TIO-MNR, Dr. Chen Bin presented the meeting and made opening remark in hope of APEC make full use of the platform of APEC Marine Sustainable Development Center, and call for participation in the development of Blue Citizen Partnership. Prof. Zhou Qiulin, researcher of TIO-MNR, hosted the workshop with his sophisticated insights for marine sustainable development and multilateral collaboration, experts from APEC regions shared the practices and prospects of ocean literacy and education covering Thoughts and Practices of Blue Citizens Program, UN Ocean Decade and the possible cooperation under APEC, the prospects and overall framework of earth education, eco-tourism, excellent cases of marine protection and etc.

One Planet One Ocean. Building a marine community with a shared future for all and facilitating marine sustainable development entails not only the concerted efforts of governments, academia, enterprises, and private sectors, but also the engagement of the citizens. The people's aspiration for a better life is the biggest internal driving force for development. We need to promote the Blue Citizens Program, arouse people's yearning for the ocean, enlarge people’s creativity, ensure that the multiple value and service of the ocean for human welfare, culture and sustainable development can be widely understood, and find out and overcome the obstacles to changing people’s behavior so as to realize the complete change in the relationship between human and ocean, which is an important cornerstone of facilitating blue economy and marine sustainable development.

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