World Ocean Day is celebrated on 8 June with the aim of raising awareness about the vital importance of the oceans and the role they play in maintaining a healthy planet.

It’s a global celebration which brings together people and organisations from across the globe in a series of events, stressing how everybody can help protect the oceans, the integrity of which is seriously threatened by various human activities, including over-fishing and coastal and marine pollution.

Under the moto of the United Nations “The Ocean: Life and Livelihoods”, the Foundation for the Conservation of Biodiversity (BIOFUND), in partnership with the Ministry of the Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries (MIMAIP), presented photographs and educational panels about the marine biodiversity of Mozambique in an exhibition held in an
Expanded Public Hearing in the framework of drawing up the Plan for Organising the Marine Space (POEM) in the Southern Sun Hotel in Maputo.

In order to protect the oceans and their resources, BIOFUND, through its various programmes, is supporting initiatives of environmental education on the importance of the oceans, and is supporting all the country’s marine conservation areas, contributing to the protection of various species of national and international significance, such as sea turtles, manta rays, dugongs, and whale sharks, among others. BIOFUND also supports the protection of the coastal and marine ecosystems which are important for the survival of the above-mentioned species, and for the economy of Mozambique

Today each of us is called upon to make a contribution so that the oceans continue to play their indispensable role for the planet. Do you want to know more about the importance of the oceans? Click here and watch the video produced by the BIOFUND team.