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The Ocean Project advances ocean conservation in collaboration with aquariums, zoos, museums, youth, and other partners in its growing global network. Since its formation in 1997, [1] The Ocean Project has grown from a handful of founding North American aquariums into the world's most extensive network for advancing ocean education and action. Its growing network includes more than 2,000 partner aquariums, zoos, science, technology, and natural history museums (ZAMs), youth groups, and other education and conservation organizations, in 140 countries that together serve hundreds of millions of visitors each year. The Ocean Project does not market itself, instead "supporting and highlighting" partners by broadcasting their "innovative conservation-related activities." [1]
To help its network of partners achieve their missions, The Ocean Project has conducted public opinion and market research since 1998. The Ocean Project works with its partners to apply the research, provide strategic communications insights, and implement innovative public engagement programs and campaigns to collaboratively create a better future.
Primary Strategies: [1] 1) Enhance capacity at partner institutions - Support and empower the communications, education, outreach and activation capacities of ZAMs and other partners to effectively engage their members and visitors, as well as leaders in the public and private sectors 2) Scale solutions within and beyond The Ocean Project network - Develop and expand partner network, sharing successes and catalyzing more effective approaches, ensuring these efforts add maximum value to local, regional, national, and global conservation movements.
The Ocean Project catalyzes collective action for our ocean and climate. By collaborating with youth leaders, zoos, aquariums, museums, and other community organizations we are growing a global network that effectively engages the public, informs policymakers, and protects our blue planet.
Priority Initiatives:
1) Collaborative Conservation Campaigns Based on 20 years of comprehensive public opinion and market research, The Ocean Project works in partnership with leading ZAMs and others to develop, implement, and evaluate innovative conservation campaigns. The emphasis is on improving public engagement and increasing both the number of participating institutions and the impact of their efforts. This work builds upon the success of The Ocean Project's Innovative Solutions Grants + [2] program developed with NOAA, as well as other initiatives, including those supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the SeaLife Trust, and UN Environment.
2) World Ocean Day [3] The Ocean Project has been growing World Ocean Day since 2002 as a way to raise the profile of the ocean and rally the world every 8 June, with expanded involvement and action year-round. Under The Ocean Project leadership, World Ocean Day has grown from a handful of events in a few countries before 2002 into a global celebration of our ocean. The Ocean Project uses this day with the help of its network [4] to promote restoring and protecting the ocean. Their Annual Report from 2019 [5] shows more than 2000 events in over 140 countries throughout the year. In 2019, the campaign's theme was Gender and the Ocean, pushing for both ocean protections and promote gender equality. [6]
The conservation action focus for 2023 is to call on world leaders to follow through on their commitments to protect 30% of our blue planet by 2030 and make sure it happens [7] The project is now recognized by the United Nations. [8]
3) Youth Initiative The Ocean Project collaborative youth initiative helps to develop a broad, diverse, active, and united youth constituency for our climate and ocean. Connecting with zoo, aquarium, museums and other youth-focused organizations, the initiative seeks to accelerate youth engagement and leadership worldwide. The Ocean Project empowers youth to become ocean champions and provides opportunities to connect directly with policymakers and corporate leaders. Among The Ocean Project youth activities, the World Ocean Day Youth Advisory Council [9] shapes and grows development of World Ocean Day and leads conservation action year-round. The Sea Youth Rise Up [10] annual advocacy campaign was started on World Ocean Day in 2016, and is designed to connect youth from within and beyond The Ocean Project network and provide a platform for youth to express their ideas directly with decision-makers. The Ocean Project argues that "with nearly half of the world's population under the age of 25, it is imperative that young people step up as leaders at an early age." [11]
Monterey Bay Aquarium is a nonprofit public aquarium in Monterey, California. Known for its regional focus on the marine habitats of Monterey Bay, it was the first to exhibit a living kelp forest when it opened in October 1984. Its biologists have pioneered the animal husbandry of jellyfish and it was the first to successfully care for and display a great white shark. The organization's research and conservation efforts also focus on sea otters, various birds, and tunas. Seafood Watch, a sustainable seafood advisory list published by the aquarium beginning in 1999, has influenced the discussion surrounding sustainable seafood.
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), originally the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums, is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1924 and dedicated to the advancement of zoos and public aquariums in the areas of conservation, education, science, and recreation. AZA is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland, United States, and accredits zoos. There were 238 accredited facilities as of 2019, primarily in the US, and also a handful in eleven other countries.
World Ocean Day is an international day that takes place annually on 8 June. The concept was originally proposed in 1992 by Canada's International Centre for Ocean Development (ICOD) and the Ocean Institute of Canada (OIC) at the Earth Summit – UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Ocean Project started global coordination of World Ocean Day starting in 2002. "World Oceans Day" was officially recognised by the United Nations in 2008. The international day supports the implementation of worldwide Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and fosters public interest in the protection of the ocean and the sustainable management of its resources.
The Born Free Foundation is an international wildlife charity that campaigns to "Keep Wildlife in the Wild". It protects wild animals in their natural habitat, campaigns against the keeping of wild animals in captivity and rescues wild animals in need. It also promotes compassionate conservation, which takes into account the welfare of individual animals in conservation initiatives. Born Free also creates and provides educational materials and activities that reflect the charity’s values.
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a non-governmental organization headquartered at the Bronx Zoo in New York City, that aims to conserve the world's largest wild places in 14 priority regions. Founded in 1895 as the New York Zoological Society (NYZS), the organization is now led by President and CEO Cristián Samper. WCS manages four New York City wildlife parks in addition to the Bronx Zoo: the Central Park Zoo, New York Aquarium, Prospect Park Zoo and Queens Zoo. Together these parks receive 4 million visitors per year. All of the New York City facilities are accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
Founded in 1994, Alternatives, Action and Communication Network for International Development, is a non-governmental, international solidarity organization based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
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Aquarium of the Bay is a public aquarium located at The Embarcadero and Beach Street, at the edge of Pier 39 in San Francisco, California. The aquarium is focused on local aquatic animals from the San Francisco Bay and neighboring rivers and watersheds as far as the Sierra Mountains. Since 2005 the Aquarium has focused its mission on enabling ocean conservation and climate action both locally and globally. It is one of seven institutions under parent company Bay Ecotarium, the largest watershed conservation organization in the Bay Area
The World Ocean Network is an international non-profit association of organizations to promote the sustainable use of the oceans. One of its motto is "Caring for the Blue Planet, you can make a difference!"
SECORE is an international non-profit organization focused on coral reef conservation. The group has over sixty supporters in North America, Europe and Japan, and comprises public aquariums, institutes, and universities. Founded in 2001 at the Rotterdam Zoo in the Netherlands, the organization has been developing methods of captive coral reproduction and preservation, citing studies that have predicted coral reefs could be extinct within decades due to climate change.
Cristián Samper is a Colombian-American tropical biologist specializing in conservation biology and environmental policy. He is the Managing Director and Leader of Nature Solutions at the Bezos Earth Fund. He served as President and CEO of WCS from 2012 to 2022. He was the Director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, the world's largest natural history collection, from 2003 to 2012, and served as acting Secretary of the Smithsonian from 2007 to 2008, the first Latin American to hold the position. In April 2015, Dr. Samper was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The International Conservation Caucus Foundation (ICCF) is a non-partisan 501(c)(3) educational foundation based in Washington, D.C. ICCF's stated mission is "to advance U.S. leadership in international conservation through public and private partnerships and to develop the next generation of conservation leaders in the U.S. Congress."
Safe Planet: the United Nations Campaign for Responsibility on Hazardous Chemicals and Wastes is the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and UN Food and Agricultural Organization-led global public awareness and outreach campaign for ensuring the safety of human health and the environment against hazardous chemicals and wastes.
Living Oceans Society is a Canadian environmental organization that has been a leader in the effort to protect Canada's oceans since 1998. It is based in Sointula, British Columbia, with a satellite office in Vancouver, British Columbia. Living Oceans Society's vision states that: Canada's oceans are sustainably managed and thriving with abundant sea life that supports vibrant and resilient communities.
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Organizations which currently undertake coral reef and atoll restoration projects using simple methods of plant propagation:
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The Alliance for Financial Inclusion, or AFI, is a policy leadership alliance owned and led by member central banks and financial regulatory institutions with the common objective of advancing financial inclusion at the country, regional and international levels. Its members include roughly 100 institutions, being central banks, financial regulatory institutions, and financial inclusion policymakers from nearly 90 developing and emerging economies.
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