World Ocean Day celebrations centered on gender

Mundus maris newsletter: June 2019

View this email in your browser

Forward

Dear <<First Name>>

June 2019 was jam packed with activities. Celebrating World Ocean Day on June 8 was clearly the major highlight. The UN had chosen 'Gender and Ocean' as the motto for this year's activities on and around the date – a timely focus on the social role of women, men and all other identities and all ages.

Mundus maris and its many partners have pulled off activities on three continents reaching an ever growing range of people, some already “habitués”, many new. Starting out in Brussels with the traditional booth for adults and kids at the Environment Festival (2 June) continuing with an event in Buenos Aires with several scientific organisations (7 June), and culminating with events in Senegal in Hann and Sendou, in Cameroon in Kribi next to Douala, and Nigeria in and around Akure, Ondo State (see individual highlights). More activities are scheduled in July in the Lagos area. The digital museum showing the works of the winners of the Mundus maris Awards contest 2019 is still under constructions, but the jury published the names already. Congrats to the winners!

World Ocean Day was also the start of the first pilot phase of breathing life into the concept of the Small-Scale Fisheries Academy in Senegal together with the Committee of the Initiative. Testing participatory methodologies in two quite different communities was a first step towards responding to priorities identified during the inaugural event last year and exploring what would be the most adequate approaches compatible with the work schedules and local conditions of women and men participating in Yoff and Hann. Watch our website for more information.

We renew our call for volunteers and donations to strengthen on-going research and implementation projects as well as improving our communication capabilities for better service. Get the advisories for divers and other ocean users on our social media to enjoy your vacation at the seaside while avoiding harm.

Support our work with a donation

Activities around the world

Gender and Ocean workshop in Mauritius was a success

On the 30th of June, as a WIOMSA pre-symposium activity, the Women in Marine Science Network (WiMS), in collaboration with Mundus maris, hosted a workshop to discuss the gender dimension in marine science and practice with about 30 women - leading researchers, academics, scientists, policy makers, practitioners and students from Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Reunion (France) and Tanzania.

Find out more

Our partners Bénévoles de l'Océan in Cameroon pull off a successful WOD

More than two months before 8 June, Bénévoles de l'Océan have started rallying schools in Kribi and Douala and provincial and municipal authorities to join in activities for this year's World Ocean Day under the motto 'Gender and Ocean'. Spearheaded by Jeauberte Djamou, her team and supporters have again made a strong showing leading to the adoption of the Kribi Declaration for a Healthy Ocean.

Find out more

The CNPS celebrates with a beach clean-up in Sendou, Senegal

The National Collective of Artisanal Fishers in Senegal (Collectif national des pêcheurs artisanaux du Sénégal (CNPS)) is the longest-serving partner of Mundus maris in the country with whom to celebrate World Ocean Day 2019. Badou NDOYE, national President of the CNPS had signaled the intention to contribute to the growing chorus of organisations and individuals whose active participation makes the event bigger and more representative year after year.

Find out more

Buenos Aires followed suit with World Ocean Day celebrations on 7 June

On Friday, June 7, Mundus maris together with the Biological Sciences Career of the University of Belgrano celebrated the III edition of World Ocean Day in Buenos Aires titled "The Blue Planet in the Agenda 2030". The event had the support of the Association of Graduates in Biological Sciences of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (AGCB) and the Federation of Professional Associations of Graduates in Biology (FAPBIO).

Find out more

Lively debates at the MARE Conference in Amsterdam, 25-28 June

Are women in fisheries and aquaculture still mostly invisible and underpaid? A meta-analysis of case studies from four continents, back in 2002, had identified such a pattern across countries at different levels of socio-economic development. Mundus maris convened a panel on gender in fisheries at this year's X MARE Conference in Amsterdam, which examined whether in times of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the UN in 2015 these findings needed an update.

Find out more

Akure team in Nigera orchestrates successful World Ocean Day

Dr. Lydia Adeleke Mosunmola was at the forefront of organising a series of activities and events for this year's World Ocean Day at the Federal University of Technology in Akure (FUTA) and coastal villages in Ondo State mobilising professors, teachers and coastal women. She also read out the Mundus maris good will message. The First Lady of Ondo State gave an extensive lecture to FUTA staff and hundreds of pupils of the Staff Secondary School in the occasion.

Find out more

Mundus maris and Amicale Foot celebrate in Hann, Senegal

As is previous years, the Soccer Friendly, a network of several soccer schools in Hann (AMEF), has been a faithful ally of Mundus maris in celebrating again 8 June 2019, World Ocean Day. After a thorough beach cleaning in front of the primary school in Hann Pêcheurs and in the proximity of the fish landing area where loads of people pass by every day, the soccer tournament successfully attracted even more attention to the environment and the sport.

Find out more

Brussels started Mundus maris World Ocean Day celebrations already on 2 June

Women and the Ocean - that is the fitting focus of World Ocean Day this year. It reminds us that probably 50% of workers along the fish value chain are women - but data are for the most part missing except for some case studies - one of the many things to change for healthy oceans, prosperious and sustainable fisheries and respectful conditions ensured for women, men and ocean life. Brussels kicked off again the series of events by Mundus maris and its partners on three continents to celebrate World Ocean's Day.

Find out more