World Ocean Month 2022

At Rare, we celebrate the ocean every day—and especially in June. From World Ocean Day (June 8) to the United Nations Ocean Conference (June 27-July 1), June is an important month to raise awareness of the ocean’s vital role in safeguarding peoples’ health, safety, and prosperity worldwide. As overfishing, pollution, and climate change threaten the ocean and the communities it sustains, we highlight the people and solutions protecting and managing our ocean.

The Territorial Seas: A critical part of the ocean

The term “territorial seas” refers to coastal ocean waters within the jurisdiction of a coastal nation. Extending up to 12 nautical miles from shore, these coastal waters make up only ~6% of the sea—yet are home to most of the ocean’s biodiversity. They are also where high biodiversity meets high human use. Nearly 500 million people depend on small-scale fisheries, most of which are found within these areas. As the world works to protect 30 percent of the ocean by 2030, Rare is focusing its efforts on prioritizing the right 30 percent by pairing effective protection of territorial seas with their sustainable use.

Fish Forever's Rocky Sanchez Tirona makes the case for the territorial seas

Watch her Our Ocean Conference speech

30x30 Campaign: Are we Protecting the Right 30% of the Ocean?

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OPINION: Protecting the right 30% of our ocean

Today only 11% of Marine Protected Areas are inside territorial waters. Most are established offshore, far from the biodiversity-rich territorial seas

Read the article

Rare at the UN Ocean Conference

The 2022 U.N. Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal is one of the key international platforms during the 2022 International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA). Rare and our partners will be there to increase ambition, actions, and support for the 30×30 campaign, community-led solutions, and blue carbon initiatives. Here are some of our events:

The Case for Territorial Seas Towards Achieving 30×30
Tuesday, June 28 at 1:00 – 2:15 PM; Auditorium II at PT Meeting Center, Lisbon, Portugal
A high-level event diving into what is needed to protect and sustainably manage the world’s territorial seas and achieve global biodiversity goals and 30×30 commitments.
Leading by Doing: Latest large-scale actions and new announcements on ocean conservation to achieve 2030 goals
Monday, June 27 at 11:30 AM – 12:45 PM; UNOC Venue, Altice Conference Center
The event will explore mangrove, coastal ecosystem and ocean conservation approaches needed to achieve global goals.
Blue Carbon: Charting the path for governance and partnerships
Thursday, June 30 at 1:30 – 2:45 PM; UNOC Venue, Altice Conference Center
The International Partnership for Blue Carbon together with the Australian Government, and other IPBC Members, will explore partnerships to drive credible and evidence-based action to protect, restore and sustainably manage coastal blue carbon ecosystems.
Location Location Location: Scaling-up the impact of 30×30
Wednesday, June 29 at 10:30 AM- 12:00 PM; Auditorium III, PT Meeting Center, Lisbon; Portugal
Led by the Wildlife Conservation Society, this event will compare different approaches for identifying the location of protected areas established within the 30×30 initiative.

Empowering coastal communities to protect the ocean

Local and Indigenous communities depend on territorial waters for food and jobs—these waters can’t all be off limits. Through Rare’s Fish Forever program, we are helping these communities pair protection with sustainable use, reserving their rights to fish in these areas and putting them in charge of their management to empower them and ensure they benefit from conservation. We call this system Managed Access with Reserves.

Managed Access with Reserves: A Community-led Solution

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Mozambique Celebrates its First Community-Managed Marine Reserve

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To Protect the Sea, a Community in Honduras Sails Again

Read the Story

The Coastal Communities: Raising the voices of small-scale fishers

As we focus on the ocean this month, we recognize the small-scale fishers and their communities who lead the way in protecting and managing their territorial seas. During this International Year of Artisanal Fisheries & Aquaculture, Rare is highlighting individuals who are inspiring their fishing communities to protect the ocean.

2022: International Year of Artisanal Fisheries & Aquaculture

Meet the Faces on the Frontlines

The "Mothers" Protecting Mangroves in Brazil

Watch the videos

Coastal 500: Local government leaders committed to strong coastal communities

Meet the Coastal 500

The Ocean-Climate connection: Helping people, our ocean and the climate adapt

Rare empowers local resource users to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural climate solutions, like mangroves, coral reefs, seagrass beds, and soils. These solutions reduce peoples’ vulnerability to climate change’s impacts.

Fishing for Resilience

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Rare Quotes: Rocky Sanchez Tirona

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Rare Conversations with Monterey Bay Aquarium's Julie Packard

Join the Conversation

Podcast: Climate-smart Fisheries

Listen now

A partner for Vibrant Oceans

Rare is a proud to be part of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Vibrant Oceans Initiative to protect the ocean from pressing threats, like overfishing, and enable greater ocean sustainability.

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World Ocean Month 2022 | Rare