World Oceans Day, celebrated each year on 8 June, is a crucial date for raising awareness of the vital importance of the oceans and the urgency of protecting them. This international initiative was first proposed in 1992 during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and was officially recognised by the United Nations in 2008. Its objective is to support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) globally and to promote public interest in the protection of the oceans and the sustainable management of their resources. The Government of Mozambique joins the celebration of World Oceans Day, with the support of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), to raise awareness of the importance of the oceans for human life on the one hand and the threats to the oceans and the need to protect them and conserve marine and coastal resources on the other.
Ph. Marco Lombardi ©AICS
Oceans are essential for life on the planet. Not only do they serve as a source of food, transport and energy generation, but they also play a crucial role in climate regulation and offer countless opportunities for recreation. In addition, oceans are home to vast biodiversity and are critical to the economy and livelihoods of local, national and global populations. According to the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), about 28% of the world’s population lives in coastal regions and more than two billion people depend directly or indirectly on marine ecosystems.
Marine ecosystems are home to at least 230,000 species, including plants, invertebrates, fish and other vertebrates. They are crucial for the production of oxygen on Earth, with marine phytoplankton contributing between 50 and 80 per cent of the total. Oceans also regulate the global climate by absorbing CO2 and heat from the atmosphere and distributing heat through ocean currents. However, marine environments are being degraded by human activities such as overfishing, pollution, particularly plastic pollution, and climate change. The IPCC’s SCROCC report highlights specific threats to the oceans: rising water temperatures, melting polar ice and rising sea levels, changes in sea currents, ocean acidification and changes in ocean cycles, with intensification of phenomena such as El Niño.
In this context, the AICS promotes ocean conservation and the sustainable use of marine resources by funding several initiatives: the blue economy programme A-GEO implemented in Macaneta, MANGROWTH in Inhaca, RINO and BIOFORMOZ. In addition to developing sustainable economic activities for the conservation of marine resources, AICS promotes scientific research on marine ecosystems through the Inhaca Marine Biology Station (EBMI). 
The EBMI was founded in 1951 to support the research activities of the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. Its strategic location on an island, 32 kilometres from the city of Maputo, with special ecological features, has attracted the attention of many scientists and other curious people regionally and internationally. From a simple place of accommodation for students and scientists, EBMI quickly evolved into one of the first marine research stations established on the east coast of Africa. Currently, thanks to AICS-funded programmes, the EBMI is improving its capacity to host more researchers, upgrading its infrastructure (particularly the station’s dormitories and refectories) and introducing a new laboratory for marine and terrestrial scientific research.