I am happy to share that as of June 3, 2022, Heirs To Our Ocean (H2OO) is a Decade Implementation Partner (DIP) of UNESCO-IOC’s Ocean Decade. H2OO was invited to become a DIP because in 2020 it formed, and has since supported, a meaningful and authentic Youth Advisory Council to UN Ocean Decade (YAC for UNOD).
The first YAC for UNOD is in the U.S., and based upon its success, now in its 3rd Cohort, UNESCO-IOC recognized value in engaging youth ages 15–25 in a genuine way, as teens and young adults today will be well into their career journey at the end of the Decade.
For a paradigm shift to occur — for the cycle of harm to our planet and ourselves to end — we must engage youth in the conversations in which they are the greatest stakeholders and include them in the processing of solutions. Genuine youth inclusion is where H2OO contributes to the Decade, and we have developed a tool kit to assist in forming more YACs for UNOD in the world.