Rabat – The Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental Protection, chaired by HRH Princess Lalla Hasnaa, is mobilizing for the oceans by organizing an entire week of activities to raise awareness of the importance of this vital space for climate regulation and for humanity, which relies on its vast resources.

Organized on the occasion of World Ocean Day, celebrated this year under the theme ‘Awaken new depths’, the Ocean Week, a major national initiative dedicated to showcasing and exploring the ocean’s riches across Morocco, will be conducted by the Foundation in collaboration with its partners from Monday, June 3rd to Saturday, June 8th, 2024, in eleven coastal cities from Al Hoceima to Dakhla.

This event will highlight key sectors such as the blue economy, ocean infrastructure, the circular economy, underwater heritage, and marine science and technology.

This initiative, which is part of the foundation’s ongoing commitment to the global framework of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainab
le Development, features a comprehensive program of activities designed for all audiences, mainly the educational communities of Eco-Schools and Young Reporters for the Environment, two flagship programs of the Education for Sustainable Development of the Foundation, a founding member of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030), launched by the UN with HRH Princess Lalla Hasnaa as patron.

According to a statement by the Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental Protection, a founding member of the Ocean Alliance, over 500 young people from these programs will participate in activities across one of Morocco’s eight coastal regions.

They will have the opportunity to visit various maritime sites, such as the Tanger-Med port, the Charif Idrissi scientific vessel of the National Institute of Fisheries Research in Agadir, lighthouses in Tangier, Casablanca and Safi, seawater desalination stations in Al Hoceïma, Agadir and Laayoune, and aquaculture farms in Tetouan and Dakh
la.

Participants will also discover the circular economy by visiting waste reprocessing sites in Tangier, Rabat and Casablanca.

This year, the Ocean Week will introduce participants to the kingdom’s underwater heritage for the first time, with an exhibition of illustrations about the wreck of the Kaiser Wilhelm ship in Dakhla and an underwater archaeological site off the coast of Safi, said the Foundation.

Furthermore, the same source added, in collaboration with the Center for Studies and Research in Underwater Heritage, under the Ministry of Youth, Culture, and Communication, the Foundation will announce the discovery of a new historical underwater wreck by a local partner association off the coast of Fnideq.

Committed to combating ocean pollution by plastic waste, this summer the Foundation will be running the 5th edition of its #b7arblaplastic operation, whose relevance and quality have been recognized and rewarded worldwide. An exhibition on plastic waste valorization under the slogan ‘ßáÔí ÅáÇ äáæÍæ
ÝÇáÈÍÑ’, will be held on June 7 and 8 at the Hassan II International Environmental Training Center.

The exhibition, open to the Foundation’s sustainable development education programs on the first day and to the general public on the second, will feature a variety of awareness-raising stands.

In addition, the ‘Message in bottle’ initiative, inspired by maritime literature by slipping messages for the ocean into glass bottles, will see the participation of eco-schoolchildren and Young Reporters for the Environment from different regions. They will commit to taking action during the next #b7arblaplastic campaign, aimed at sorting and recycling tons of plastic waste throughout the summer.

orsed by the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) as an activity of the Decade, the Ocean Week ‘is made possible only with the support of its partners, private and public economic operators, public administrations, or civil society associations, who will be mobilized from north to so
uth for a common good: the ocean,’ the Foundation concluded.

Source: Agence Marocaine De Presse