The Cultural Ocean
Cultural diversity affects our lives in countless ways every day – as a source of identity, conflict and crisis, and context for civil discourse, community, and spiritual development. It is the outcome of thousand of years of contact among people of different customs, beliefs and ways of life and of human interaction with nature. The ocean has played a powerful role in this process throughout time - feeding us, connecting us and shaping us as nations, tribes, and individuals.
The World Ocean Observatory is predicated on the definition of the ocean as “an integrated, global, social system,” hence its goal is to demonstrate how ocean issues transcend investigations of species and habitat and how political synergy and social sustainability result from successful expression of human behavior on land and sea.
The programs and links below are specific demonstrations of this social perspective. The selection is limited and only begins to illustrate the richness and expansiveness of the cultural ocean. The World Ocean Observatory is interested in knowing additional examples; to include your project, either submit it in detail to the World Ocean Directory or contact us.
