CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS: Towards the recognition of the rights of the Ocean and marine life – What role for informal education in this transformation?
The Ocean covers more than 70% of the Earth’s surface, hosts the majority of the planet’s biodiversity, regulates the climate, and produces more than half of the oxygen we breathe… yet it remains one of the most exploited, least understood, and least protected ecosystems on the planet.
In the face of the oceanic crisis, a fundamental question is emerging: what if the Ocean were recognized as a subject of law?
Legal, ecological, and philosophical perspectives are increasingly converging toward a recognition of the Rights of the Ocean and marine life—not as resources serving human needs, but as autonomous living entities, worthy of respect, protection, and legal consideration in their own right.
But such a shift cannot take place without a profound transformation of our collective worldviews, particularly through informal education—understood as a set of learning experiences outside formal or academic frameworks, rooted in sensory engagement, practice, and relationship.
A cross-cutting approach between SDG 14 and SDG 4
This call for contributions also explores the bidirectionality between two Sustainable Development Goals:
SDG 14: Life below water → How can we recognize and guarantee the rights of the Ocean and marine life?
SDG 4: Quality education → How can informal education support a transformation in human-ocean relationships from a non-anthropocentric perspective?
In turn, rethinking education beyond dominant frameworks may also nourish new legal, social, and cultural visions of the Ocean.
