This book provides an original review of Ocean Literacy as a component of public policy in Europe and beyond. The impact of the ocean on human activities is one of the most significant environmental issues facing humanity. By offering valuable insights into the interrelationships between geography, environment, marine science and education, the book explores key issues relating to the future of our planet and the way people respond to them. This volume discusses concepts concerning citizenship education and co-creation and the role of public policy and different international initiatives in raising awareness and mitigating the effects of over-use and misuse of valuable resources. A range of innovative projects are presented and evaluated from the local to national and global levels.This book advances knowledge and provides a picture of these advances, presents the issues and challenges, including the important role that geography education and geographical awareness could play in advancing the case for Ocean Literacy.This crossdisciplinary book appeals to students and scientists as well as professionals and practitioners in geography, environmental and marine sciences, international policy and many related fields.

Autorentext
Professor K.C. Koutsopoulos has taught at the University of Colorado, the University of Iowa and the National Technical University of Athens where he served as director of the Geography and Spatial Analysis Lab., as Chairman of the Geography and regional planning Department and as Dean of the Rural and Surveying Engineering School. He is a member of several scientific and academic associations as well as journal boards. In addition, he is VP of EUROGEO and Chief Editor of the European Journal of Geography and the book series titled key challenges in geography published by Springer. He has organized numerous congresses, meetings and seminars and he has participated in many more. He has presented more than 170 papers in various meetings, has published more than 80 papers in refereed journals and has edited or written 70 books and chapters.
Jan Stel is Prof. em. Ocean Space and Human Activity at the University Maastricht, the Netherlands.Jan studied geology and palaeontology. His thesis concerned a paleo-biological study of Silurian favositid corals of the Swedish island Gotland. As an ocean science manager, he organized ocean going expeditions, developed a European consortium of small European countries to participate in the Ocean Drilling Program, initiated capacity building programs for IOC UNESCO, developed the Dutch Antarctic research program, and organized projects at the interface with the ocean industry. From 2000, he was a professor in 'Ocean Space and Human Activities' at the University of Maastricht, the Netherlands. Jan wrote some 350 (popular) science papers and blogs to inform the public at large why ocean space is important for us.

Inhalt

Part I: General on ocean literacy.- Ocean literacy: background, future drivers and opportunities.- Ocean literacy From a ripple to wave.- A framework for the assessment of the effectiveness of ocean literacy initiatives.- Exploring and exploiting deep ocean, space.- Ocean literacy In the context of naming of seas. Case study: The sea between Korea and Japan.- Part II: Education.- Design-based implementation research for exploring the ocean. A geographical perspective.- Innovative education strategies to advance ocean literacy.- Education under sail: Could sail training be the quintessential alternative education space for ocean Literacy?- Part III: Applications.- The importance of Ocean literacy in the Mediterranean Region - Steps towards blue sustainability.