The second annual Ocean Heroes Bootcamp was held in Vancouver, British Columbia in recognition of Canada’s G7 Presidency and introduction of the Ocean Charter. Hosted in partnership with Ocean Wise and held at the University of British Columbia, 300 youth from 20 countries* attended. Of the 300 global youth who attended, 84 were on scholarship (28%).
Importantly, thanks to the funding and support from partners, we welcomed 2 homeless youth from Los Angeles and 1 youth with learning disabilities from Seattle. Continuing to evolve our programming to ensure that neither financial means nor physical ability act as a barrier to advocacy is paramount.
Major moments included:
- Collaboration across 15 non profit organizations.
- Opening plenary by Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, & the Canadian Coast Guard.
- Youth Keynotes by Jamie Margolin, co-founder of Zero Hour, & Melati Wijsen, co-founder of Bye Bye Plastic Bags from Bali, Indonesia.
- Corporate panel, moderated by Squad Leader Shelby O’Neil, with LEGO, Nature’s Path, Aardvark Straws, & Alaska Airlines representatives.
- Opening reception and dinner hosted by the UN Environment.
- Closing pitch presentation live streamed on EcoWatch.
*Countries included at Ocean Heroes Bootcamp: Mexico, Senegal, US, Canada, Colombia, Brazil, Tunisia, Australia, West Indies, Brunei, Egypt, Guatemala, Montserrat (British Overseas Territory), St. Lucia, Cayman Islands, Netherlands, Scotland, Indonesia, Singapore.