[Feature: Ocean Sustainability / Mini-Feature: 150th Anniversary of the Yochisha Elementary School] Kazuya Hirai: Fostering Ocean Literacy for All

2024/06/05

I wonder how many people are familiar with the term "ocean literacy." It is defined as "an understanding of the ocean's influence on you and your influence on the ocean." Its content could be described as the fundamental knowledge about the sea that everyone should possess, but...

Literacy originally referred simply to the ability to read and write, but in recent years it has come to signify essential skills in the modern era (Fauville et al. 2019).

Ocean literacy was first systematically organized in the United States. Ocean researchers, educators, teachers, and government officials belonging to ocean-related agencies and organizations held repeated discussions to determine seven essential principles (Table 1) and 44 fundamental concepts. After peer review by the ocean science education community, these were compiled into a leaflet and widely released in 2005 with NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) as the copyright holder.

These essential principles were established as specific learning objectives for studying ocean science—which is indispensable for understanding the global environment—in both school and out-of-school education. Although created in the United States, they had a significant impact on other countries, and awareness grew among ocean educators and scientists worldwide. Subsequently, in 2017, UNESCO-IOC (Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission) published "Ocean Literacy for All: A toolkit," initiating a movement to spread ocean literacy in various countries and regions.

The Marine Learning Center (hereafter referred to as "Umiken"), to which I currently belong, is an organization founded in 2005—the same year ocean literacy was launched in the U.S.—by ocean science researchers and informal educators (including myself) who provide ocean learning programs primarily for children. Our activities aim to contribute to the formation of a society equipped with a sense of conservation and scientific inquiry toward the sea, and a society where the ocean and people are richly connected. We express our mission simply with the phrase: "Bringing 'Knowing the Sea' to Everyone."

It is no coincidence that the establishment of our corporation overlaps with the year ocean literacy was announced. The year prior, our representative worked as an intern at the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley, which was deeply involved in building ocean literacy. Learning about the movements in the U.S., they believed it was desirable to synchronize with this in Japan and created the activity base known as Umiken, leading to the same founding year.

The Lawrence Hall of Science is a science museum and one of the preeminent institutions in the U.S. for science education research and curriculum development. One of the materials developed there is MARE (Marine Activities, Resource & Education), a packaged ocean science curriculum tailored for K-12 (from kindergarten through middle school in Japan). It is widely used in school education within the U.S., and many children learn about the ocean through classes using MARE. To promote MARE in Japan, Umiken signed a license agreement with the University of California and has implemented it at elementary schools, museums, and aquariums nationwide. In recent years, we have had many opportunities to implement it at visitor centers within Sanriku Fukko National Park, which our corporation manages under commission from the Ministry of the Environment. As the chief educator of Umiken, I have been involved in providing ocean learning programs to approximately 12,000 people, many of which include classes and learning events using MARE. MARE also has a deep affinity with "Active Learning," which the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology announced for promotion in 2017, and it has been well-received by school groups.

I graduated from the Keio University Faculty of Business and Commerce, a faculty somewhat distant from the ocean and science. My entry into these activities was triggered by scuba diving and the mass coral bleaching event that occurred in 1998 in Okinawa, which was my diving field. That year, sea temperatures remained 1–2°C higher than average for over 30 days, causing damage and mass mortality to corals not only in Okinawa but worldwide. While those involved suspected global warming was the cause, such events were not yet common at the time, and it did not make a large impact on society at large. However, in the waters of Okinawa, the once colorful and beautiful underwater world turned desolate, and the creatures that lived there decreased. I felt that something truly bad for the planet was beginning to happen.

This bleaching phenomenon has occurred frequently since then, albeit on a smaller scale. Even now, when climate change is recognized as a critical environmental issue, it cannot be said that it has gained significant attention from the general public. I suspect this is partly because corals are unfamiliar creatures, but also because it is a phenomenon occurring in the "ocean," which is not usually on the minds of ordinary people.

As stated in the essential principles of ocean literacy mentioned earlier, the ocean is vital to the Earth and humans as they influence each other. However, for the general public, the ocean is a distant existence; they find it difficult to care about what happens there, and in the first place, it is hard to know about it. This leads to a failure of society to perceive things happening in the ocean that affect both the Earth and humans.

Recognizing that this situation must be improved, I shifted my trajectory toward cultivating ocean literacy and engaging in ocean and environmental education activities.

As a precursor to Umiken's activities, I obtained a diving instructor license and, while working in diving and snorkeling after moving to Okinawa in 1999, I used that know-how to start a nature observation program called "Reef Trail" for walking on coral reefs. Whether toddlers or seniors, anyone who could walk could become familiar with the coral reef sea. In the process, I performed interpretation to convey information about corals and the changes happening in the ocean. Around this time, school trips to Okinawa from junior high and high schools outside the prefecture increased, and there was a growing demand for nature experience learning in addition to traditional peace studies. This gave me the opportunity to talk to many students about the sea and coral reefs. I expected that if I could do this for every junior high and high school student coming to Okinawa, and further expand it to general tourists—since 5 million tourists were visiting Okinawa at the time—it would calculate to reaching a cumulative 100 million people (over 80% of Japan's population) in 20 years, allowing us to change society into one that is interested in the sea and considerate of the environment.

Of course, it ended as a pipe dream.

First, the "Reef Trail" never quite became a program like snorkeling, where people can immediately imagine what they will do and how fun it will be just by hearing the word. Furthermore, within the leisure mindset of wanting to have fun in the Okinawan sea, I think another cause was that people do not retain difficult information. This was true not only for tourists but also for school trips visiting as part of school education; I realized it is difficult to convey things effectively through experience-based learning in Okinawa alone. I also felt that unless we implemented initiatives in the children's home ground—the school—that teachers would perceive as having educational significance, the message would not permeate.

It was at that timing that I encountered MARE and researchers who shared similar concerns about the state of the ocean and recognized the importance of scientific education.

Starting in 2005, Umiken implemented MARE in various locations across the country. I felt that MARE, developed through a partnership between ocean researchers and educators at the Lawrence Hall of Science and carefully refined, was of extremely high quality as a teaching material. True to that feeling, the reaction from children was exceptionally good. Evaluations from teachers were also high.

Therefore, Umiken began developing teaching materials that could be used for ocean learning more aligned with Japanese regional characteristics, using the science education material development methods and educational theories embedded in MARE. The first project we tackled was a curriculum for learning about coral reefs. Following the example of the Lawrence Hall of Science, researchers and educators teamed up to develop the "Coral Reef Learning Program," consisting of six teaching materials.

One of these is "Coral Territory Wars." It is a program where participants use a card game to experience how corals grow or decline in relation to environmental stress, and what state the coral reef ultimately ends up in. We encouraged schools to implement this before coming to Okinawa on school trips. While it was impossible for all schools, some private high schools continue to implement it to this day.

Umiken also set about developing original teaching materials to learn about the characteristics of Japan's seas, which are influenced by the warm Kuroshio Current and the cold Oyashio Current. One of these is "Protect the Burning Rocky Shore!" themed around rocky shore denudation (isoyake). It is a simulation program where participants learn that the ecological balance between seaweed and sea urchins on the rocky shore is collapsing due to changes in the sea, and they explore how to conduct healthy fishing within that context. We even had actual fishermen experience it, and it was very lively as they found it reflected their real-world experiences. We have 14 programs in total covering coral reef seas, warm current seas, and cold current seas, collectively named Poseidon (Program of study encouragement, inquiry, diversity and ocean).

The town of Minamisanriku in Miyagi Prefecture, which I had visited many times for MARE practices, suffered heavy damage in the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. To participate in reconstruction activities, I moved my base of operations there in 2013. Because Umiken became involved in a national park project undertaken by the Ministry of the Environment as part of the reconstruction efforts, we came to manage the Minamisanriku Ocean Visitor Center and the Ishinomaki River Visitor Center. Currently, using these as bases, we implement projects to become familiar with various aspects of nature beyond just the sea (Field Museum projects).

Ministry of the Environment visitor centers are facilities intended to provide nature information to visitors of national parks and to raise awareness about the importance of nature. However, they also aim to encourage many people to visit, making the activities largely similar to tourism. Recently, this has been referred to as "wise use," and an increase in the sustainable use of national parks is expected. However, indiscriminate attraction of visitors can conversely damage nature and the local community. Furthermore, if the perspective of gaining rest and fulfillment by feeling the inherent power of the region—the essence of tourism—is lost, it could lead to overtourism, a problem that has been recognized recently. It is important to balance this and strive for the sustainable maintenance and development of the region, and the mechanism of ecotourism is useful for this. It is an initiative to learn the providence of nature and the region while enjoying them, cultivating an awareness of their importance to lead to social development. Leveraging my experience serving as the NPO secretariat for promoting ecotourism in Okinawa Prefecture, I have integrated this into the reconstruction from the earthquake.

However, if one approaches with a stiff attitude of "learning" or "understanding," the number of visitors will be limited. People won't participate if it's not interesting, and it won't stick with them. Excitement and laughter are required, but if it ends as superficial leisure, it ultimately won't lead to a sense of fulfillment. Taking this into account, we describe the area where we operate as "Togura Kitakami Nature Park—Where Play Turns into Learning." Based on that concept, we organize projects that utilize various elements of the forest, sea, river, and village to bring nature, the region, and people closer together.

Among these activities are waterfront cleaning efforts that I have continued since my time in Okinawa. We call them "Beach Cleans" for the sea and "Sandbar Cleans" for the rivers, conducting them once a month. Over the past 25 years, I feel that the garbage has only increased rather than decreased. In the last few years, the problem of marine plastic waste has finally been focused on as a social issue, but seeing the ever-increasing waste, I cannot help but feel it is too little, too late.

As is well known, Goal 14 of the SDGs is "Life Below Water," but few people likely pay attention to the specific targets for achieving it. Target 1 of SDG Goal 14 is "By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution." Looking at the situation on the ground, I do not believe this can be achieved in two more years, nor do I believe society is seriously aiming for this goal.

Marine waste is the easiest to understand, but the ocean is the environment that ultimately receives and swallows all human activities. Therefore, the sea serves as a barometer of whether humans are acting in harmony with nature. The current situation of marine waste can hardly be called harmonious. It is also a place where the effects of global warming and the depletion of fishery resources appear clearly. Grasping the state of the ocean is an extremely important initiative that leads to the evaluation of human activities.

It is difficult to consider the current evaluation of humans from nature and the Earth as good, and leaving this to the next generation could be called a negative legacy. To make this even slightly healthier, and to know whether we are succeeding, I recognize the need to create a society where more people can see the changes in the sea and feel close to it.

Finally, at the UN General Assembly in December 2017, UNESCO adopted and declared the "UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development" (2021-2030) to implement intensive efforts over ten years to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (such as SDG 14 "Life Below Water") through the promotion of ocean science. The social outcomes aimed for are: 1) A clean ocean, 2) A healthy and resilient ocean, 3) A productive ocean that can be harvested sustainably, 4) A predicted ocean, 5) A safe ocean, 6) An accessible ocean for all, and 7) An inspiring and engaging ocean.

It is desirable for this international initiative focused on the ocean to become known to everyone, and I and Umiken will likely continue our awareness-raising activities toward that end.

* Sachiko Oguma (2016) "Toward the Spread of Ocean Literacy in Japan" OPRI Perspectives No.16