The concept was originally proposed in 1992 by Canada's International Centre for Ocean Development (ICOD) and the Ocean Institute of Canada (OIC) at the Earth Summit – UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

with both online and in person opportunities to sign a petition to the United Nations to officially recognise 8 June as World Ocean Day.

Forty-five countries participated in World Oceans Day 2010, including Bangladesh, Belgium, French Polynesia, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Malta, Malaysia, Venezuela, and Portugal.

[citation needed] Based on growing requests from around the world for a two-year focus, The Ocean Project and World Ocean Network launched "Youth: the Next Wave for Change" encouraging all participating organizations to more effectively engage young people in their communities and countries for education and action.

The World Ocean Day Youth Advisory Council launched in 2016, and current cohort includes 25 diverse young leaders (ages 15–23) from 22 countries.

[26] Conservation Action Focus on protecting 30% of our lands and ocean by 2030 ("30x30"), joining with the Campaign for Nature and the growing global movement to petition world leaders to commit their countries to 30x30.

[27] The aim of this year's campaign was to "shed light on the wonder of the ocean and how it is our life-source, supporting humanity and every other organism on Earth".