"love your ocean"
Officially recognized as a UN Ocean Decade activity
Nowhere else can water sports enthusiasts experience sustainability topics more intensively than at the "love your ocean" initiative at boot Düsseldorf, which is curated and organized by the German Ocean Foundation. With well over 200,000 visitors, boot is the world's largest water sports trade fair and an absolute Mecca for all lovers of the sea and water sports in Germany.
Since 2021, the initiative has been under the umbrella of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. The "love your ocean" area offers partners from business, science and society a space to present their innovations and pioneering projects for more sustainability in water sports. In addition to an almost 800 square meter exhibition stand with seven islands dedicated to the seven goals of the UN Decade of the Ocean, there will be workshops, hands-on activities and the Water Pixel stage with around 80 players and partners. The initiative is a sought-after source of information for all visitors to the trade fair who are interested in the future of our oceans and waters.
"love your ocean" - ocean literacy initiative
For the German Ocean Foundation, marine education for all is one of the most important issues. The "love your ocean" initiative, which the Marine Foundation is curating at boot, is not just one of our pilot projects, but a perfect example of what we stand for.
Together with more than 80 partners, we welcome over 1,000 school children each year as part of the boot for school program, offering visitors of all ages the opportunity to learn about the latest developments in ocean sustainability, listen to presentations, participate in workshops and engage in discussions with our network of local experts - all under the umbrella of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development goals.
ocean tribute Award
Together with the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and the German Ocean Foundation, boot Düsseldorf annually honors environmentally friendly projects and technical innovations for a better climate and a healthier ocean.
Since 2018, the ocean tribute Award has been presented to international initiatives, associations and projects that are particularly committed to protecting the ocean. Whether technical innovations, the expansion of research capacities, raising public awareness or the reduction of waste and nutrients - protecting the ocean is the goal of the ocean tribute award. The winner of the award is announced every year at the BLUEMOTIONNIGHT at boot Düsseldorf and is endowed with 20,000 euros.
With the "ocean tribute" award, boot has taken the right path. For many years, we have been supporting projects and activists who are committed to protecting our waters. The presentation of an award was therefore only the logical continuation of our work. Especially as we have competent supporters and experts on board in the form of our partners from Monaco and the German Marine Foundation.
In doing so, we have adopted the United Nations' guiding principle of sustainability: the aim is to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources in the interests of sustainable development.
Petros Michelidakis, Director, boot Düsseldorf
We congratulate Ambiente Europeo on winning the ocean tribute Award 2025 at the BLUE MOTION NIGHT at boot Düsseldorf.
This year's winner is the organization Ambiente Europeo with the SeaLabs project. SeaLabs enables sailors to collect important marine data in remote areas and turn every trip into a research expedition. To this end, the company equips participants with affordable sensor technology and an intuitive app and uses the potential of the sailing community to obtain large data sets.
Together with the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and boot Düsseldorf, we present the ocean tribute award every year as part of the BLUE MOTION NIGHT. Since 2018, this marine conservation award has honored initiatives, associations and projects that are particularly committed to preserving the oceans. This year's finalists were SeaLabs, enteron, The Healthy Seas Foundation, High Seas Alliance and Ocean Material.
Ocean Forum
The Ocean Forum of the German Ocean Foundation took place on January 21 on the Water Pixel World stage of the "love your ocean" initiative. Representatives from universities, NGOs and researchers spoke at the forum, addressing topics such as deep-sea mining, ocean literacy, octopus intelligence and European marine policy.
This year's program included presentations from 11 speakers. We heard a call from Emily Penn, ambassador of the "love your ocean" sustainability initiative, for us all to find our superpowers in the fight against marine plastic pollution, about the Greenpeace campaign against deep sea mining, the Cool Blue Baltic project to establish marine gardens, Mare Mundi's research on the intelligence of octopuses in Croatia, ECOP Africa's marine skills projects, H2Org's revolutionary wastewater system that can simultaneously clean wastewater, reduce carbon dioxide and produce hydrogen, the German Ocean Foundation's Citizen Science project, which calls on water sports enthusiasts to collect temperature data in coastal areas, Aarhus University's research into the hidden powers of cable bacteria, the Senckenberg Ocean Species Alliance's goal of describing marine life before we lose it, the work of the Paul Ricard Oceanographic Institute in France and, most recently, Frank Schweikert's work in the European Union's Mission Council to restore our oceans and waters.
The aim of the event is to draw attention to the seven UN Ocean Decade Goals to be achieved by the end of the decade and to introduce the audience to new ideas and projects that are in line with the goals. The German Ocean Foundation is pleased to support the UN Ocean Decade with this and a number of other projects that have been recognized as official Decade activities.
Marius Berlemann, boot Düsseldorf
Laura Meyer, IOC-UNESCO, Moderator
Emily Penn, eXXpedition
Nardine Stybel, EUCC-D
Daniela von Schaper, Greenpeace Germany
Patricia Ricard, Paul Ricard Oceanographic Institute
Promise Chris Nwachukwu, ECOP Africa
Selina Ernst, Octopus Intelligence
Julia Ritter, German Ocean Foundation
