Protecting the ocean today – preserving our future

Inspired by World Ocean Day celebrations, Babacar Ciss, known as Gabou and an active member of Mundus maris in Senegal, together with the Association Sama Sunu Littoral and the grouping of 18 football clubs of the wider Dakar area, convened the ’72 Hours of Young Guardians of the Ocean’ with a special highlight on 28 July 2026 in Hann.

Call to action

The motto was ‘Protect the ocean today, safeguard our future tomorrow’.

Activities focused notably on youth mobilization, environmental awareness-raising, and hands-on cleanup and waste collection operations.

These actions helped foster a sense of civic responsibility and demonstrated that sport can serve as a powerful tool for raising awareness and driving environmental engagement.

A particularly significant outcome of the day was the decision to establish the association «Agir pour les Océans» (Acting for the Oceans).

It aims at sustaining and structuring long-term efforts to protect the marine environment, not a big clean-up drive in the occasion of World Ocean Day, but a regular commitment to help change poor environmental practices by avoiding pollution and more respectful treatment of the natural environment.

This should entail engaging with a range of administrative structures, schools, civil society organisations and others to push for joint efforts at ocean protection.

Says Babacar Ciss: «We extend our sincere thanks to Mundus maris and all our partners for their support and commitment to this cause.»

He continued, «It is with great pleasure and pride that I introduce the executive board of the *Agir pour les Océans* (Acting for the Oceans) association, established following the «72 Hours – Young Guardians of the Ocean» event. We are particularly pleased to have Aliou Sall—an anthropologist specializing in fisheries—among us, serving as our Scientific Advisor.»

Executive Board