Coastal and Marine Environmental Education

The next generations will face new challenges related to the effects of anthropic impact on the planet. The knowledge about marine socioecological systems will be crucial if we want to maintain a safe operating space for human activities. In this chapter, the concept of “ocean literacy” and its use as a tool to empower the society to cope with this new situation in our history on Earth will be addressed, followed by a brief view of its use on Europe, North America, and South America. After that, the reasons why modern citizens should know, understand, and care about the ocean will be presented. Finally, we will discuss possibilities for the promotion of ocean literacy through environmental education (EE), based on the EE principles established since 1970s.