blueschools · countries directory from the College of Exploration
Country directory18 programmes mappedUpdated April 2026
Who runs Blue Schools, and where.
A country-by-country directory of the people and institutions coordinating Blue Schools programmes around the world. For teachers looking for the right contact, for coordinators looking for peers, and for researchers mapping the movement. Not exhaustive — a living resource, updated as new national networks emerge.
The countries that built the model. Portugal started it in 2017. Brazil, Argentina and Portugal jointly lead the All-Atlantic network. The United States runs the largest English-language K–12 implementation.
Portugal
PT · Founder
Escola Azul — the world's first national Blue Schools programme
Launched 2017 by DGPM. 603 schools, 130,000 students, 132 partners. The structured, interdisciplinary model every subsequent network has referenced.
Coordinator
Direção-Geral de Política do Mar (DGPM)
Ministries
Ministério do Mar · Ministério da Educação
Partners
Ciência Viva · Instituto de Educação, Universidade de Lisboa
Escola Azul Brasil · coordinated by Maré de Ciência
In April 2025, Brazil became the first country in the world to include cultura oceânica in its national curriculum — signed at the Currículo Azul Forum in Brasília.
Coordinator
Maré de Ciência at Universidade Federal de São Paulo (Unifesp)
Key person
Ronaldo Christofoletti — also Chair, IOCARIBE Ocean Literacy Task Team; UN Ocean Decade Communications Advisory Committee
Countries where NEBS certification is already flowing and national or regional coordination is well established — Spain, Greece, Sweden, Italy, Netherlands, Croatia.
Spain
ES
Red Española de Escuelas Azules — launched Nov 2024
Network formally launched at ReeducaMar III (MITECO). Distributed regional coordination — unlike most countries, Spain runs through regional nodes rather than a single national office.
Parent ministry
MITECO (Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico)
Regional coords
Canarias: PLOCAN (Plataforma Oceánica de Canarias)Valencia: Oceanogràfic ValenciaEuskadi: AZTINational spokesperson: Eli Bonfill at PHAROS
Swedish chapter of NEBS · coordinated by Havsmiljöinstitutet
The Government of Sweden funds IOC-UNESCO's Blue Schools Capacity-Building training for Africa & Caribbean (Dec 2025 – Feb 2026). A quiet but significant enabler of the global network.
Coordinator
Havsmiljöinstitutet (Swedish Institute for the Marine Environment), University of Gothenburg
Certified 2023
4 schools — including Hedens skola (Hönö, Öckerö, "Havets dag") and Strömstad gymnasium ("Livet vid havet")
Rete delle Scuole Blu — national coordination active 2026
National network consolidated in April 2026 via the Italian UNESCO Commission webinar. Trajectory: Elba (2024) → all Italian minor islands (2025) → national network (2026).
National lead
Commissione Nazionale Italiana per l'UNESCO
Key partners
Fondazione Acqua dell'ElbaParco Nazionale Arcipelago ToscanoANCIM (Associazione Nazionale Comuni Isole Minori)Marevivo
Milestone
8 April 2026 — national webinar "Scuole Blu in Italia: educare all'oceano, costruire la rete"
Plave škole — individual certification, no national network yet
Schools certify directly through NEBS. Two institutional leaders — Blue World Institute on Lošinj and Udruga Sunce in Split — provide the de facto ecosystem.
Featured schools
OŠ Josip Pupačić, Omiš — EU Blue School, GLOBE, #EUBeachCleanup 2023SŠ Mate Blažine, Labin — certified 2024/25
Key orgs
Plavi svijet institut / Blue World Institute (Lošinj) — "Mali plavi svijet" since 2008Udruga Sunce (Split)
Countries where individual schools are certifying, distributed initiatives exist, but no single national coordinator is yet in place. Each has a clear path forward through the European Maritime Forum.
Germany
DE
Ocean Youngsters + IFAI — distributed initiatives, no national coordinator
Schleswig-Holstein is the active cluster. Ocean Youngsters is training 50 "Meermacher*innen" ambassadors across 9 secondary schools by Feb 2027.
Key initiative
Ocean Youngsters — Ocean Summit + Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Schleswig-Holstein
National convenor
Institute for Art and Innovation (IFAI) — hosts online events "Wie bringen wir das Meer ins Klassenzimmer?"
Institutional participation across NEBS and All-Atlantic
France participates through major ocean research institutions rather than a unified national programme. Overseas territories (TAAF) run École Bleue Outre-mer.
Key institutions
IFREMER (Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer)Institut océanographique (Fondation Albert Ier, Monaco)L'École des océans (Dalhousie + NFB, bilingual FR-EN)École Bleue Outre-mer (TAAF / Marion Dufresne)
UNESCO-IOC identifies Cabo Verde, Senegal and South Africa as African countries advancing national networks. Caribbean national coordinators have been identified in Trinidad & Tobago and Barbados. A capacity-building programme (funded by Sweden) is running through early 2026.
Morocco
MA
All-Atlantic participant · national coordinator emerging
Morocco is active in the All-Atlantic network. Othman Cherkaoui represented Morocco at the São Paulo School of Advanced Science on Ocean Literacy (Aug-Sep 2025).
Representative
Othman Cherkaoui
Capacity-building
São Paulo Advanced School on Ocean Literacy · IOCARIBE Ocean Literacy Task Team
IOCARIBE Blue Schools — task team chaired from Brazil
The Caribbean chapter runs through IOC's sub-commission for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions. National coordinators identified in Trinidad & Tobago and Barbados.
Countries with major ocean-education infrastructure and clear potential to join the Global Blue Schools Network, but no formal national programme yet. The path forward is designating a national coordination team through IOC-UNESCO.
Indonesia
ID
Government-led field-school activities · no formal Blue Schools yet
The world's largest archipelagic country. Kemenko Marves runs maritime literacy programmes for at-risk coastal communities. A natural fit for Global Network membership.
Government lead
Kemenko Marves (Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investment Affairs / CMMAI-RI)
Research
Universitas Negeri Malang · Kementerian Kelautan dan Perikanan (KKP)
Regional reference
Malaysia has 5 active Blue Schools and a national focal point
Robust ecosystem via COLE, OPRI, and UNESCO ASPnet
Japan's ASPnet is the largest in the world with 1,083 schools. COLE at the University of Tokyo is a world-class ocean literacy research center funded by the Nippon Foundation.
Research
COLE (東京大学海洋教育センター) — University of Tokyo, Nippon Foundation fundedOPRI (Ocean Policy Research Institute) — Sasakawa Peace Foundation
Funder
日本財団 Nippon Foundation
Schools
ユネスコスクール (UNESCO ASPnet Japan) — 1,083 schools, largest ASPnet worldwide
National ocean-education portal + world-class research
The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries operates 해양교육포털 (ilovesea.or.kr) as a national ocean education platform — an existing infrastructure that could readily anchor a national Blue Schools coordination.
Research
KIOST (Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology, Busan)
Active ocean-education ecosystem; no formal network membership
Taiwan's TMEC at National Taiwan Ocean University is commissioned by the Ministry of Education for ocean education — a natural NEBS-equivalent structure.
Taiwan
TMEC (臺灣海洋教育中心) at NTOU, Ministry of Education海洋委員會 Ocean Affairs Council (OAC)
Hong Kong
HKMPA (Hong Kong Marine Protection Alliance)Ocean3C · Living Oceans EducationOcean Park Conservation Foundation
Major research universities; no formal Blue Schools programme yet
China has three dedicated ocean universities producing world-class marine scientists. Singapore is the regional maritime-education hub. No formal national Blue Schools programme in either yet.
China research
Shanghai Ocean University (上海海洋大学)Ocean University of China, Qingdao (中国海洋大学)Xiamen University — College of Ocean & Earth Sciences
China government
自然资源部海洋局 (Ministry of Natural Resources — former SOA)