Portugal has done much, but only knows if it did well by measuring
For three decades, Portugal has cultivated one of Europe's most expansive ocean literacy traditions, weaving marine awareness into classrooms and coastal communities with genuine dedication. Yet a landmark audit now reveals a quiet paradox at the heart of this effort: the country has rarely paused to ask whether its programs actually change the way people live and act. Knowledge, it turns out, is not the same as consequence — and the distance between the two may be the most important ocean Portugal has yet to cross.
- Portugal has built an impressive architecture of ocean education since 1990, yet only 30% of its programs have ever been formally evaluated, leaving the true impact of decades of work largely invisible.
- The least developed dimension across all these initiatives is activism — meaning students may absorb facts about the ocean while never learning to see themselves as agents capable of defending it.
- Researchers warn that without measurement, coordination, and a structural push toward behavioral change, even the most dynamic ocean literacy program in Europe risks becoming knowledge without consequence.
- A study of Living Labs — ecosystems where scientists, communities, and policymakers co-create solutions — found that coastal communities hold deep practical knowledge but lack the frameworks to convert it into sustainable innovation.
- The Living Labs model, tested among salt-marsh communities from Aveiro to Castro Marim, is emerging as a concrete pathway to close the gap between ocean understanding and ocean action.
Portugal has spent thirty years building what may be Europe's most ambitious ocean literacy effort. Flagship programs — Escola Azul, CIIMAR na Escola, Coastwatch — have reached thousands of students and coastal communities, and by all appearances the work is sustained and vital. Yet researchers who have just completed the most comprehensive audit of these efforts ever attempted have arrived at a troubling conclusion: Portugal has no reliable way of knowing whether any of it actually works.
The finding comes from a Portuguese contribution to a major three-volume scientific compendium published by Springer Nature, authored by researchers from the University of Évora, the University of Lisbon, and CIIMAR at the University of Porto. What they uncovered is paradoxical. The breadth and longevity of Portugal's ocean literacy programs demonstrate what the team calls "enormous national vitality." But when they searched for evidence that these initiatives change behavior — that knowledge translates into more ocean-conscious lives — they found that only about 30 percent of programs had been formally evaluated at all. The rest exist in a kind of shadow, their impact unmeasured and unknown.
The diagnosis goes deeper than missing evaluations. Among the various dimensions of ocean literacy, activism is the least developed. Without it, ocean literacy risks becoming a purely intellectual exercise — facts learned and then set aside. If young people understand the ocean but never learn to advocate for it or imagine themselves as agents of change, the knowledge becomes inert.
A second study offers a potential way forward through what are called Living Labs — open-innovation ecosystems where researchers, businesses, citizens, and policymakers test sustainable solutions together in real-world conditions. Researchers examined one such lab built around traditional salt marshes, interviewing sixty key actors from communities stretching from Aveiro to Castro Marim. Local communities, they found, hold deep practical knowledge of their coastal ecosystems, but lack the tools to convert that knowledge into sustainable innovation. Many participants also misunderstood what a Living Lab was, expecting a simple communication space rather than a platform for structural change.
When Living Labs function as intended, they become the place where ocean literacy stops being theoretical and becomes operational — where understanding generates actual changes in behavior and policy. Portugal has built the foundation. What remains is to measure what it has built, strengthen what works, and create the structures that turn knowledge into consequence.
Portugal has spent three decades building what may be Europe's most ambitious ocean literacy program. Since 1990, the country has launched flagship initiatives—Escola Azul, CIIMAR na Escola, Educar para uma Geração Azul, Coastwatch—that have reached thousands of students and coastal communities. The work is real, sustained, and by all appearances, vital. Yet researchers who have just completed the most comprehensive audit of these efforts to date have arrived at a troubling conclusion: Portugal has no idea whether any of it actually works.
The finding appears in a new chapter of "Ocean Literacy: The Foundation for the Success of the Ocean Decade," a three-volume scientific compendium published by Springer Nature and assembled from contributions by roughly 250 authors across 42 countries. The Portuguese contribution, authored by Zara Teixeira of MARE at the University of Évora, Raquel Costa and Claudia Faria of the University of Lisbon's Institute of Education, Patricia Conceição of the Continental Platform Extension Task Force, and Laura Guimarães of CIIMAR at the University of Porto, amounts to what the researchers describe as the most complete diagnostic of ocean literacy in Portuguese education ever attempted.
What they found is paradoxical. The programs themselves demonstrate what Teixeira and her colleagues call "enormous national vitality." The breadth and longevity of the work is genuinely impressive. But when the team looked for evidence that these initiatives actually change how people behave—whether students or adults adopt more ocean-conscious practices, whether knowledge translates into action—they discovered that only about 30 percent of Portuguese ocean literacy programs have been formally evaluated at all. The rest exist in a kind of shadow, their impact unmeasured and unknown. "Portugal has done a great deal," Teixeira warned in the report, "but will only know whether it has done well when it begins to measure, coordinate, and transform knowledge into action."
The diagnosis extends beyond mere evaluation gaps. The researchers identified a structural weakness in how ocean literacy itself is being taught. Among the various dimensions of ocean literacy—knowledge, understanding, values, behavior—activism is the least developed. This matters because without the activist dimension, ocean literacy risks becoming purely intellectual exercise, a set of facts students learn and then set aside. The concern is not abstract. If young people understand the ocean but never learn to advocate for it, to push back against destructive practices, to imagine themselves as agents of change, then the knowledge becomes inert.
A second Portuguese contribution to the Springer Nature volumes offers a potential path forward. Researchers Cátia Marques, Ana Cunha, and Zara Teixeira examined what are called "Living Labs"—open-innovation ecosystems where researchers, businesses, citizens, and policymakers work together to test sustainable solutions in real-world conditions. The team studied one such lab centered on traditional salt marshes, interviewing 60 key actors from salt-farming communities stretching from Aveiro to Castro Marim. What emerged was revealing: local communities possess deep, practical knowledge of their coastal ecosystems, yet they lack access to tools and frameworks that would let them convert that knowledge into sustainable innovation. Many participants also misunderstood what a Living Lab actually was, confusing it with a simple communication space or a venue for solving immediate problems.
But the researchers saw potential. When Living Labs function properly—bringing together scientific expertise, community knowledge, and political decision-making power—they become platforms where ocean literacy stops being theoretical and becomes operational. They create space to test new approaches, to resolve structural conflicts between conservation and livelihood, and crucially, to translate understanding into actual changes in behavior and policy. The salt-marsh case study, grounded in the specific geography and economy of Portugal's coast, opens a broader international conversation about how to move ocean literacy from the classroom into the world where it matters.
The challenge ahead is clear. Portugal has built the foundation. What remains is to measure what it has built, to strengthen the parts that work, to redesign the parts that do not, and to create structures—like Living Labs—where knowledge becomes action. Without that next step, even the most dynamic ocean literacy program in Europe risks remaining exactly what Teixeira warned against: knowledge without consequence.
Citações Notáveis
Portugal has done a great deal, but will only know whether it has done well when it begins to measure, coordinate, and transform knowledge into action.— Zara Teixeira, MARE, University of Évora
Living Labs can become ideal platforms for testing sustainable solutions in real context, resolving structural conflicts, and translating ocean literacy into marine conservation attitudes and new public policies.— Researchers Cátia Marques, Ana Cunha, and Zara Teixeira
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Portugal has been teaching ocean literacy for thirty years. Why would researchers say the country doesn't know if it's working?
Because evaluation and impact measurement were never built into most of these programs from the start. They created initiatives—good ones—but rarely asked afterward whether students actually changed their behavior or their choices.
So the programs exist, but nobody's checking the results?
Exactly. Only about 30 percent have any formal evaluation at all. The rest operate on faith and anecdote.
What's the risk if you teach ocean literacy without measuring whether it sticks?
You end up with people who know facts about the ocean but don't feel responsible for it. Knowledge becomes inert. The researchers found that activism—the dimension where people actually *do* something—is almost entirely missing from Portuguese ocean literacy work.
How do you fix that?
The researchers point to Living Labs—spaces where scientists, communities, and policymakers work together on real problems. In salt marshes, for instance, local farmers have deep knowledge but no way to turn it into innovation. A Living Lab bridges that gap. Knowledge becomes action because the structure demands it.
So it's not about teaching more facts. It's about changing the system.
Precisely. Portugal did the hard part—building three decades of programs. Now it has to do the harder part: measuring what works, strengthening what doesn't, and creating conditions where understanding actually changes behavior.