"This year, a lot of people are confronted with difficulties in life, many concrete ones. Poetry has the power to comfort people. It's not necessarily a grand power. It can comfort us just like a dim light, a cool wind or breathing."

Vast and inclusive, the ocean also has a comforting and healing power, she says, adding, when it is calm, it seems to be listening, and when it is rough, it is full of risks, possibilities and the unknown, just like life itself.

In recent years, due to the pandemic, face-to-face communication has not been so easy.

In a video speech, Shahbaz Khan, director of UNESCO Beijing Cluster Office, says while the ocean is a vital buffer against the impact of climate change, it has the power to connect people and civilizations throughout the history and in our common future.