Ocean equity: from assessment to action to improve social equity in ocean governance

作者：Nathan Bennett, Veronica Relano, Katina Roumbedakis, Jessica Blythe, Mark Andrachuk, Joachim Claudet, Neil Dawson, David Gill, Natali Lazzari, Shauna L. Mahajan, Ella-Kari Muhl, Maraja Riechers, Mia Strand, Sebastián Villasante · 发表于：Frontiers in Marine Science · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.3389/fmars.2025.1473382 · 被引用次数：33 · 研究领域：Coastal and Marine Management、Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies、International Maritime Law Issues

Inequity is ubiquitous in the ocean, and social equity receives insufficient attention in ocean governance and management efforts. Thus, we assert that proponents of sustainability must center social equity in future ocean governance, to address past social and environmental injustices, to align with international law and conservation policy, and to realize objectives of sustainability. This obligation applies across all marine policy realms, including marine conservation, fisheries management, climate adaptation and the ocean economy, in all socio-political contexts and at different geographical scales. Indeed, many governmental, non-governmental, and philanthropic organizations are striving to advance social equity across their ocean sustainability focused agendas, policies, programs, initiatives, and portfolios. To date, however, there has been limited attention to how to meaningfully assess status and monitor progress on social equity in ocean governance (aka “ocean equity”) across different marine policy realms. Here, we contribute to ongoing efforts to advance ocean equity through providing guidance on five steps to develop bespoke, fit to purpose and contextually appropriate assessment and monitoring frameworks and approaches to measure status of and track changes in ocean equity. These steps include: 1) Clearly articulating the overarching purpose and aim; 2) Convening a participatory group and process to co-design the assessment framework; 3) Identifying important ob...